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The following elegant paraphrr.se upon a few lines in Seneca's Thycstes, is from the pen cf hir Matthew Hale, the renowned Lord Chief Justice of England whose profound legal at tainmenls, fervent piety, and extensive acquaint ance with theological science and general litera ture, caused him to be considered one of the brightest patterns of his age : JLet him that will, ascend the teltering seat Of courtly grandeur, and become as threat As are his mounting wishes ; as for me, Let sweet repose and rest my portion be ; Give me some mean, obscure recess, a sphere Out cf the road of business, cr the fear Of falling lower; where I sweetly may Myself and dear retirement enjoy; Let not my life be known unto The grandees of the time, toss'd to and fro Uy censures or applause but let my age Slide gently by, not overthwart the stage Of public action, unheard, unseen, And unconcern'd as if I ne'er had been. And thus while 1 shall pass my silent days . In shady privacy, free from the noise And bustle of the mad world, then shall f, A good old innocent plebian, die. Death is a mere surprize, a very snare To him that makes it his life's greatest care To be a public pageant, known to all, But unacquainted with himself, doth fall. mOJI THE RICHMOND NQ.trinEH. DANCING. May I presume, in humble lays, My dancing fair, thy steps to praise ; "Whilst this grand maxim I advance, That all the world is but a dance. That human kind, both man and woman, Do dance, is evident and common ; David himself, that godlike king, "We know could dance as well as sing. Those who at court would keep their ground, Must dance attendance the year round : m Whole nations dance ; gay frisking France Has led the English many a dance. The whole world is one ball, we find ; The water dances to the wind ! The sea itself, at night and noon, Rises and dances to the moon. The earth and planets round the sun, Still dance ; nor will their dance be done, 'Till nature in one blast is blended Then may we say, the ball is ended. EPIGRAM. .Live while you live, the Epicure would siy. And seize the fleeting pleasures of the day : Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries, And give to God each moment as it Hies. LonD, in my views let each united be ; I live in pleasure, when 1 live to tuee. The following extracts from "Pickerings Vo cabulary of Americanisms," cannot fail to amuse all our readers, and perhaps some may be bene fitted by them. The best way of banishing these vulgarisms, is to laugh them out of socie ty ; and we beg leave to say, particularly to our fair readers, they are much move deserving of laughter, than many an awkward bow, or ill de livered compliment, which seldom fails to raise a. titter at the expense of the unfortunate beau v,ho may be the author of them. Columbia Telescope. Caucus. T his noun is used through out the United States, as a cant term for those meetings, which are held by the different political parties, for the purpose of agreeing upon candidates for sfnees, or concerning any measure, which they intend to carry at the sub sequent public, or towji meetings. The earliest account I have seen of this ex traordinary word is the following, from G or den's History cf the American Rev clu:io7i, published at .London in the year 1788. " The word caucus (says the author) end its derivative caucusing, are often used in Boston. The, last answers much to what we style parliamtnteer ing, or electioneering. All my repea ted applications to different gentlemen have not furnished me with a satisfac tory account of caucus. It seems to mean a number of persons, whether more or less, met together to consult upon adopting and prosecuting some scheme of policy for carrying a favor ite point. The word is not of novel invention. More than fifty years ago, IVIr. Samuel Adam's father and twen ty others, one or two from the north end of the town, where all the ship-business is carried on, used to meet, make a Caucus, and lay their plan for introducing certain persons into places of trust and power. When they h:d settled it, they separated, and m.ed each their particular influence with his own circle. lie and his friends would fur nish themselves with ballots, including the names of the parties fixed upon, vhich they distributed on the days of Action. 'By acting in concert, togeth i with a careful and extensive distri- j bution of baiiot3, they generally carri- j ed the elections to their own mind. In like manner it was, Mr. Samuel Adams first became a representative for Boston." Gordons Hist, vol. i. p. 240, note. An English traveller, (Mr. Kendall) who has taken notice of many Ameri can words, seems to think that this "felicitous term" (as he ironically calls it) is applied only to party meetings, or consultations, of the members of the legislatures in the different states; but this is not the case. All meetings of! parties, for the purpose of concerting; any measures, are called by this name. ; From the above remarks of Dr. ', Gordon, it should seem that these meet ings were first held in a part of Bos- ton where 44 all the ship-business was j carried on ;" and I had therciore t thought it not improbable that caucus ! might be a corruption ot Caulkers, the word meeting being understood. I was afterwards informed by a friend in Salem, that the late Judge Oliver often i mentioned this as the origin of the ; word ; and upon further inquiry 1 find other gentlemen have heard the same in Boston, where the word was first a general name lor vegetables, and Ash used. I think I have sometimes heard accordingly has that term ; the other the expression, a caucus meeting, i. English lexicographers have garden- e.- caulker's meeting. It need not ware. hardly be remarked, that this cant word and its derivatives are never used in rR0M the Philadelphia csios. good writing. Superstition of New-England. In T o Go by A New England friend, tiat almost insulated part of the s-ate who has travelled in the Southern ! Qf Massachusetts, called Old Colony, States, has favoured me with the fol- ; or plljm0uth County, and particularly lowing remarks on this expression : 44 1 ; -ia a sman village adjoining the shire heard this used in North-Carolina. : town, there may be found the relics of Mr. B. asked me to stop and dine with ; manv old customs and superstitions, him when I was passing hzs house, by vvhich would be amusing, at least to saying, 4 Will you go by and dine with t lhe antiquary. Among others of less me.' When I mentioned this singular : ser;ious cast", there was, fifteen years expression to some gentlemen after- j agQ) one which, on account of its pe wards, I was told it was often used. Its j culinritv and its consequence, I beg origin is very natural. When a gen- j leave to mention. tleman is about riding a great distance jt js ucn known to those who are ac through that country, where there are j quainted with that section of our comi- few great roads; and the houses or plan- trv that nearly one half of its inhabi tations are often two or three miles ; anU jic w',th the consumption, occa from them, a friend, living near his sioned by the chilly humidity of their rout, asks him to go by his plantation, atmosphere, and the lone prevalence and dine or lodge with him. But in a ; i town, or when one is passing neiore . the door, the expression is peculiar. Gouging. The following account of this word is given by an English j traveller, upon tne authority or an American: 44 The General informed me, that the mode of fighting in Vir t . i ginia and the other Southern States, is really of the description mentioned by preceding travellers, the truth of vvhich many persons have doubted, and some even contradicted. Gouging, kicking and biting, are allowed in most of their battles Gouging is performed by twisting the forefinger in a lock of hair, near the temple, and turning the eye out of the socket with the thumb nail, which is suffered to grow long for that purpose." Lambert's Travels, vol. ii. 300. 44 A diabolical practice (says an English Review) which has never dis graced Europe, and for which no oth er people have even a name." Stiart. Rev. vol. ii. p. 333. The practice it self and the name are both unknown in New England; and from the following remarks of a well known American au thor, it will appear that the practice is much less general in the Southern States than it has been : 44 We are told (says Dr. Morse) that a strange and very barbarous practice prevails among the lower class of people in the back parts of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia ; it is called Gouging. We have lately been told, that in a par ticular county, where at the quarterly court twenty years ago, a day seldom passed without ten or fifteen boxing matches, it is now a rare thing to hear of a fight." Morse's Amer. Univcr. Geography, vol. i. p. 676, edit. 1805. Kelter or Kilter (pronounced Kilter.)- Good condition, order, Ex. This cart or plough, is out of kilter. This is very common among the far mers of New England. It is also one of the provincial words of Great Bri tain : 44 Kelter or Kilter; frame, older, condition. North. In good case or kelter ; in good condition." Grose's Prov. Gloss. It is also mentioned by Marshall among his 44 Provincialisms of Yorkshire" and by Ray in his 44 South and East Country words';" and in the Monthly Magazine (Mar. 1815) it is given among specimens of the Essex Dialect. ' iGuirfor Very. An intelligent friend, who has travelled in Virginia, informs me, that he 44 found the adverb General Bradley, a Senator in Congress for the State cf Vcrr.ont. f Grose adds Hence helter kelter, a corrup tion of helter, to hang, and kelter, order, i. e. hang order, or in defiance cf order. mighty in common use, in the cci.vcr-j sation ot all classes 01 people in that state as precisely sinonymous withuer. Ex. Gr Mighty cold ; Mighty near ten o'clock ; a Mighty fine man, &c." To Reckon. Used in some of the Southern States, as guess is in the Northern. Ex. I reckon he will, &c. It seems to be provincial in England: "Reckon, to imagine, to suppose: I reckon I shall, North." Pegged Sup plement to Grose. Rock for Stoke. In iv. Carolina, we often hear the expression of hcav ing rocks for throwing stones. Every pebble, if no larger than a pea, is called a rock. Sauce. A general term among the country people of New England, for all the common esculent vegetables. Hence those iarmers who supply the markets with vegetables, are sometimes called by their brethren, sauce-market ers. The term sauce is sometimes used fc more strangely (to adopt the words of an English inend) to signify impertinence" B. In some parts of England (as the same friend informs me) the term Garden-stuff is used as Qf easterly winds. The inhabitants of - ... tnc village (or town as it is there call- cj) to which I allude, were peculiarly exposed to this scourge ; and 1 have seen, at one time, one in every fifty of its inhabitants gliding down to the j grave with all the certainty which char acterises this insidious ioe ol the hu man family. There was, fifteen years ago, and is perhaps at this time, an opinion preva lent among the inhabitants of this town that the body of a person who had died of a consumption, was by some super natural means, nourished in the grave from the bedy of some one living mem ber of the family; and that, during the life of this person, the body retained, in the grave, all the fullness and iresh- ness of life and health. This belief was strengthened by the circumstance, that whole families fre quently fell a prey to this terrible dis ease. Ui one large family in this town, consisting of fourteen children, and their venerable parents, the mother and tne youngest son only remained the rest, within a year of each other, had aied of the consumption. Within two months from the death of the thirteenth child, an amiable girl ot about 1G years of age, the bloom which characterized the whole of this family, was seen to fade from the cheek of the last support of the heart-smitten mother, and his brojd flat chest was occasionally convulsed by that power ful deep-toned cough, which attends the consumption in our Atlantic states. At this time, as if to snatch one of this family from an early grave, it was resolved by a few of the inhabitants of the village to test the truth of this tra dition which I have mentioned, and which the circumstances of this afflict ed family seemed to confirm. I should have added, that it was believed that if the body, thus unnaturally nourish ed in the grave, should be raised and turned over in the coffin, its depreda tion upon the survivor would naturally cease. The consent of the mother being obtained, it was agreed that four persons, attended by the surviving and complaining brother, should, at sun rise the next day, dig up the remains of the last buried sister. At the ap pointed hour they attended in the bu rying yard, and having with much ex ertion removed the earth, they raised the cofHn and placed it upon the ground ; then, displacing the flat lid, they lifted the covering from her face, and discov ered what they had indeed anticipated, but dreaded to declare. Yes, I saw the visage of one who had been long the tenant cf a silent grave, lit up with j the brilliancy of youthful health. The cheek was full to dimpling, and a rich profusion of hair shaded her cold fore head, while some of its richest curls floated upon her unconscious breast. The large blue eye had scarcely lost its brilliancy, and the living fullness of her lips seemed almost to say, 4 loose me, and let me go.' In two weeks the brother, shocked with the spectacle he had witnessed, sunk under his disease. The mother survived scarcely a year ; and the long range of sixteen graves is pointed out to the stranger as an evidence of the truth of the belief of the inhabitants. The following lines were written on a recollection of the above shocking scene : I saw her, the grave-sheet was round her, Months had past since they laid her in clay ; Yet the damps of the tomb could not wound her, The worms had not seiz'd on their prey. O ! fair was her cheek, as I knew it, When the rose all its colors there brought ; And that eye, did a tear tf len bedew it ? It gleam'd like the herald of thought. She bloom'd, though the shroud was around her; Her locks o'er her cold bosom wave, As if the stern monarch had crown'd her The fair, speechless queen of the grave. But what lends the grave such a lustre ? O'er her check what such beauty had shed ? His life-blood, who bent there, had nurs'd her : The living was food for the dead ! Testimony for the Gospel. Extract fiom a speech of Mr. Bruce, in the Ma ryland legislature. 44 A book, sir, (the New Testament) has been made to bear upon this ques- tion, that never tails to till me with the profoundest reverence and the deepest veneration a book of infinitely more value than all other books that ever were written and were the question put to me, whether I would take this and exclude all others, and so vice versa, I would, unhesitatingly, draw it to my bosom. It is the only source of pure morality, the only light to guide the dark and wandering mind of man ; and without which, he would be like the marriner upon the stormy and tempes tuous ocean, bereft of chart and com pass. Pity it is, the world should be so much in ignorance of the rich treas ures which lie embodied there ; and, sir, if there is any thing of respecta bility, any thing estimable or of worth about me, I trace it to that fountain. It raises man above his fallen nature, it ennobles and gives him a dignified, commanding attitude ; and though sur rounded by all the calamities this world could heap together, he would be great amidst the ruins, and while calmly suf fering, claim your admiration and love. A more bountiful legacy was never left to man. r speak of it as I have found it." TO-MORliOJV. To-morrow, that idol deity in which the world have agreed to place their trust ; to-morrow, that half spun thread on which is hung the weighty concern ment of eternity. W7hat is to-morrow ? No p rt of our possession, no part of our inheritance ; it is a part in the great chain of duration, but perhaps no part of our present being. Clear, and bright, and steady, as it shines to-dav, some sudden blast may blow out the lamp of life ; and to-morrow may have convey ed us into other company, and settle us into other scenes. Boast not of to morrow till you have unrolled the book of fate, and learnt what to-day shall bring forth. Last night, it is proba ble, many a gay youth threw himself on the bed whence he shall rise no more, and many a busy head reposed itself upon the pillow where it shall sleep now and take its rest. How sad and serious are many now, who but last night were giddy, thoughtless, presumptuous and vain : how terrible has this to-morrow proved to many, who but yesterday said unto themselves it was yet soon enough to repent. Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee ! was a severe, yet gracious warning. In every breeze that blows there is a flight of human fate ; in every breath we drink in the deadly poison ; every hour we stand in jeopardy ; then every man in his best estate is altogether vanity. In every walk wc take death treads upon our steps, he watches us in our retirements, he follows us in our business ; he min gles with the angels that stand round our bodies ; in that very moment when we are least apprehensive of our fate, then the tyrant, springs upon his prey, rejoicing to add to his native horrors the necessary terror of surprise. In the midst of life we are in danger of some tatal blight ; m the highest health we are in danger or some mortal mal ady. AVhat then is life I Is it not a fleeting cloud, an evaporating smoke, an exploding meteor, a painted bubble Break, the bubble must m its great est beauty, it will break ere night. The following parody on Orater Philips' hyperbolical outline of the " Character of Bona parte," is believed to be from the pen of Paul Allen, Esq. editor of the Baltimore Morning Chronicle. Character of B orach io Bibeler', doiv?i to the period of his death in a ditch. He is Fuddled ! We may now pause oeiore tnat urunicen proaigy, which staggered amongst us like some sottish landlord, whose nose parboiled the liquor which his mouth swallowed; Dirty, squinting, and peculiar, ha fell from his seat, an overdone bibbler.; hickuping in the harmony of his own originality. A hat greased, rimless, and scallop ed a coat destitute of its skirts a neckcloth that distanced description a pair of breeches grinning defiance to totality, marked the outline of this ex traordinary drinker the most extra ordinary, perhaps, that, in the annals of this world, ever drank,or reeled, or fell. Flung into a tavern, in the midst of a combat, that employed every fist of a crowd who acknowledged no supe rior, he commenced his bloTVout.....ZL cobbler by trade, and a drunkard by inclination. With no friend but his cup, and no fortune but his wages, he rushed into the bar-room, where rum, gin and brandy had arrayed themselves, and sobriety fled from him as from the glance of destiny. He knew no mo- it i it tive but drunkenness he acknowl edged no check but an empty pocket he worshipped no God but the bottle, and with an eastern devotion knelt at the shrine of his idolatry. Antece dent to this, there was no spirit that he did not love, there was no cordial that he did not venerate ; in ..he hope of a tankard, he flattered the landlord ; for a dram, he bowed to the bar-keeper. The bar contained no liquor that he did not approve ; there was no bottle he could not empty ; and whether amidst brother drunkards, in a ditch, or on a dunghill, he seemed never to be sober, and everlastingly drunk. The whole army of tiplers wondered at be holding the immensity of his draughts, and, the velocity with which he drank them. Skepticism bowed to the prod igies of his performance ; a quart of raw rum assumed the air of modera tion ; nor was there aught too incredi ble for belief or too fanciful for expec tation, when the world saw a mender of old shoes drink three quarts with out a stagger. All the blow-outs of antiquity became flea bites in his con templation : and he disposed of gallons, and quarts, and pints, and gills, and mugs, as if they were the invisible measures of the Lilliputians. Such is a faint and feeble picture of Borachio Bibbler, the first (and jt is to be hoped, the last) Emperor of Drunkards. A Persian poet: takes the following monstrously ungallant liberty with the fair sex : 44 "When thou art married, seek to please thy wife ; but listen not to all she says. From man's right side a rib was taken to form the woman, and never was there seen a rib quite straight, and would'st thou straighten it? It breaks, but bends not ; since the 'tis plaiu that crooked is. woman's temper, forgive her faults, and blame her not; nor let them anger thee, nor coercion use, as all is vain to straighten what is curved." All foolish people are wise enough to be soon tired of their own company ; and therefore impatient of solitude, perpetual ly impose it upon their unfortunate ac quaintance. Those who are extremely civil, are sel dom sociable ; because they receive more trouble than entertainment from company. Our resentments and attachments are commonly the principal obstacle which retard us in our progress to wealth and greatness : he who can tetally exonerate himself of these two grand impediments, the remembrance of past injuries, and gratitude for past benefactions, can hard fv fail of travelling through the dirty roads of business and ambition, with great alacrity and success. A decoction of the roots of blackberry-bushes, is a safe, sure and speedy cure for the dysentery.
