1782. Anecdote extracted from the Letters of an American Farmer. mily, though it was what the dreaded, as The knew pretty well the fituation of her father's affairs. Soon after a young clergyman, nearly related to a nobleman, and who was in poffeffion of a comfortable living, and was not without hopes of one day wearing lawn fleeves, paid his addreffes to our beroine, and was fo fuccefsful as to gain a tacit promife of her hand; but, alas! the fame ftumbling-block produced the like effect. Another admirer, fucceeded another lover; but they were all fo mercenary, that finding the lovely girl had nothing but her mental and perfonal accomplishments to recommend her, they each by turns abandoned the profeffed idol of their hearts. Soon after the had met with repeated mortifications upon this fcore, her father paid the great debt of nature, when it was found he was infolvent. Luckily for Emily an aunt had died a fhort time before, who judging of her brother's diftrefs by his extravagant manner of living, bequeathed her niece a legacy of fifty pounds a year; by which he was enabled to exift-but in a manner fo different from what fhe had been accustomed to, that one day feeing an advertisement in a news-paper, that a lady of fortune wanted an agreeable companion, the accepted of the propofal, and was in this fituation when our hero first met with her at one of the watering places. Having paffed an evening in Emily's company, he was fo deeply fmitten with her charms, that be dreamt of her all night, had nothing but her image before him all day; in a word, he was fafcinated, and refolved to obtain the dear charmer, if poffible. On the other hand, Emily felt a reciprocal conflict in her bofom; the knew not whether to liften to his addreffes or to fhun him, for the was convinced, from the language of his eyes, that he would fron explain his fentiments. After throwing himself at her feet, and making a moft fervent declaration of his paffion, be obtained fuch a confeflion from the lovely, the amiable girl, as convinced him, he was no longer miftrefs of her heart. After a week's regular fiege, the capitulated, and they decamped a la fourdine, to the capital. What circumftances have fince occurred, we will leave the reader to conjecture, and fhall only add, that they fleep under the fame roof, and that the colonel has not been once at the war office for fome time to hasten his exchange, gain an appointment, or given any freth orders for his parting dinner. 468 The following dreadful Anecdote is extraded I Was not long fince invited to dine with a planter who lived three miles from where he then refided. In order to avoid the heat of the fun, I refolved to go on foot, sheltered in a small path, leading through a pleasant wood. I was leifurely travelling along, attentively examining fome peculiar plants which I had collected, when all at once I felt the air ftrongly agitated, though the day was perfectly calm and fultry. I immediately caft my eyes towards the cleared ground, from which I was but a finall distance, in order to fee whether it was not occafioned by a fudden hower; when at that inftant a found refembling a rough voice, uttered, as I thought, a few inarticulate monofyllables. Alarmed and furprised, I precipitately looked around, when I perceived about fix rods diftance fomething refembling a cage, fufpended to the limbs of a tree, all the branches of which appeared covered with large birds of prey, Huttering about and anxiously endeavouring to perch on the cage. Adluated by an involuntary motion of my hands, more than by any defign of my mind, I fired at them; they all flew to a fhort distance, with a moft hideous noife; when, horrid to think, and painful to repeat, I perceived a negro, fufpended in the cage, and left there to expire! I fhudder when I recollect that the birds had already picked out his eyes; his cheek bones were bare; bis arms had been attacked in feveral places, and his body feemed covered with a multitude of wounds. From the edges of the hollow fockets, and from the lacerations with which he was disfigured, the blood flowNo fooner were the birds flowe, ly dropped, and tinged the ground beneath. than fwarms of infects covered the whole body of this unfortunate wretch, eager to feed on his mangled flesh and to drink his blood. I found myself suddently arrefted by the power of affright and terror; my nerves were convulfed, I trembled, I flood motionlefs, involuntarily contemplating the fate of this negro in all its difmal latitude. The living spectre, though deprived of his eyes, could filt diftinctly hear, and in his uncouth dialect begged me to give him fome water to allay his thirft. Humanity itfelf would have recoiled back with horror; the would have balanced whether to leffen fuch relief:f diflrefs, or mercifully with one blow to end this dreadful feene of agonizing torture! had I a ball in my gun, I certainly hould have immediately difpatched Finis but but finding myself unable to perform fo kind an office, I fought, although trembling, to relieve him as well as I could. A fhell, ready fixed to a pole which had been used by fome negroes, prefented itfelf to me; I filled it with water, and with trembling hands guided it to the quivering lips of the wretched fufferer. Urged by the irrefiftible power of thirst, he endeavoured to meet it, as he inftantly gueffed its approach by the noise it made in paffing the bars of the cage. "Tanke, you, white man, tanke you, pute fome poifon and give me." How long have you been hanged there? I asked him. "Two days, and me no die; the birds, the birds, aaah me!" oppreffed with the reflections which this fhocking spectacle afforded me, I muttered ftrength enough to walk away, and foon reached the house at which I intended to dine. There I heard that the refaon of this flave being thus punished, was on account of his having killed the overfeer of the plantation. They told are that the laws of self preservation rendered fuch executions necessary; and supported the doctrine of flavery with the arguments generally made ufe of to justify the practice; with the repetition of which I fhall not trouble you at present. T On Friendship. HE Ancients ranked Friendship in the fecond clafs of human virtues ; and many are the inftances recorded in hiftory, where its energy has produced effects almoft divine. Confidered in its perfect strength and beauty, it certainly is the moft fublime, because the leatt felfith, affection of the foul. Honour is its very effence; courage, franknefs, and generofity, its unalienable properties. Such is the idea delivered down to us of this noble fentiment, by its cotemporary writers, who together flourished, and together fell:' for fome centuries have elapfed, fince this exalted phænomenon has deigned to appear among the degenerate Sons of Men; and, like a mutilated ftatue, it is now become rather an object of admiration to a few Virtuofi in philofophy, than a fubject for general emulation. Montaigne, amongst the Moderns, feems to have felt a stronger emanation of this virtue, than any Author I am acquainted with; and, though the utmoft ftretch of his warm imagination gives us but a faint ray of its ancient luttre, yet even this flight refemblance appears too flrong for our weak eyes, and feems rather to dazzle than attrad our regards. Our cotemporary. Dr. Young, has left us feveral very beautiful descriptions of Friendship, which, though deficient in that fire which not only blazed but bur. ned in this ancient virtue, are, however, fufficient to form both our theory and our practice upon : True Friendship warms, it raises, it tranfports, Whofe very rapture is tranquillity.' Like Mufic pure the joy, without allay, This is a very pleafing and just description of Friendship in the abitract; but it wants that energy which particular attachments add to all our fentiments, and without which, like a winter's fun, they fhine, but do not warm. The fame Author has given us a more interetling, though, perhaps, lefs elevated idea of this affection of the mind, in his address to a particular perfon : Lorenzo, pride fupprefs, nor hope to find A Friend, but what has found a Friend in thee.' This is a new, and I think a just, light in which we may confider this fentiment; for, though love may be formed without fympathy, Friendship never can. It is, even in its degenerate state, an affection that cannot fubfifi in vicious minds; and, among the mott virtuous, it requires a parity of lentiment, manners, and rank, for its bafis. Of all the nice ties and dependencies which conftitute the happiness or mifery of life, it is the most delicate, and even the moft fragile. Wealth cannot purchafe, nor gifts enfure, its permanence. The chirping of birds in cages bears as much refemblance to the vocal mufic of the woods, as bought courtefies to real friendship.' The Great, alas! rarely enjoy this bleffing; vanity and emulation prevent its growth among equals ; and the humiliating condefcenfion with which fuperiors fometimes deign to affect Friendthip for their inferiors, strikes at the very foundation of the fentiment; from which there can only arife a totterinfuperstructure, whose pillars, like thole of modern compofition, bear the glofs, but want the durable quality of the mental marble, fincerity. Yet there have been instances, though rare, of real Friendship between perfons of different ranks in life, particularly Henry the Fourth and Sully; but the virtues of the latter placed him on a level with Monarchs, and the magnanimity of the former made him fenfible of their equality. Yet how often are complaints uttered by difappointed pride, against the ingratitude of those whom they have honoured with the title of Friend, nay, and have even ferved and obliged as fuch, without reflecting that obligations to a generous mind are infults, when accompanied with the leaft flight or mortification. On the other hand we, perhaps, too willingly attach ourfelves to our fuperiors. Our felf-love is flattered by their approbation, as it naturally imagines it can only be for our good and amiable qualities that they like or distinguish us. But though love, like death, makes all distinction void, Friendship has no fuch levelling power. Superiority of rank or fortune is generally felt by the perfon who poffeffes either; and they are entitled to fome degree of praife, if they do not make others feel it alfo. Let thofe, then, who have delicate minds, remember, that equality is the true bafis of friendship; let them fet a juft value on their own worth, as on the inebriating fmiles of greatness, and not expofe their fenfibility to the pangs it muft fuftain, on discovering that neither virtues nor talents can always keep the fcale of friendship fteady, when oppofed to the adventitious circumftances of high birth, or great fortune. Thus far my remarks upon this fubject are general. Let me now apply them to more particular ufe, by earnestly recommending it to every young married woman to feek the friend of her heart in the hufband of her affection. There, and there only, is that true equality, both of rauk and fortune, ftrengthened by mutual interefts, and cemented by mutual pledges, to be found. There only condefcenfions will not mortify, as they will be conceffions but of kindness, not of pride. There, and there only, will the be fure to meet with reciprocal confidence, unfeigned attachment, and tender folicitude, to footh her every care. The ties of wedded love will be rivetted by the bands of friendship; the virtues of her mind, when called forth by occafion, will unfold themselves by degrees to her husband's perception, like the opening rose before the morning ray; and when its blooming colour fades upon her cheek, its sweetness fhall remain within the very foldings of his heart, from recollection of her fenfe and worth. Happy are the pairs fo joined; yea, bleffed are they who are thus doubly united. As the word Friendship is at prefent generally understood to be a term of little import, or at moft that extends merely to a preface of liking, or efteem; I would by no means exclude my fair readers from that kind of commerce which is now accepted under that title, in fociety. But even this fort of connection requires much caution in the choice of its object; for I Hib. Mag. Sept. 1782. fhould wish it might be restrained to one; and that one ought to obtain this preference from the qualities of the heart rather than those of the head. A long and intimate acquaintance can alone difcover the former; the latter are easily and willingly difplayed; for love without efteem is as a fhower, foon spent. The head is the spring of affections, but the heart is the refervoir. For this reafon, it always appears to me a proof of mutual merit, when two fifters or two young women, who have been brought up together, are ftrongly attached to each other; and I will admit, that, while they remain unmarried, fuch a connection is capable of forming a pure and difinterefted friendship, provided that the fympathy of their affections does not tend to make them like or admire the fame male object; for, though love may, friendfhip cannot exift with jealousy. Referve will wound it, and diftruft deftroy.' That great mafter of the human heart, Shakespeare, has fhewn us, that maidenly attachment is no match for the stronger paffion of love : Is all the counsel that we two have fhar'd, The fifter vows, the hours that we have spent, When we have chid the hafty-footed time For parting us-O! and is all forgot? All school-days friendship, childhood innocence ? We, Hermia, like two artificial Gods, Created with our needles both one flower, Both on one fampler, sitting on one cushion, Both warbling of one fong, both in one key, As if our hands, our fides, voices, and minds Had been incorp'rate.' MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. If fuch an almost instinctive affection as that between Hermia and Helena was fo quickly diffolved by the intruder Love, I fear there are but few female friendships that will better stand the teft. And to a delicate mind it may appear a breach, perhaps, of thofe,fifter vows,' when one of the parties enters into another and more forcible engagement; for Love is an imperious and engrofling tyrant; of courfe the gentler affection muft give way and retire within itself, as the fenfitive plant fhrinks back, oppreffed by too intense an heat. In my fmall experience, I have never feen the fame degree of attachment fubfift Nan between between two ladies after marriage as before, excepting they were fifters. The bands of natural affection are not loofened by new engagements; but those of choice or cafualty neceffarily become relaxed by the addition of a new object, as extenfion leffens ftrength. The minds of most young women feem, and indeed ought to do fo in reality, to acquire a new bent after marriage; scenes different from thofe to which they had been accustomed, open to their view; different objects engrofs their attention; every ftate has its cares; and, from the queen to the peafant, every wife has du ties to fulfil. Frivolous amusements are, or fhould be, renounced, for the more pleafing and refpectable avocations of an affectionate wife, a tender mother, and a beloved and honoured matron of a family. I hope it is impoffible that I fhould be fo far misunderstood, as to be thought to exclude married women from any inno cent pleafure or rational amufement that is fuited to their age, rank, or fortune. I would not only enfure but augment their happiness, and shall therefore fay with Othello, Where virtue is, thefe are most virtuous. But ftill there is, or fhould be, a difference in the enjoyment of their pleasures; between the thoughtless gaiety of girls, and the decent chearfulness of married women. The first bright and tranfient, as the youthful glow of health and vivacity that blooms upon the cheek; the latter should exprefs that tranquil joy which flows from true content. Here I cannot but obferve, that, as the characters and conduct of even her common acquaintance reflect honour or difgrace upon a young married woman, fhe will be an inevitable fharer in that degree of contempt which her chosen friend poffeffes in the efleem of the world: and though its cenfures may fometimes involve the innocent with the guilty; yet, in general, there is no fairer way of forming our opinions of perfons we do not know, than from their intimate affociates. There is fomething still more alarming to be dreaded for a young woman who is thoughtless enough to form indifcriminate friendships. There is a lightness of mind and manners in many women, who, tho' free from actual vice, have loft that delicate fenfibility which heaven has placed in female minds as the out-guard of modelly, The rofy blush that gives the intuitive aJarm to decency, even before the perceptions of the mind are awake to danger, glowa not upon their cheek; the fnowy purity of innocence beams not upon their dauntless forehead, though it may ftill retaim its whitenefs. Their minds may be coarfe, however delicate their form; and their manners unfeminine, even without being mafculine. An intimacy with such persons is, of all others, the most dangerous. The frank. nefs and livelinefs of their converfation render them too generally agreeable, and they frequently undermine the principles of virtue, before we find it neceffary to ftand upon our guard. As the Platonic fyftem has been long exploded, it is almoft unneceffary to warn my fair readers againft particular intimacies with the other fex, when not closely connected with them by the ties of blood or affinity. The whole fyftem of nature muft change, and the tyger and the lamb live peaceably together, before a fincere and difinterefted friendship can fubfift be tween an amiable young woman and a man not nearly related to her, who has not paffed his grand climacteric. A mas of fuch an age, poffeffed of fenfe and virtue, may perhaps be a kind and useful Mentor; but, if a married woman is happy enough to meet with a proper and affectionate return from the first object I have recommended to her choice, the cannot stand in need of any other friend. Mr. O'Leary's celebrated Plea for Liberty of (Continued from p. 419.) State of the Cafe, continued, Man, engaged in error, proposes to A himfelf to ferve God in the manner he thinks moft pleafing to the Sovereign Being. Though he mistakes the right road, yet his intention is fincere. Moreover, blafphemy involves a breach of manners, which has a natural tendency to dilturb the peace of fociety. A friend takes offence, if his friend is abused in his prefence; a brother, if his brother is used in an indecent manner. A Jewish rabbin may preach in his fynagogue, that the Meffiah is not yet come, and extricate himself as well as he can, by doing away the weeks and days of the prophet Daniel. No chriftian can blame him: for we all know that it is the man's belief; and that he is fincere, though in error at the same time. But this Jew, convinced that Chrift is refpected by the Chriftians, and worthipped by them, as their God, would expole himself to the rigour of the magiftrate, if he openly called Chrift an impoftor: because he infults the magiftrate more than if he gave this denomination to his father or brother. The 17828 Mr. O'Leary's Plea for Liberty of Confcience. The most monstrous abfurdity, then, that ever met with apologifts in church or ftate, is the mifdirected zeal that punishes the body for the fincerity of an erroneous confcience. Whereas, no perfon deferves more the feverity of human lawa, than the impoftor who betrays it. The divines themfelves, whofe forced interpretations of fcripture, and theological difputes, have armed fovereigns against their fubjeas, agree that no perfon can act against the immediate dictates of an erroneous i confcience. Hence, the Jew, who is under a conviction that Christ is not God, would be guilty of grofs idolatry, if, from motives of worldly intereft, he worshipped him with the Chriftians. In punishing him for not worthipping Christ, you punish the candour, fincerity, and uprightnefs of a deluded man, who is afraid to offend his Creator. The fame can be faid of all others who diffent from any eftablished religion. But I fhall be told, that, in reafoning thus, I renounce my own creed: whereas the refcripts of popes, the establishment of the inquifition, and numberlefs text3 of the canon law, relating to heretics, fhew what a catholic clergyman ought to believe. I have already declared, and fufficiently proved, that the refcripts of all the popes that ever fat in Peter's chair, or ever will, can never make an article of faith for Roman catholics; no more than a king of England's proclamation can make an article of faith for English proteftants, tho' he is head of their church. Pofitive laws and human establishments, temporary fanctions and local regulations, are no creeds, nor articles of religion. And, happy for the honour of the proteftant religion in thefe realms, that they are not. No catholic divine ever attributed fuch power to a general council, as Sir William Blackstone attributes to the "It can change,' ," British parliament. fays he, "the religion of the land, and do every thing under heaven, that is poffible." If all its acts were to be confidered as articles of faith, (as fome paltry fcribblers would fain obtrude on the public, the texts of the canon-law, and the referipts of popes, as articles of catholic belief,) the world could never fee fuch a religious creed. 467 neighbour's horfe; the fon authorised to From thofe he would pafs to The catholic orator, who would fain be on equal terms with his proteftant brother, either in the pulpit or in print, would amplify his theme, enumerate the circumftances, and, in a long ftrain of invective, hold forth that it is a principle of the proteftant religion, to perfecute to death thofe of a different religion; to encourage difobedience and rebellion in children to their parents; to rob a man of his property; to violate the laws of nations; to be fo incredulous as not to believe their eyes; and to adminifter to the paffions and luft of their kings: then to produce extracts of their ftatutes, in corroboration of the charge, and to caft those horrors on all the proteftants in the world. The candid, impartial man would be more nice than to confound the actions of men, and their politive laws, with the principles of the proteftant religion. And candour fhould induce the minifters of the gofpel, not to revile the body of catholics, by extending local regulations, exaggerating facts, and erecting the miftakes and prejudices of a few, into a religious creed and a symbol of orthodoxy for the whole. Thofe laws, then, that doom beretics to death, as well as the establishment of the inquifition, are no parts of a catholic's creed; no more than the fore-mentioned acts of parliament are part of the church of England's creed. The true religion fhould be preferved and perpetuated by the fame means that eftablished it,-by preaching the word of God, attended with prudence and difcretion,-the practice of all chriftian virtues, -boundless patience and charity. Machiavel is of opinion, that "difarmed prophets never made any conquefts." Whatever refpect is due to him, on account of his fkill in fanguinary politics NOT and literature, in this maxim he betrays The reader would fee, in Gothic cha- be E. & Nna 2 |