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POETRY.
A GOOD CAUSE FOR WAR.
CLUMP and £lorl, two surly clowns,
A reeling home one night,
J'rom Ale House where their happy crowns,
They soak'd in saddling plight. .
While all the aaure' tinted sky,
Spread out -its clear'expanse,
/. id all the glittering train on high,
Seem’d o’er their head to dance.
■Quoth Clump to Clod, ?-tell thee what,
‘I only wish thatfll,
As muqh good pasture land had got,
As I can sec blue sky.
And I quoth Clod to Clump, should like;
Thy wish to heat by far,
And have, to prove a'wealthier tyke,
An ox tor every star.
Ah, but, says Clump, to feed them all,
What pasture could be foifnd;
Enough, says Clod, for great and small,
I'd feed them on your ground.
What, and without my leave ? says Clump )
Aye, that 1 would says, Cloddy i
•Quoth Clump, then thee my hide shall thump*
Or I will thump thy hotly.
•So to’t they w ent, both Clump and Clod,
As fast as fist could tag ■,
Till both lay sprawling on the sod,
And scarce a fist could wag.
Now, where’s your oxen, Clod ? says Clump,
And where, says Clod, vour ground ?
Both sigh’d and.carcase rais’d on rump,
In vain, lor both look’d round.
Then shaking hands, they cursed all jars,
And all deceiving eyes,
That look for oxen in the stars,
And pasture from the skies.
agriculture.
MISCELLANY.
Some account of the literary contest between isauc Hick-
erstafF, esquire, and 4ohn Partridge, esquire, two cele
brated astrologers and almanack makers.
Mr. BicLwstftfr, to injure his rival in his
Almanack for 1807, said, “ My first predic
tion is but a tritie, but I will mention it ; it
relates to Partridge the Almanack maker;
I have consulted the stars of his nativity by
my own rules, and find he will infallibly die
upon the 29th of March next, about eleven
at night, of a raging fever; therefore 1 ad
vise him to consider of it, and settle his af
fairs in time.”
This wicked prediction brought Mr. Par
tridge into a world of trouble, of which he
published ** a true and impartial account,”
after the day appointed for his death had pas
sed. The following are extracts from that
account—« The 29th of March, A. D. 1708,
being the night this sliam prophet had so im
pudently fixed for my last, (which made lit
tle impression on myself, but I cannot answer
for my whole family ; for my wife, with a
concern more than usual, prevailed on me to
take somewhat to sweat for a cold ; and be
tween the hours of eight and nine, to go to
bed,) the maid, as she was warming my bed,
•with a curiosity natural to young wenches,
runs to the window, and asks of one passing
the street, who the bell tolled for ? Dr. Par
tridge, says he, that famous Almanack ma
ker, who died suddenlly this evening. The
puor girl provoked, told him he ly’d like a
rascal; the other very sedately replied the
sexton had so informed him, and if false, he
was to blame for imposing upon a stranger,
<< I could not s(ir out of doors for the space
of three months after this, but presently one
comes up to me in the street, ‘ Mr. Partridge
that collin you was lately buried in 1 have
not yet been paid for.’ ‘ Doctor,’ cries ano
ther dog, ‘ how d'ye think people can live by
making of graves for nothing ? Next time
you die, you may even toll out the hell your
self, for Ned.’ A third rogue tips me by the
elbow and “ wonders how I have the eon
science to sneak abroad without paying my
funeral expenses.’ * Lord,’ says one, ‘ 1 durst
have sworn that was honest Dr. Partridge,
my old friend, but poor man, he is gone. ‘ l
beg your pardon,’ says another. ‘ you look so
much like my old acquaintance that I used
to consult on some private occasions ; hut u-
lack, he’s gone the way of all flesh,’ ‘ Look
look, look,’ cries a third, after a competent
space of staring at me, would not one think our
neighbor the Almanack maker was crept out
of his grave take t’other peep at the stars in
this world, and show how much he is improv
ed in fortune-telling by having taken a jour
ncy to the other ?’ May, the very reader of
our parish, a good sober, discreet person, has
sent two or three times for me to come and
be buried decently, or send him sufficient rea
sons to the contrary, or if I have been inter
red in any other parish, to produce my certi
lie ate as the act requires. My poor wife is
almost run distracted with being called will
ow Partridge, when she knows its false, and
once a term she is cited into court to take out
letters of administration. But the greatest
grievance is, a paltry quack, that takes up
my calling just under my nose, and with his
printed directions with N. B. says he lives in
the house, of the ingenious Mr. John Par
trhlgc, an eminent practitioner in leather
physic and astrology.”
A gentleman wishing to convey with a gen
tic reproof, an useful lesson to his gardner.
who had omitted from day to day to prop a
valuable fruit tree, until it was in consequence
damaged by the wind, observed “ you sec
gardnor the danger of putting off from day to
day the doing of any necessary work ; yet
in this w ay foolish men defer their repentance
until in some unexpected moment the wind of
death comes and blows them into eternity.”
EMPLOYMENTS OF AGRICULTURE.
“ Huppy the man whose wish and care
A tew paternal acres bound,
Content to brCathe his native air,
In Ins own ground.
Whose herds with mdk, whose -fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire ;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.”—Pope.
In the United States the great body of the
people are cultivators of the ground ; all the
other citizens bear but a very small propor
tion in number to these. This too syill pro
bably be the state of tilings many ages to
come ; for the cheapness and inexhaustible
plentiness of land and the consequent dear
ness of labor, will in all likelihood, prevent
for along time the extensive establishment
of manufactures. The inhabitants of the
eastern and middle states generally cultivate
their own land, and arc lords of the soil ;—
and no circumstance can be more favorable
to the support of freedom and independence.
Idleness, with its train of destructive vices,
can never contaminate this body of men, ge
nerally ; extravagance and dissipation can
never poison the great mass of them. Some
farmers will be idle, extravagant and dissi
pated, hut these will hew a very small pro
portion to the whole number. In the com
mon course of things there will always he a-
intmg them tenfold more industry than idle
ness, tenfold more instances of saving econ
omy than of waste and ruinous extravagance.
The daily occupations of farmers give them
peculiar hardiness of body and inind, and
ender them more capable than others of sus
taining the fatigues and braving the dangers
of warfare. Being owners of the soil, ttiey
have much more interest at stake in time of
invasion, than those whose property is move-
able, and can be easily transported from one
country to another. At the same time they
are led by their interest to wish for peace with
all foreign nations, and for quietness and or
dcr at home. It can never be for their inte
rest to leave tlicir farms and turn soiejiers,
unless imperious necessity should call ; and
it would bo equally contrary to their inclina
tions. Therefore, they would be unwilling
to engage in any but a necessary war; and
in such a war, a war of invasion on the part
of the enemy, they would not fail to hear
hand, they would he the first to engage and
the last to yield. Fur these reasons, together
with others that arc obvious, the farmers are
the great bulwark of the country ; and if our
national independence and republican insti
tutions should be preserved and perpetuated
(and God grant they may he !) it would be
principally by means of the substantial yeo
manry, a body of men the most incorruptible,
the most brave and hardy, the most attached
to their country, and infinitely the most nu
merous. Our farmers at the preseut day,
have advantages much superior to those en
joyed in preceding ages. Great improve
ments have been made in agriculture, and
these improvements are still progressing.—
Great improvements have also been made in
roads; so that it is much easier carrying pro
duce to market than it was formerly. Pub
lic worship and village schools arc attended
with more case, social intercourse is promo
ted, and friends and neighbours are brought,
as it Wi it, niglier to one another ; for if by
reason of better roads, the travel of 10 miles
is as easy now as that of 5 miles was former
ly, it is in etl'ect the same as if the local dis
tance were shortened in this proportion
As agriculture h.ts been ranked among the
most useful and honorable employments by
every civilized nation, and has been encour
aged by.every wise government ; so it or
dinarily affords a greater share of content
ment and happiness than, peruaps, any oilier
calling of lite. As it is favorable to morals,
so is it also favorable to health and strength
of body. Exercise in the open air gives an
ppetile and lyakes food delicious—flic la
boring farmer lias more pleasure in food, as
well as more enjoy lnent. from sleep, than any
idle epicure ever yet tasted. He inhales from
his fields pleasant, salubrious and invigorat
ing perfumes, liis eyes are delighted while
betiulding his flocks and herds, and the pro
gressive growth of his plants and vegetables.
When he has rendered a barren soil fertile,
by giving industry and skill, or when he has
made a portion of wilderness « blossom like
the rose,” he rejoices in the works of his
hands; his heart is cheered with an innocent
and rational satisfaction.
Industrious, thriving farmers arc more in
dependent than almost any other men. The
merchant lies at the mercy of the winds
and the waves, the trader depends upon
his customers, the lawyer upon his cli
ents, the physician and mechanic on
their employers. But the substantial farmer
can supply most of his real wants from his
land ; and whilst lie is less dependent upon
men than others arc, his circumstances of life
lead him to teel an immediate dependence on
tiiat Being “ who giveth rain from heaven
and fruitful season.” All these circumstan
ces put together, there is good reason to con
clude that the condition of the thriving far
mers is more free from disquiel-ide and more
favorable to the enjoyment of contentment
and happiness, than that of almost any other
class ol people. Indeed many have heci,
glad to exchange high rank and power forth’,
retired and peaceful occupation of agricul
ture. Dioclesian, the Roman emperor, was
one ilk. m trio us instance, who, after he had to- * 1
luntarily left the throne, employed himself in
planting and gardening, when being urged
by Maxumillian to resume the reins of go
vernment and the imperial purple, he remark
ed « that he could shew Maximilian the cab
bages which lie had planted with his own
hands at Solona, he should no longer be urg
ed by him to relinquish the enjoy meat of hap
piness for the pursuit of power.’*
SPURRED RTF,. -
Permit me through your paper to offer to
the public a few observations on Ergot or
Spurred Rye—It i3 occasioned by a small
black II*, of a shining hue, large wings in
proportion to the size of the body ; it depo
sits its eggs in the grain, about the time it be
gins to harden. It perforates a bole through
the glume, or outer covering of the grain,
the part is immediately changed to a dingy
black, a very forbidding color. The inten
tion of nature being thus frustrated, on ac
count of the deadly poison deposited in the
grain, a chymicai decomposition takes place,
the grain tastes sweet as in the proper pro
cess of germination—it lias a very disagree
able smell, when the germ begins to expand.
Instead of producing a plant, it produces a
capsule, about one inch in length, and three
times as thick as the grain ; in some instan
ces the three stainins and billosc stigma may
be,seen on the point of the capsule; here
honest nature’s efforts stop, leaving the insect
to feed on the inside of the production. It
first has the appearance of a small worm,
which changes into a regular form, like the
bug that feeds on potatoes, leaves and blos
soms. The properties of the ergor arc of a
very deleterious nature ; the rye that is in
fected ought to be useless as food, as every
part of the seed is diseased. Seed supposed to
he infected ought to be soaked in brine,
strong enough to hear an egg, for twenty
four hours ; then mixed with slacked lime for
six hours before sowing. Every prudent far
mer will sow sound seed.
CHARLES WHITLOW.
SOLiT
MICA.
the circumstance that the judges chosen Cur
such of them as were condemned with any
forms of law, before whom they were drag
ged as rebels, as traitors, as the vilest of cri
minals, were men who had concurred in be
traying Spain into the hands of France, who
iiad deserted the cause of Ferdinand, and e-
ven fought under the Danners of Joseph.
ilHiM YVALSI1
1 had hopes of collecting some authentic
information for my readers, concerning the
origin and progress of the insurrections in
South-America. But so contradictory are
the accounts from that quarter, so inaccessi
ble the sources of full or correct information,
that 1 have preferred being silent on the sub
ject, to running the risk of scantiness or in
accuracy. What may he safely inferred from
the past history and condition of the popula
tion of South-America, what seems to be ge
nerally admitted, is, that they are by no
means ripe for republican institutions.—
Whether they will ever be qualified to enjoy
them, I very much doubt; but of this I urn
sure, that they can adopt no government of
their own which will be preferable to the
sway tf the old Spanish cabinet. Self-go
vernment in any shape exalts the being, by
inspiring self-respect; revolution, anarchy
f you will, generates energy, and has with
in it some seeds of improvement; but the co
lonial system, the domestic government of
Spain, quenelles all the fire, breaks all the
springs, deadens all the line susceptibilities
of the human character.
When I think of the government of Fer
dinand, 1 have before my imagination, on one
side, an “ adored monarch,” embroidering,
to the passionate delight of his people, a robe
for the Virgin Mary ; on another, the inten-
dant of Valentia expiring on the rack ; Gen.
O’Donnoghue writhing under the state-tour
niquet ; tne ardent patriots of the Cortes,
who sustained unshaken, through a long a-
gony, the fortunes of their country and of
Ferdinand himself, perishing in dungeons, as
their recoinpence, or dragging an iron chain
at the galley s. I am oppressed in touching
on this subject, with a more intense emotion
of indignation, I may say grief, as 1 have a
mong these victims, a friend to whom 1 am
warmly attached, and to whom the esteem
of the world is eminently due. I allude to
Don Augustin Arguclles, of Oviedo, who
took the lead in the Cortes, particularly in
the formation of that liberal constitution, the
irrcmissiblo sin of himself and his colleagues,
for which they are now suttering .the ven
gcance of the doltish tyranny they would
have corrected. Augustin Agnclles, whom I
found in London, in i80r, studying at the
best European school „f speculative freedom,
the principles of good government, with a
view to the service of Spain, would do honor
to any nation by bis enlarged and various
knowledge, especially in the science of poli
tical legislation ; by his elegant taste, his en
lightened liberality, the suavity of his nature,
his elevated disinterestedness, and his patri
otic ardor, which led him to devote himself
wholly to the cause of his country ; and yet
lie who would have died a thousand times to
rescue her, has been condemned as a traitor
to serve for ten years, and now serves as a
common soldier at Ceuta, strictly watched ,
and, though always of a delicste constitution
of body, severely tasked !
It ever there was a case in which wc should
obtest heaven and whatever justice or feel
ing there is yet on earth,”—if ever there was
a catastrophe ominious to the principle of pa
triotism, blighting for all public virtue* it is
• bat of the Spanish Cortes. Were their case
PROSPECTUS OP
THE REFLECTOR.
WHATEVER is necessary to be said of a
paper that will soon speak for itself may bo
comprised in a few words. The editor is in
feeling and principle, decidedly a republican,
attached to our political institutions, and
friendly to the late and present administra
tions of the general government. These sen
timents will stamp the political character of
his paper ; but lie does not think bimsclf in
fallible, or believe all men to be ignorant or
corrupt, who differ from him in opinion. Ilia
feelings are tolerant, and bis conduct will be
liberal. He will duly respect the opinions of
those who entertain sentiments different from
Ills own, and allow them to be heard if their
language and manner give them a just claim
to the courtesy. He will endeavor to avoid
party strife and personal altercation, and la
bor assiduously to soften party asperity, to
convince that every difference of opinion is
not a difference of principle, and to unite, as
far as possible, the whole American family in.
devotion to the happiness and glory of tho
public.
But while our country, Europe and tits
whole world, except Spanish America, are at
peace, and while there are.so few subjects up
on which public sentiment among ourselves is
divided, the political department of the pa
per must necessarily be circumscribed within. ’
narrow limits. The editor rejoices at this, as
it will give ample room and opportunity for*
advancing objects of vital importance to the
country, such as river and canal navigation,
agriculture, and the useful and domestic arts,
—for promoting the diffusion of scientific
knowledge—inculcating a taste for elegant li»
terature, and for giving ardor to virtuous
principles and confidence to religious truths
—employments better suited to the editor’s
feelings, and which his judgment assures him
will bo more beneficial to his country than a-
liy other.
The paper shall contain sketches of the pro
ceedings of the National and Georgia Slat*
Legislatures. Prices Current of Augusta, Sa-
aunah and Millcdgcville. Most of the Re
views, Magazines and reports and transac
tions of learned bodies in America, will bs
■cgularly examined, and their quintessence
adiated from the “ Reflector.” In fine, it
will be the editor’s object « to hold the Mirror
up to nature, to shew Virtue her feature, ami
Vice her image, and the very age and body of
the Time his form and pressure.”
Conditions.—The “ Reflector” will be pub
lished, weekly, in the town of Milledgevillc,
with a good type, on paper of super-royal
size, and committed to the mail, or delivered,
to subscribers in town, at three dollars a year,
payable in advance.
Advertisements that are not improper for
every eye, will be inserted on the usual terms.
Each year will comprise a volume, at th*
end of which an extra sheet will be pub
lished containing a title page and a copious
table of reference. It is therefore hoped th*
subscribers will preserve and bind their vo
lumes. The editor flatters himself that they
will be worth preserving, and that in future
years they will be advantageously consul toil
is a correct history of passing events, and a*
a repository of much agricultural, scientific
ind literary matter of permanent interest anil
value. e
*. November. 18177
N0KICE.
V GREEABLY to ail order of the Court of
Ordinary for Baldwin county, will be sold
on the first Tuesday in February next, one third
of an acre LOT in tlip townof A/illedgeville, oa
Hancock street, the property of Henry Johnston,
deceased, sold for the benefit of bis heirs and
creditors. A. F. BY 1NGTON, adm’r.
November 12,1817.
WARE-HOUSE.
T HE subscribers having associated themselves
in business, under the firm of Dickinson djf
Starnes, oiler their services to their friends and
the public in general, in the COMMISSION and
FACTORAGE LINE. The Ware-House is en-
tirelyjdetached from any building of fire, and on
a good construction, immediately in the rear of
Cosby Dickinson’s large new building, and oppo
site the centre of the upper squares—where every
attention will be given to render general satis
faction. COSBY DICKINSON,
EBENEZER STARNES.
Augusta, Geo. Nov. 4, 1817. l-4t
susceptible of aggravation, it would be from
THE REFLECTOR,
PUBLISHED WEEKLY,
BY JOHN B. HINES,
AT TIIRF.E DOLLARS PER YEAR, IX ADVAXCE.
Advertisements under one hundred words, inserted the
first time for 75 cents, cash, and 50 cents for each contin
uance—longer ones in proportion. Every insertion of no
tices not published weekly, charged as the first. Admin
istrators’sales of real estate advertised for g 4 cash—
ot personal property 3—notices to debtors and credi
tors & 3—and time months’ citations & 5—one fourth
more in every instance, if not settled for when left lor
publication.
GO* The law requires land and negroes belonging
t estators anil intestates, to be advertised sixty days ; per
ishable propery, forty j notices to debtors and creditors,
six weeks , and citations for leave to sell estate, (siouthlyf
he editor must be post paid .-
