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IfUR-DAT, Ssptembe? 20, 1783. “GEORGIA STATE GAZETTE •lindependent »r ■ ■ l * m . O IkEE DO M of the PRESS, and TRIAL bj JURY, to remain inviolate forever. ConJHtution of Georgia • I V GUST A: Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the State-, EJfays, Articles of I Intelligence, Advertisements, (Ac. will be gratefully received, and every kind of Printing performed. I Lector to Auditor. Br T were the grofleft flattery to attribute II to your ingenuity, what is really the rc fult of illepid invettive and feeble ■biifc ; I mean, that predicament I may le apprehended to (land in, of hazarding ■he imputation of insanity by a serious re- Wy: I shall therefore plate it among ■hpfe nugatory fortuities, which the mind Kas never thought worthy of investigation ■ n any flage of their existence, and couch Bnyrefponfe in such profundity cf reason- Ing and solemnity of phrase, as if I had Bn view the probationary recital of an ■African convert prior to his advancement to the grade of a Baptiflical devotee : Willing however that you may enjoy the reputation of poflefling a certain fliare of underfianding, I will prcmife, that you have some grand political revolution in your eye, of which that you may never be fufpetted, you will confefs yourfelf the author of a critical analization of these glaring aflertions and confefled crudities of mine which were only uttered to be derided:—Your outrageous effoit to demolith that mirror which was con llrutted for your foie ule, demonflrates indeed, that you were not much delight ed with its powers of reflexion, but is a whimsical manner of attempting to in troduce its author to contempt or neglect •—1 will allow it to be a falfe glass, and recommend you to thefirft publication in ftur Independent Register of the 15th inst. for a more perfect view of your amisble phizz : After having for a little while con templated yourfelf therein, I make no doubt, that the idea of a Roman hangman, will be totally obliterated in your dirturb ed imagination ; and the complex one, of a modern Littor exercising suicide, tor ture you in its room, until your natural callosity revive, seconded by fuperflition to reconcile you to exiflence. You have hit ■upon the expedient of at once becoming ludicrous and rediculous; by attempting a serious difeuflion of my bumble imitalien of your pfuedo-reafoning \ and then by de nyingtheonly (legitimate) conclulionlhad drawn as a contrast to my prefatory afier tions, and that from your own propositions without any exaggeration. But you have far tranfeended this, when in one sentence, you introduce yourfelf to the public in the charatter of an umpire to decide, who Bull enjoy the laureate wreath; and in another, trespass so egregiously upon common sense, that illiterate folly would klufli to own the expreflion. Ido not en pTy their talte who may dilcern an appo- fitenefs, to the fubjett in queflion, in the couplet which'you have lugged in amongst your •verities, from Hor. II Lib. I Ep, Ad Augujlum. If you had quoted in cha* ratter, you would have cited the proceed ing line to those you have prosaically tranferibed, and according to custom would have charged your follies to my account. Were I to proceed farther in this Brain, I would condemn mylelf of unpardonable prolixity, and that justly; when it is obvious, that the most concise method of enumerating your ablurdities, is to particularize your con lidencies. And firjl, 44 you know not how Horace would reiifli Burgundy”— you are right, physically; for his tafe and your’s, very probably might diia gree—and you are right, positively; if you have never partook of the generous juice. Secondly , and lajlly; your perti nent choice of the epithet 44 idle,” con ferred on me as your opponent: I ac knowledge the charge, from a thorough convittion, that whoever was, is or (hall Band in that anti-relation to you, ought to plead guilty to the accusation. What trait of genius, or what veflige of eru dition is to be found in your productions, that could apologize for your dreaming of being fiyled, An Author of Syflem > Or in what nook of your vacive foul dwelt so much importance, as to give birth to the thought, that any one would claim a triumph over such feeble refinance ?—lt were but putting it once more in your power to render yourfelf rediculous, to exonerate you from your' promise of future fihncr, and therefore I thall infill on your religious observance of the fame 1 But if any votary of rea son will point out where I have sported with found syllogism or true proposition, I will gladly attend to bis obfeivations. -«9&OGGGSC§- Mr. B R I G G S' s Dissertation, (itfirjl President ; On the institution of the Academic Society , forthepurpofe of improvment in Rhe toric and Belles Lettres. (Published by their order.) Gentlemen of the Society , AT this period, when the fine arts have attained to such a degree of perfeftion, for me to attempt an eulogi um upon eloquence would be highly pre famptioue. When I reflett that a Hume, the a Sheridan and a Blair, among many other eminent writers, have employed their pens on this fubjett, I am almolt awed into Silence. However, Gentle* men, relying on your indulgence, and tonfidering America as having opened an unbounded profpett and fixed a new era in the hiftory of this noble art, I am en couraged to hazard a few general observa tions on the objects of our institution. Belles Lettres are allowed to be, not only an ornamental part of education, but extremely ufeful to alraoft every other art or science. They are the handmaid of philosophical knowledge—they intro duce the arts and Sciences in a pleating drefs—Wd direftly to the temple of fame, and drew the arduous path with flowers— and inftruft the understanding by capti vating the heart. It will be a Sufficient recommendation to the study of Belles Lettres to peruse the writings of Longi nus, Cicero, Hume, Voltaire, Pope, Swift, Chefterfield, Sheridan, Blair—but the il lustrious groupe increases on my view, aod fliould I attempt to mention them all it would far exceed the limits I have pre scribed to this little eftay. Neither have our own countrymen been unsuccessful in this delightful study ; —as a few inftanccs, witness the manliuefsand energr of Adams, the beauty and politeness of Je/ferfon, and the correctness of Walton. Nor does the flern muse of Hiftory disdain the al lurements of Belles Lettres, witness a Robertson, S Ferguson, a Gibbon and a Raynal—and among ourselves a Ramsay. But it is my intention to- touch but slightly on Belles Lettres, as their utility is universally acknowledged and as they are of much easier attainment than Ora tory ; I Shall therefore dwell principally on the latter . Eloquence has always flourifhed in a greater or less degree, in every popular government; and always in proportion to the prevalence of the democratical prin ciple. The government of Athens, in the time of Dcmofthenes, was in a very high degree democratical, perhaps more so than any that has ever appeared ; and Demosthenes is allowed to have been the greatest orator whose name ever adorned the page of hiftory. The government of Rome poflefled much more of the arifto cratical principle than Athens, probably more of the democratical than any government Since ; Cicero according*" ly was inferior to the Athenian though eighteen Succeeding centuries hav» not yet produced his equal. Great-Bri« tain too, with all it* principles of vvmtp / oy pfcteCW.]