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MUSES’ RETREAT.
For The GEORGIA JOURNAL.
PARODY ON HAMLETS SOLILOQUY.
To wed, or not to wed ?—that is the question .
Whether more prudent’tis to fly —to rove
In the sweet vari’gated paths ol Venus,
Or tic the more myflcrioua noose of marriage,
And by that a& to leave them?—Let usponder:
To love j to marry —and in marriage end
Thole thousand heart-achs which the roving
lover,
From his inconstant mirtrefs, often feels !
It is a change devoutly to be wished.
To love ! to marry ! —Marry ? and, perchance,
To beidecciv’d.—Ay,there’s the poignant rub;
For in the scenes of marriage what may come,
After we’ve tied th* inextricable {liackles,
Mull give us paufe —and there is the refpeid,
Which makes such numbers court the Angle life;
For who would bear the bach lor s jealoulies,
His nightly*watchings, his solicitudes,
Anxieties, from doubts of contincncy,
In his uncertain, seldom punctual mistress,
And all her taunts to his remonfhances,
When he himfelf might loon sweet quiet find
In matrimony ? Who’d luch mis ry bear ;
To throb and pant in pleasure s toillome paths,
But that the dread of fomethingafter wedlock
That unknown Hate, of which each droll adven-
Relatesfuch opposite myflerious things, [turcr
Puzzles the will, and makes as rather bear
The inconvenience of a lonely state,
Than fly to untried new perplexities :
Thus diffidence makes cowards of us ail—
Thus is the hue of purposed wooing faded,
And sicklied o’er with wan uncertainty ;
And thus atehievement* of great pith and mo
ment,
With this regard, their current turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
RE-VULUSHED BY DESIRE.
From the Federal Gazette.
Mr. Drown,
At a time when mr. Wilcocks fills
our papers as well as thole of N.. w-
York, with high founding charges
againlt mr Genet, the minister ol the
republic ol France, it certainly deserves
enquiry whether much may not be said
on the other lide of the question ;’ anti
as both ought to be before the public
to enable them to judge, 1 iha 1 Hate
what I fuppolc his defence as follows :
There are, as I underhand, the 10l
lowing charges again!! mr. Genet.
ili. The fitting out privateers, and
this as it flood before he was received
as minkler, and since.
idly. His having joined himfelf to
the antifederal party.
3(lly. His threatened appeal to the
people. And
4thly. His disavowal of the difmif
fion of mr. Duplaine.
As to his commissioning and fitting
out privateers before he was received
as minister, he did this under the au-
thority and inflru£tions he had frem
the nation who sens him, and who in*
rpreted one article of the treaty be
-11 this country and them as a full
’zation of the measure. His
n this occaiion was as repre
s nation not as with relpe6t
to her own citizens, French
and to this hip recognition in
was not requilite; any
lave done as much, who
uniflions from the nation
It vras not known at
urexeculive interpreted
ntly.—No offence on
imputable to him—
his subsequent re
r, was proper and
itfdf mult in our
y thing previously.
’t privateers luice,
ted out since the
ts adopted by the
cCt ; and it is
*fe rules had not
ey would have
n the firfl head
As to the second point of his joining
himfelf to the antifederal party, I deem
this as thrown out purposely to difgult
the federal party with him—for as to
what company a man chooses to keep,
it is evidently at his own disposal, and
can give no reasonable offence to any.
I am persuaded mr. Genet is too politic
a man to refufe civilities from any party
of our citizens, though it is natural as
a stranger he lhould pay moll attention
to those who had paid mod to him. It
is indeed time that these odious and
ridiculous diftimdions of federal and
antifederal lhould cease among our
selves; they form our disgrace, and
mean only a fort of watchword to be
founded as it serves wary and designing
political leaders on all suitable occali
ons:—accordingly we find mr. Genet
cannot differ in opinion with our exe
cutive, but antiiederalifm is intro
duced : it would be equally so if the
Britilh minister differed, cr any body
else. What does all this mean ?—Are
we to.gain. ftrepgth by holding up an
idea of disunion t —For God’s fake let
us drop these trifles, and let the Ame
rican republic, like the French, become
one and indivisible-
But the third charge, and mold loud
efl infilled on, is that he threatened an
appeal to the people. This ever did
appear to me the molt ridiculous thing
imaginable—the mountain was in
labour and brought forth a mouse.
How long since it was deemed a crime
for any body so appeal to the American
people ?—Are not our newlpapers
open ?—Will not the American people
interefl themfdves who read in them
the mi fortunes of the Poles, of any
body, of any nation ?—ls not the
American people, who have formed
all our governments and maintained
our liberty, deserving of confidence,
and difereet in the use of it ?—A wiler
or better people exifl not on the globe
—there is .no danger from any body’s
appealing to them. If it was threaten
ed to appeal to them, the lhould
have been clear and concise—Well, do
I care not —1 am Cure I a£t tor the
bell of my own nation —and if you ■
think this wrong, appeal to them as j
often as you please, it matters nothing
to me—l am always pleaied my con
duit lhould be laid before my condi
ments —1 have nothing to conceal —
nothing to fear. Surely this mode of
reasoning would have been more noble
and magnanimous than to make such
a noise as there has been made about
this, which appears to me flat nonsense
and* to mean nothing, unless it be
thrown out as a tub to the whale.
As to the difavowe! of the difmiflion
of mr. Duplaine, it evidently relts on
conllitutional ground. Does, or does
not the conltitution of the United
States authorife the president to dismiss
foteign minillers and confuls?—if it
dots, I fay it is great povvergiven him,
since it enables him to involve this
country in war when he pleases ; a
power I had thought veiled in congress
only ; they will however, be bell judges
on this point, and by and by determine
it for themfelvcs. “ I am lorry, how
“ ever, in the mean time, the procla
“ mation palled since mr. Dtiplaine’s
“ acquittal by the pr per court; now
“ gives it an air of improper interfer
“ once.”
I would beg leave, in conclusion, to
allure mr. Wi!cock. c , that I am quite
as good a friend to our federal conlh
union as he is, but differ with him, as
to the refpeift with w hich our govern
ment is every where treated abroad.
Is this evident in the detention of our
(hips in England, on frivolous pre
tences, fix or twel /e months at a time,
is it to be seen in their hands being
forcibly taken from them ? or so in
duced or enlifled as amounts nearly to
as much —ls it viable in the Britilh
king’s prohibition of our Pennsylvania
farmers carrying their wheat to a
French market, while he won’t buy it
himfelf at his own.—No, fir, our go
vernment is miserably ill treated,and I
hope the time is not distant, when they
will difeover, that as well as mr. Genet,
we have heavy complaints to make
againlt the insolent and abusive treat
ment of the Britilh king, our ancient
enemy, and I fear at present, not dil
pofed to be our cordial friend. He is
one of the league ar present combined
againfl France, our ancient ally, no
body knows why or wherefore. -He
-an owe us no frisndlhip, and I linpe
we lhall never go *oo far in a frivolous
dependance upon his fnnles.
I approve of ou. government’s desire
to be neutral. I shall refpedt the
firmnefs with which they preserve
their neutrality; but I wiih them, on
a!1 occasions, so to act towards France
and its ministers, now in the day of
their political misfortunes, as they
would have done in 1778, when we
were foliating the nation’s afliflance.
By this means they will manifclt to the
world, a greatness and magnanimity ol
conddl, that cannot but have the hap
piest effed on all their future negotia
tions*
FAIR FLAY.
—o^oos>o
MISCELLANEOUS REPOSITORY
NATIONAL URBANITY.
Miss Hannah More, an elegant
Eng’.ilh writer, remarks, “ That all
the b'lafted conquells of the Edwards
•and Hcnrys of England over France,
do not confer such lubftantial glory on
Great-Britain, as (he derives from hav
ing received, protected, and supported,
among multitudes ol other fufferers,at
a time and under circumflanoes so
peculi irly disadvantageous to herfelf
three thousand priefls of a nation habi
tually her enemy, and a religion in
tolerant and holt-'e to her own.—
“ 1 his,” Ihe exclaims, “ is the solid
triumphs of true chriflianity.”
—o o<so<o
REFINEMENT.
It is a fa 6l, that notwithflanding
there are in the city of P..-ris near
thirty theatres, open every night ; that
there was not at the date of the latt
accounts, “ one place open for religi
j ous worship of any kind or defeription,
throughout that vast metropolis.” The
French, it is true, may have something
else to do, than going to church ; but
in America, we “ ordered such things
much better,” and, without anv de
gree of superstition, it may rationally
be inferred, that to our frequent ap
peals to the throne of grace, and re
liance on the lavour of Heaven, our
success is in a great mealure to be at
tributed.
W A R S.
In 1776, Voltaire, in a difeourfe,
adverting with due scorn and execu
tion, on the folly and flagitioufnefs of
wars, recapitulated, with the rapid
power of his lingular mind, the five
and twenty wars with which France
and England had been cursed since the
conquelt; and he proposed, as a didac
tic work of obvious use, a table of
mortality—a recapitulation, in series,
of all the bolls of men killed in the field
of battle, or dying of camp diseases.
THE CRUSADE.
The invalion of France, at the pre
sent period, is not inaptly compared to
the crusade, which commenced in
1095 —which, though it was permitted
to rage for nothing—though it was
known only by the llnbby failure, and
by the wide spread misery of the events
—though thecurfe concluded with the
murder of two hnn ired millions bl
men ; as usual, in almost every war,
gaining nothing, and loling every thing
—yet such was the complex effrontery
of hypocrisy and guilt, fanaticifm dVid
peculation, that each perpetrator and
abettor of these unexampled enor
mi ties, duped the people witli a vain
reference to fan&ions, of all others the
molt solemn and cheering—they pre
tended to fee, in each outward circum
llance—they pretended to feel, in each
inward emotion, that—they were the
fainted servants of Heaven, particularly
set apart for a pious design—and they j
accordingly denominated it The 1
Holy War.
ANECDOTE.
A soldier in the garrikm of Prulfian |
Silt-fia, being fufpeiled of making
free with the offerings made by th; I
pious roman catholics to the cel.;b ated I
image ol a wonder working virgin; I
he was watched, and upon his being I
searched, two liner hearts were found I
upon him. He was dragged before 1
the magistrate, impriioned, tried, and |
condemned to death. In the course [
of his trial lie confidently denied having |
committed the theft, but that the.vi o.u I
herfelf, in pity to his poverty, had w- 1
dered him to take ihe above offerings.
The lenience, with the prifonei’s tie- j
fence, was as usual laid before the late
king. His m.ijdtv conversed wiih
several of the roinilh divines, alkmg
them whether such a miracle was poili
ble, according to the tenets of their
religion. They unanimoully answered
that the case was very extraordinary,
but not absolutely impoffibte ; upon
which the king wrote in his own hand
the following words:
“ The culprit cannot be put to
death, beeaufe he positively denies the
charge, and that the divines of his re
ligion, declare that the miracle wrought
in his favour is not impolfible ; but
we fcricliy forbid him, under the pain
of death, to receive any present from
the Virgin Mary, or any faint what
ever, in future.”
(Signed) FREDERIC.
O -eir-'O— —
ON THE POWER OF MONEY.
Money, with more than tutelary
power, protects its votaries from in
tuits and oppress : it silences the
enraged accufer.and snatches the sword
from the hand of justice. Towns and
cities,like J ericho, without any miracle,
have fallen flat before it; it has (topped
th- mouths of cannons, a:\rl n’ ore flirt
prifiog It ill, of fadtion anl rm dvf*
It has thrown a fort of glory about
the globule and opaque Ikulls of mer
cenary magistrates; it has imparted a
dread and reverence to the.cnfigns of
authority; and Ibange, palling strange,
to fay, it has made youth and beauty
fly to the armsofage and impotence;
it gives charms t > deformity and de
foliation ; transforms Hymen into
M unmon, and the g >,l of love into a
satyr. It has built bridges without
foundations, formed libraries without
books, hopi'a's without endowments,
and churches without benefices. It
has turned conscience into a deiff,
honour into a pimp, courage into a
modern officer, and honeffy into a
Itock-jobber.—There is nothing won
derful it has not eff.-elect—except mak
ing men wife, virtuous and happy.
—<s:a>Mo-®o—
V/ I T.
Os the hits of the Engliffi, at the
French fans culottes, the neatest we
have is in a letter from Plymouth. It
is there Hated, that forae of the French
•prisoners procured clothes,and escaped
in that disguise !
Apophthegms.
The gentlefl, and perhaps one of
the mod effectual methods of flopping
the progress of vice, is by removing the
temptation.
V ices, like diseases, are often here
ditary. The property of the one is to
infeft the manners, as the other psifons
the springs of life.
Virtue is a diamond which when the
world despises, it is plain that knaves
and fools have too much fvvay there
in.
Virtue is the furefl foundation both
of reputation and fortune, and the firlt
flep to greatness is to be honed.
The firfl years of man mud make
provision for the last. He that never
thinks, can never be wife.