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‘* POET Rr. I
4
—• C9pesfo/>*m*-
dor the Georgia &c Carolina
Gazette.
Address to Liberty.
O Liberty ! celefi'al maid ,
The fwectcft gift of Heav'n!
i These cheenn t g countenance con
vey'd,
* *
To man ablcfiing giv'n.
IVith thy fccicty, ifblcft,
IHhat'er my let my be,
Still will I count the event hcjl
If ever cheer'd by thee.
If thou art kind , /ho poor, I'!/mile;
Nor heed fate's adverse dart:
And jlill the weary lours beguile,
Less poignant to my heart.
With tho'tsef thee, the brow of age ,
Refines a lochferene ;
The bed off chiefs,ly the sage,
Less terrible is fesn.
By thee , the wretched captive's
hearty
Is taught to leap with joy :
To Jlav'ry thou doji imp arty
A thought, which cannot cloy.
life's without thee a difnal wafe !
O r faculties are cramp'd y
Nature is blunted , and our taste
Deprav'dy our fouls are damp'd.
Oh then y fweet t( mountain nymph”
do grant ,
That I may fill defy,
The forms of fate, and never want ,
1 he sweets of Liberty !
w. • i ■-
A N E C D 0 TE.
A clergyman espied in a poor la
borer's gay den ten bee hives ; tena
cious of his tytheSy he exclaimed,
<( Johyiy so you have got ten bee
hivesy one I claim as rector oj the
parijhfceyou bring it to myhoufa%”
The man shortly after took it. and,
enhis arrived at the roller's, was
ordered to carry it into the garden ;
tc No,” fays he, u where's maj
ter s” On being foewn into the
parlor , where the reverend divine
fat , “ here,” said he <c I've bro't
your bees, but the hive's mine, for
! ~-n me but I give two pence for
it.” He then JJoock out the bees,
cce’hsy He. from the hive and car
y. and t eff with him ; and left the
pur]on to make the befl he could of
the indufrious and enraged inf ells
ON THE LOVE OF LIFE.
BY DR. GOLDSMITH.
Age, that lessens the enjoyment
of life, encreafes our desire of living.
These dangers which, in the vigor
cfyouth, we had learned to dejpife,
ajfumc new terrors as we grow
oil. Our caution increasing as
our years increase, fear becomes at
las the prevailing pajjion of the
mind; and tbsfmall remainder cf
life is taka: up in ufclefs efforts to
keep off cur cud , or provide for a
continued ex fence.
Strange coni’ radii on in our na
ture, and to which even the wfe
are liable ! If Ifhculcl idgc of that
part of life which lies ‘'bet . -r me by
that which I have already fen the
prcfpeli is hideous. r yperi mice
tens vie, that ;; y pas enjoyments
have brought no real feting' ; and
fenfatien a fires me, that these 1
have felt are freager than these
which arc yet i-j came. 1’ t ex-
perience andfenfallot, hi ; aln per
suade ; hope, mere powerful than
either, drejfes cut the difiant prof
pelt in fancied beauty feme hap
pinqs in long perfpeidive, Jlill
beckons me to pursue ; and, like a
losing gamefier, every new disap
pointment encreafes my ardor to
continue the game.
Whence then is this increasing
love cf life* which grows upon us
with our years ? whence comes it
that we thus make greater cforts
to preserve our ex fence, at a pe
riod when it becomes scarce worth
our keeping f Is it that nature,
attentive to the preservation of man
kind, encreafes our wishes to live,
while foe legfons cur enjoyments ;
and as foe robs the senses of every
pie afire, equips imagination in the
spoils ! Life would be infupportta-
ble to an old man, who, loaded
with infrmitits, feared death no
more them when in the vigor of
manhood ; the numberless calami
ties of decaying nature, and the
confcicufnefs of surviving every
pic afire, would at once induce him,
with his own hand, to terminate
the feene of misery j but happily
the contempt of death f erf akes him
at a time when it could only be pre
judicial ; and life acquires an im
aginary value, in proportion as
its real value is no more.
Our attachment to every objefl
around us encreafes, in general,
from the length cf cur ’acquain
tance with it. “ 1 would net
chufe,” fays a French Fhilofopher,
“to fee an oldpoft pulled up, with
which I had been long acquainted.”
A mind long habituated to a cer
tain set cj objedls, znfenfibly be
comes fond of feeing them ; visits
them from habit, and parts from
them with re lull mice: from hence
proceeds the avarice of the old in
every kind cf poffcffon ; they love
the world and all that it produces ;
they love life and all its advanta
ges ■, not because it gives them plea-
Jure, but because they have kmwn
it long ,
t Ckinvang the Chafe, afeending
toe throne of China, commanded
that all who were unjustly detain
ed in prifen during the preceding
reigns Jhould beset free. Among
the number who came to thank
their deliverer on this occaficn,
there appeared a majefic old man,
who falling at the emperor's feet,
addrejjed him as follows: <c Great
“father cf China behold a wretch
“ now eighty five years old, who
“ was font up in a dungeon at the
“ age of twenty two. I was im
“ prifined, though a f ranger to
“ crime, or without ‘'being even
“ confronted by my accusers. I
“ have now lived in solitude and
“ darkness for more than fifty
“ years, and am grown familiar
<c with dfttrefs. As yet dazzled
“ with thefplendcr of that fun to
<c which yen have restored me, I
<c have been wandering the fir eels
(t find out feme friend that
u would assist, cr relieve, or re
member me ; but my friends, my
“ family, and relations, are all
“ dead, and lam fey got ten, Per
r,l‘tt me then, O Chinn ang, to
<c wear out the wretched remains
fC of life in my former prifen the
:s walls cf my dungeon are to me
“ mr: pie a frig than the moft
e fiately palace: l have not long
to Ive, and foall be unhappy
<f except I spend the rest oj my
<c days where my youth was pas
“ fed in O-f fnion from ~,WV
you Were pie fed toreleafe m.
r lhe old man's pcfjicn for con
finement is similar to that we ah \
have for life. JVc are habituated
to the prison, we lock round with \
dfcontent, are displeased with the
abode, and yet the length . of our
captivity only encreafes cur fend
nejs for the cell. ‘The trees ws
. have planted, the heufes we have
built, or the we have be
gotten, all serve to bind us closer
to the earth, and embitter our
parting. Life fees the young like
anew acquaintance ; the compa
nion as set unexhaufted, is at once
inftruliive and amuftng ; its com
pany pleases, yet, for all this, it is
but little regarded. Tc us, who
are declined in years, life appears
like an old friend ; its jefis have
been anticipated in former conver-
f alien it has no new fiory to
make us /mile, kg new improve~ ■
went with which to furprize, yet
Jlill we love it, husband the waf
ting treasure with incteafedfru
gality, and feel all the. poignancy of
anguish in the fatalfeparation.
Sir Philip Mor daunt was young
beautiful,’ fine ere, brave, an Eu
glifhman. He had a complete for
tune of his own, and the love cf
the king his wafer, which was
equivalent to riches. Life opened
all her treasures before him, and
pr crafted a long J'uccejfm of hap
pinejs. He came, tafled of the
entertainment, but was disgusted
even at the beginning. He pro
fefed an averficn to living ; was ■
tired of walking round the fame
circle ; had tried every enjoyment,
any found them all grown weaker
at every repetition. “ If life be, in
youth, so dftpleafuig,” cried he to
himfelf, Ct what will it appear
<c when age comes on ? If it be
“at present indifferent, fare ‘it
iC will then be execrable.” This
thought embittered every refielri
on 3 till, at last, with all the sere
nity of perverted reason, he ended
the debate with apificl! Had this
felf-deluded man been apprized,
| that exftlsnee grows more desirable
[ to us the longer we exiji% he would
! have then faced old age without
j fijrinking ;he would have boldly
, dared to live andferved thatfo
t ciety by his future ajfiduity, which
he basely injured by his desert ion.
. “OiQO— -■
ON THE DREAD OF THUNDER.
Beads difeover a consciousness
I of danger at the approach cf a
| thunder temped* : they leave
their food ; and their looks and
postures betray symptoms of fear
and amazement. But birds,
Ihekcred from the fatal bolts by
their feathers, are fearlefs.—
While the thunder roars and
the dark and heavy cloud is mov
ing on towards them, they are
otten Icen in a playful frolick
fome mood. Both are guided
by an unerring inftindb. Beads
are sometimes struck dead by
lightning ; they are in real dan
ger : and have, therefore, cause
to fear. But fghtiling, which
has power to rive the strongest
oaks, and even the hardest tccks y
Lldom, if ever, pafles between
the feathers, and pierces the bo
dies of birds. * The latter, as
if conscious of their fafety ; and,
at the fame time, exhilerated by
the change of air, that begins to
be purifyed and sweetened by
* cxplofions from the gathering
c: ouds, and ifcover m<ik sos gi?, s
and they have indv;:-d r-\V anv
for their expreili a marks cf
joy.
Man, exalted b” reafen, srd ’
fall more by religion, fhculd hy
this, as in all other refpefts,
a higher part than the beads cl
the Held and the fowls of the air,
A thunder and temped orders
one of the fublimefc Irenes in
nature; and its sublimity n
blended with a degree of awful
nefs proportionate to which •
thoughtlels, and much more, a
frolickfome levity, during such
a fcenc, though becoming bird?,
would be highly unbecoming
men and women. On the other
hand, they fnould not difeover
the ftopid amazement, nor the
* frantic fright of beads.
Thunder and lightning are
necessary in the grand operations
of nature : they are (t Mi lifters
of good” to mankind, and their
general tendency is to save life
rather than to destroy it. By
killing noxious vapours and cla
rifying and sweetening the ah",
♦ they render it v/holefcme and
prevent the spread of peililencc
and other mortal diseases. For
one pei son destroyed b; light
ning, thousands and hundreds
of thousands, would be destroy
ed by poisons and mortal conta
gions in the atmosphere, if this
powerful instrument to cleanse
it were never used.
The fear arising from thunder
storms should therefore be, in a
manner, loft in gratitude for the
general good, which they occa
sion j and parents instead of set
ting before their children on such
occasions., an example of con
firmation and wild affright,
which would tend to render
them miserable through life,
should endeavor to fortify their
minds by arguments drawn from
reason, philosophy and religion.
* It is the prattlee of feme peo
ple always to rife from their bed
when thunder temp efts happen
during the night ferf on ; whereat
a bed, filled with feathers, is the
fafeft fit nation that can be found.
ON DEATH.
By an unalterable decree of flea*’
ven, iC it is appointed to all men
once to die and we are daily so
surrounded with accidents out of
the common road to the zrave, that
it is rather a wonder we should (
live a day, that linger threefcorc
years.—Death mocks and derides
the moft prudent care and forefight
of the wisest mortals that endeavor
to avoid it, by hastening their ends
by the fame means they thought to
prevent it. The only way r.ct to
be furprfted by death, is to be al
ways provided to die, and then it
cannot come toofoon.
THE GOOD HOUSE-JFIFE. -
A good wife fKidd be like three
things three things Jhe
jhould not be He.
; i. The ftoould be like a fuail
always keeping within her own
bottfe j but she bhcufd not be like
afnail , to carry all !he has upon
her back.
2. otss jucu.a dc /•an ceijo,
to fpeah when . jc m fpeken to ; but
Jhe should not be Hie an echo, al
ways to have ihe left word !
3. The fyy.dd be Idea town
clock, always keep tine and re
gularity ; but foe ftoould not be like
a town click, to fpeah so loud that
.11 the town may hear hei !