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2007-01-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

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Item of the Day: Sketches of the History of Man (1774)

2007-01-17T12:10:00.001-05:00

Full Title: Sketches of the History of Man by Lord Kames Home. Edinburgh: W. Creech: London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1774.

Book I.

Progress of Men as Individuals

SKETCH VI.

Progress of the Female Sex.

The history of the female sex, a capital branch of the history of man, comprehends great variety of matter, curious and interesting. But sketches are my province, not complete histories; and I propose in the present sketch to trace the gradual progress of women, from their low state in savage tribes, to their elevated state in civilized nations.

With regard to the outlines, whether of internal disposition, or of external figure, men and women are precisely the same. Nature, however, intending them for mates, has given them characters different, but concordant, so as to produce together delicious harmony. The man, naturally more robust, is fitted for severe labour and for field-exercises: the woman for sedentary occupations; and particularly for nursing children. To that difference the mind also contributes. A boy is always running about; delights in a top or a ball; and rides upon a stick for want of a horse. A girl has less inclination to move: her first amusement is a baby; which she delights to dress and undress. The man, bold and vigorous, is qualified for being a protector: the woman, delicate and timid, requires protection. The man, as a protector, is directed by nature to govern: the woman, conscious of inferiority, is disposed to obedience. Their intellectual powers correspond to the destination of nature: men have penetration and solid judgement to fit them for governing: women have sufficient understanding to make a decent figure under good government; a greater proportion would excite dangerous rivalship. Add another capital difference of character: the gentle and insinuating manners of the female sex tend to soften the roughness of the other sex; and where-ever women are indulged with any freedom, they polish sooner than men.

These are not the only particulars that distinguish the sexes. With respect to matrimony, it is the privilege of the male, as superior and protector, to make a choice: the female preferred has no privilege but barely to consent or to refuse. Nature fits them for these different parts: the male is bold, the female bashful. Hence among all nations it is the practice for men to court, and for women to be courted: which holds also among many other animals, probably among all that pair.

Another distinction is equally visible: The Master of a family is immediately connected with his country: his wife, his children, his servants, are immediately connected with him, and with their country through him only. Women accordingly have less patriotism than men; and less bitterness against the enemies of their country.

The peculiar modesty of the female sex is also a distinguishing circumstance. Nature hath provided them with it as their chief defence against the artful solicitations of the other sex before marriage, and also as the chief support of conjugal fidelity. It is held to be their capital virtue; and a woman who surrenders her chastity is universally despised; tho’ in a man chastity is scarce held to be a virtue, except in the married state. But of that more fully afterwards.

A fundamental article in the present sketch is matrimony; and it has been much controverted, whether it be an appointment of nature, or only of municipal law. Many writers have exercised their talents in that controversy, but without giving any satisfaction to a judicious enquirer. If I mistake not, it may be determined upon solid principles; and as it is of importance in the history of man, the reader, I am hopeful, will not be disgusted at the length of the argument.

. . .

What I have no opened suggests the following question, Whether, according to the animal economy above display’d, are we to presume, or not, that man is directed by nature to matrimony? If analogy can be rely’d on, the affirmative must be held, as there is no other creature in the known world to which pairing is so necessary. Man is a long-lived animal, and is proportionally slow in growing to maturity: he is a helpless being before the age of fifteen or sixteen, and there may be in a family ten or twelve children of different births before the eldest can shift for itself. Now in the original state of hunting and fishing, which are laborious occupations, and not always successful, a woman, suckling her infants is not able to provide food even for herself, far less for ten or twelve voracious children. Matrimony therefore, or pairing, is so necessary to the human race, that it must be natural and instinctive. When such ample means are provided for continuing every other animal race, is it supposable that the chief race would be neglected? Providential care descends even to vegetable life: every plant bears a profusion of seed; and in order to cover the earth with vegetables, some seeds have sings, some are scattered by means of a spring, and some are so light as to be carried about by the wind. Brute animals which do not pair, have grass and other food in plenty, enabling the female to feed her young without needing any help from the male. But where the young require the nursing care of both parents, pairing is a law of nature. When other races are so amply provided for, can it be seriously thought, that Providence is less attentive to the human race? If men and women were not impelled by nature to matrimony, they would be less fitted for continuing their species than even the humblest plant. Have we not reason fairly to conclude, that matrimony in the human race is an appointment of nature? Can that conclusion be resisted by any one who believes in Providence, and in final causes?

(January 12th, 2007) Item of the Day: Barclay’s Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1765)

2007-01-17T11:05:00.000-05:00

Full Title: An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, being an Explanation and Vindication of the Principles and Doctrines of the People called Quakers. Written in Latin and English by Robert Barclay, and since translated into the High Dutch, Low Dutch, French, and Spanish, for the Information of Strangers. The Eighth Edition in English. Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, MDCCLXV.

TO
CHARLES II.
KING
OF
GREAT BRITAIN,
and the Dominions therunto belonging:
ROBERT BARCLAY,

A Servant of JESUS CHRIST, called of GOD to the Dispensation of the Gospel now again revealed, and, after a long and dark Night of Apostasy, commanded to be preached to all NATIONS, wisheth Health and Salvation.

As the Condition of Kings and Princes puts Them in a Station more obvious to the View and Observation of the World than that of other Men, of whom, as Cicero observes, neither any Word or Action can be obscure; so are those Kings, during whose Appearance upon the Stage of this World it pleaseth the GREAT KING of Kings singularly to make known unto Men the wonderful Steps of His unsearchable Providence, more signally observed, and their Lives and Actions more diligently remarked, and enquired into by Posterity; especially if those Things be such as not only relate to the outward Transactions of this World, but also are signalized by the Manifestation or Revelation of the Knowledge of God in Matters spiritual and religious. These are the Things that rendred the Lives of Cyrus, Augustus Caesar, and Constantine the Great, in former Times, and Charles the Fifth, ans ome other modern Princes in these last Ages, so considerable.

But among all the Transactions which it hath pleased God to permit, for the Glory of His Power, and the Manifestation of His Wisdom and Providence, no Age furnisheth us with Things so strange and marvellous, whether with Respect to Matters civil or religious, as these that have fallen out within the Compass of Thy Time; who, though Thou be not yet arrived at the Fiftieth Year of thy Age, hast yet been a Witness of stranger Things than many Ages before produced. So that whether we respect those various Troubles wherein Thou foundest Thyself engaged while scarce got out of Thy Infancy; the many different Afflictions, whrewith Men of Thy Circumstances are often unacquainted; the strand and unparalleled Fortune that befel Thy Father; Thy own narrow Escape, and Banishment following thereupon, with the great Improbability of Thy ever returning, at least without very much Pains and tedious Combatings; or finally, the Incapacity Thou wert under to accomplish such a Design; considering the Strength of those that had possessed themselves of Thy Throne, and the Terror they had inflicted upon foreign States; and yet that, after all this, Thou shouldest be restored without Stroke of Sword, the Help or Assistance of foreign States, or the Contrivance and Work of human Policy; all these do sufficiently declare it is the Lord’s Doing, which, as it is marvellous in our Eyes, so it will justly be a Matter of Wonder and Astonishment to Generations to come; and may sufficiently serve, if rightly observed to confute and confound that Atheism wherewith this Age doth so much abound.

As the Vindication of the Liberty of Conscience (which Thy Father, by giving Way to the importunate Clamours of the Clergy, the Answering and Fulfilling of whose unrighteous Wills has often proved hurtful and pernicious to Princes, fought some Part to restrain) was a great Occasion of those Troubles and Revolutions; so the Pretence of Conscience was that which carried it on, and brought it to that Pitch it came to. And though no Doubt some that were engaged in that Work designed good Things, at least in the Beginning, albeit always wrong in the Manner they took to accomplish it, viz. by carnal Weapons, yet so soon as they had tasted the Sweets of the Possessions of them they had turned out, they quickly began to do those Things themselves for which they had accused others. For their Hands were found full of Opression, and they hated the Reproof of Instruction, which is the Way of Life; and they evilly intreated the Messengers of the Lord, and caused his Prophets to be beaten and imprisoned, and persecuted his People, whom he had called and gathered out from among them, whom he had made to beat their Swords into Plow-shares, and their Sperars into Pruning-hooks, and not to learn carnal War any more: But he raised them up, and armed them with Spiritual Weapons, even with his own Spirit and Power, whereby they testified in the Streets and High-ways, and publick Markets and Synagogues, against the Pride, Vanity, Lust, and Hypocrisy of that Generation, who were righteous in their own Eyes; though often cruelly intreated therfore: And they faithfully prophesied and foretold them of their Judgment and Downfal, which came upon them; as by several Warnings and Epistles, delivered to Oliver and Richard Cromwell, the Parliament, and other then Powers, yet upon Record, doth appear. . . .

GOD Almighty, who hath so signally hitherto visited Thee with His Love, so touch and reach Thy Heart, ere the Day of Thy Visitation by expired, that Thou mayest effectually Turn to Him, so as to improve Thy Place and Station for His Name. So wisheth, so prayeth,

Thy Faithful Friend and Subject,

ROBERT BARCLAY.

Item of the Day: The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, on Life, Death, and Immortality (1812)

2007-01-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, on Life, Death, and Immortality. By Edward Young, L.L.D. With the Life of the Author. London: Printed for Thomas Tegg, 111, Cheapside. 1812.

Memoirs of the Late Dr. Edward Young.

Edward Young, L.L.D. author of the Night thoughts, and many other excellent pieces, was the only son of Dr. Edward Young, an eminent, learned, and judicious divine, dean of Sarum, fellow of Winchester college, and rector of Upham, in Hampshire. He was born in the year 1684, at Upham; and, after being educated in Winchester college, was chosen on the foundation of New College at Oxford, October 13th, 1703, when he was nineteen years of age; but being superannuated, and there being no vacancy of a fellowship, he removed before the expiration of the year to Corpus Christi, where he entered himself a gentleman commoner.

In 1708, he was put into a law fellowship, at all Souls, by Archbishop Tennison. Here he took the degree of B.C.L. in 1714, and in 1719, D.C.L. In this year he published his Tragedy of Busiris: in 1721, the Revenge; and in 1723, the Brothers: about this time he published his elegant Poem on the Last Day, which being wrote by a Layman, gave the more satisfaction. He soon after published the Force of Religion, or Vanquished Love, a poem, which also gave much pleasure, to most who read it, but, more especially to the noble family for whose entertainment it was principally written. Some charge the Author with a stiffness of versification in both these poems; but they met with such success as to procure him the particular friendship of several of the nobility, and among the rest the patronage of the Duke of Wharton, which greatly helped him in his finances. By his Grace’s recommendation, he put up for member of parliament for Cirencester, but did not succeed. His noble patron honoured him with his company to All souls; and, through his instance and persuasion, was at the expence of erecting a considerable part of the new buildings then carrying on in that college. The turn of his mind leading him to divinity, he quitted the law, which he had never practised, and taking orders, was appointed chaplain in ordinary to king George II. April 1728.

In that year he published a Vindication of Providence, in 4to. and soon after his Estimate of Human Life, in the same size, which have gone through several editions in 12mo. and thought by many to be the best of his prose performances. In 1730, he was presented by his college to the rectory of Welwyn, in Hertfordshire, reputed worth 300l. a year, besides the lordship of the Manor annexed to it. He was married in 1731, to lady Betty Lee, widow of Colonel Lee, and daughter to the earl of Litchfield, (a lady of an eminent genius and great poetical talents) who brought him a son and heir not long after their marriage.
…

About the year 1741, he had the unhappiness to lose his wife, and both her children, which she had by her first husband; a son and a daughter, very promising characters. They all died within a short time of each other: that he felt greatly for their loss, as well as for that of his lady, may easily be perceived by his fine poem of the Night Thoughts, occasioned by it. This was a species of poetry peculiarly his own, and has been unrivalled by all who have attempted to copy him. His applause here was deservedly great. The unhappy Bard, “whose griefs in melting numbers flow, and melancholy joys diffuse around,” has been often sung by the profane as well as pious. They were written, as before observed, under the recent pressure of his sorrow for the loss of his wife, and his daughter and son-in-law; they are addressed to Lorenzo, a man of pleasure, and the world, and who, it is generally supposed, (and very probably) was his own son, then labouring under his father’s displeasure. His son-in-law is said to be characterised by Philader; and his daughter was certainly the person he speaks of under the appellation of Narcissa: See Night 3.1.62. In her last illness he accompanied her to Montpelier, in the south of France, where she died soon after her arrival in the city.

After her death it seems she was denied Christian burial, on account of being reckoned a heretic, by the inhabitants of this place; which inhumanity is justly resented in the same beautiful poem: See Night 3, line 165; in which his wife also is frequently mentioned; and he thus laments the loss of all three in an apostrophe to death:

“Insatiate Archer! could not one suffice?
Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain
And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had fill’d her horn.”

He wrote his conjectures on Original Composition, when he was turned of 80; if it has blemishes mixed with its beauties, it is not to be wondered at, when we consider his great age, and the many infirmities which generally attend such an advanced period of life. However, the many excellent remarks this work abounds with, make it justly esteemed as a brightening before death: the Resignation, a poem, the last and least esteemed of all Dr. Young’s works, was published a short time before his death, and only served to manifest the taper of genius, which had so long shone with peculiar brightness in him, was now glimmering in the socket. He died in his parsonage-house, at Welwyn, April 12th 1765, and was buried, according to his own desire, (attended by all the poor of the parish) under the altar-piece of that church, by the side of his wife. This altar-piece is reckoned one of the most curious in the kingdom, adorned with an elegant piece of needlework by the late lady Betty Young.

Before the Doctor died, he ordered all his manuscripts to be burnt. Those that knew how much he expressed in a small compass, and that he never wrote on trivial subjects, will lament both the excess of his modesty (if I may so term it) and the irreparable loss to posterity; especially when it is considered, that he was the intimate acquaintance of Addison, and was himself one of the writers of the Spectator.

In his life-time he published two or three sermons, one of which was preached before the House of Commons. He left an only son and heir, Mr. Frederick Young, who had the first part of his education at Winchester school, and became a scholar upon the Foundation; was sent, in consequence thereof, to New College in Oxford; but there being no vacancy (though the Society waited for no less than two years) he was admitted in the mean time in Baliol College, where he behaved so imprudently as to be forbidden the College. This misconduct disobliged his father so much, that he never would suffer him to come to his sight afterwards: however, by his will, he bequeathed to him, after a few legacies, his whole fortune, which was considerable.
As a Christian and a Divine, he might be said to be an example of primeval piety: he gave a remarkable instance of this one Sunday, when preaching in his turn at St. James’s; for, though he strove to gain the attention of his audience, when he found he could not prevail, his pity for their folly got the better of all decorum; he sat back in the pulpit, and burst into a flood of tears.
The turn of his mind was naturally solemn; and he usually, when at home in the country, spent many hours in a day walking among the tombs in his own churchyard. His conversation, as well as writings, had all a reference to a future life; and this turn of mind mixed itself even with his improvements in gardening: he had, for instance, an alcove, with a bench so well painted in it, that, at a distance, it appeared to be real, but upon nearer approach, the deception was perceived, and this motto appeared,

Invisibilia non decipunt
The things unseen do not deceive us.
…

It is observed by Dean Swift, that if Dr. Young, in his satires, had been more merry or severe, they would have been more generally pleasing; because mankind are more apt to be pleased with ill-nature and mirth than with solid sense and instruction. It is also observed of his “Night Thoughts, that though they are chiefly flights of thinking almost super-human, such as the description of death, from his secret stand, noting down the follies of a Bacchanalian society, the epitaph upon the departed world, and the issuing of Satan from his dungeon; yet these, and a great number of other remarkable fine thoughts, are sometimes overcast with an air of gloominess and melancholy, which have a disagreeable tendency, and must be unpleasing to a cheerful mind; however, it must be acknowledged by all, that they evidence a singular genius, a lively fancy, an extensive knowledge of men and things, especially of the feelings of the human heart, and paint, in the strongest colours, the vanity of life, with all its fading honours and emoluments, the benefits of true piety, especially in the views of death, and the most unanswerable arguments, in support of the soul’s immortality and a future state.

G.W.

Item of the Day: Mrs. Trollope's Manners of the Americans (1832)

2007-01-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

Domestic Manners of the Americans. By Mrs. Trollope. Vol I. London: Printed for Whittaker, Treacher, & Co. Ave Maria Lane, 1832.

Chapter II. New Orleans – Society – Creoles and Quandroons – Voyage up the Mississipppi.

On first touching the soil of a new land, of a new continent, of a new world, it is impossible not to feel considerable excitement and deep interest in almost every object that meets us. New Orleans presents very little that can gratify the eye of taste, but nevertheless there is much of novelty and interest for newly-arrived European. The large proportion of blacks seen in the streets, all labour being performed by them; the grace and beauty of the elegant Quadroons, the occasional groups of wild and savage looking Indians, the unwonted aspect of the vegetation, the huge and turbid river, with its low and slimy shore, all help to afford that aspecies of amusement which proceeds from looking at what we never saw before.
The town has much the appearance of a French Ville de Province, and is, in fact, an old French colony taken from Spain by France. The names of the streets are French, and the language about equally French and English. The market is handsome and well supplied, all produce being conveyed by the river. We were much pleased by the chant with which the Negro boatmen regulate and beguile their labour on the river; it consists but of a very few notes, but they are sweetly harmonious, and the Negro voice is almost always rich and powerful. By far the most agreeable hours I passed at New Orleans were those in which I explored with my children the forest near the town. It was our first walk in “the eternal forests of the western world,” and we felt rather sublime and poetical. The trees, generally speaking, are much too close to be either large or well grown; and moreover, their growth is often stunted by a parasitical plant, for which I could learn no other name than “Spanish moss;” it hangs gracefully from the boughs, converting the outline of all the trees it hangs upon into that of weeping willows. The chief beauty of the forest in this region is from the luxuriant under-growth of palmettos, which is decidedly the loveliest coloured and most graceful plant I know. The pawpaw, too, is a splendid shrub, and in great abundance. We here, for the first time, saw the wild vine, which we afterwards fround growing so profusely in every part of America, as naturally to suggest the idea that the natives ought to add wine to the numerous productions of their plenty-teeming soil. The strong pendant festoons made safe and commodious swings, which some of our party enjoyed, despite the sublime temperament above-mentioned. Notwithstanding it was mid-winter when we were at New Orleans, the heat was much more than agreeable, and the attacks of the mosquitos incessant, and most tormenting; yet I suspect that for a short time, we would rather have endured it, than not have seen oranges, green peas, and red pepper, growing in the open air at Christmas. In one of our rambles we ventured to enter a garden, whose bright orange hedge attracted our attention; here we saw green peas fit for the table, and a fine crop of red pepper ripening in the sun. A young Negress was employed on the steps of the house; that she was a slave made her an object of interest to us. She was the first slave we had ever spoken to, and I believe we all felt that we cold hardly address her with sufficient gentleness. She little dreamed, poor girl, what deep sympathy she excited; she answered us civilly and gaily, and seemed amused at our fancying there was something unusual in red pepper pods; she gave us several of them, and I felt fearful lest a hard mistress might blame her for it. How very childish does ignorance make us! and how very ignorant we are upon almost every subject, where hear-say evidence is all we can get! I left England with feelings so strongly opposed to slavery, that it was not without pain I witnessed its effects around me. At the sight of every Negro man, woman, and child that passed, my fancy wove some little romance of misery, as belonging to each of them; since I have known more on the subject, and become better acquainted with their real situation in America, I have often smiled at recalling what I then felt.

Item of the Day: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1797)

2006-12-29T10:12:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Esq. Volume the First. A New Edition. London: Printed for a. Strahan; and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (Successors to Mr. Cadell) in the Strand, M.DCC.XCVII.

PREFACE.

It is not my intention to detain the reader by expatiating on the variety, or the importance of the subject, which I have undertaken to treat: since the merit of the choice would serve to render the weakness of the execution still more apparent, and still less excusable. But as I have presumed to lay before the Public a first volume only of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, it will perhaps be expected that I should explain, in a few words, the nature and limits of my general plan.

The memorable series of revolutions, which, in the course of about thirteen centuries, gradually undermined, and at length destroyed, the solid fabric of human greatness, may, with some propriety, be divided into the three following periods.

I. The first of these periods may be traced from the age of Trajan and the Antonines, when the Roman monarchy, having attained its full strength and maturity, began to verge towards its decline; and will extend to the subversion of the Western Empire, by the barbarians of Germany and Scythia, the rude ancestors of the most polished nations of modern Europe. This extraordinary revolution, which subjected Rome to the power of a Gothic conqueror, was completed about the beginning of the sixth century.

II. The second period of the Decline and Fall of Rome, may be supposed to commence with the reign of Justinian, who by his laws, as well as by his victories, restored a transient splendour to the Eastern Empire. It will comprehend the invasion of Italy by the Lombards; the conquest of the Asiatic and African provinces by the Arabs, who embraced the religion of Mahomet; the revolt of the Roman people against the feeble princes of Constantinople; and the elevation of Charlemagne, who, in the year eight hundred, established the second, or German Empire of the west.

III. The last and longest of these periods includes about six centuries and a half; from the revival of the Western Empire, till the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, and the extinction of a degenerate race of princes, who continued to assume the titles of Caesar and Augustus, after their dominions were contracted to the limits of a single city; in which the language as well as manners of the ancient Romans had been long since forgotten. The writer who should undertake to relate the events of this period, would find himself obliged to enter into the general history of the Crusades, as far as they contributed to the ruin of the Greek empire; and he would scarcely be able to restrain his curiosity from making some inquiry into the state of the city of Rome, during the darkness and confusion of the middle ages.

As I have ventured, perhaps too hastily, to commit to the press, a work, which, in every sense of the word, deserves the epithet of imperfect, I consider myself as contracting an engagement to finish, most probably in a second volume, the first of these memorable periods; and to deliver to the Public the complete History of the Decline and Fall of Rome, from the age of the Antonines, to the subversion of the Western Empire. With regard to the subsequent periods, though I may entertain some hopes, I dare not presume to give any assurances. The execution of the extensive plan which I have described, would connect the ancient and modern history of the World: but it would require many yeas of health, of leisure, and of perseverance.

Bentinck-Street
February 1, 1776.

P.S. The entire History, which is now published, of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, abundantly discharges my engagements with the Public. Perhaps their favourable opinion may encourage me to prosecute a work, which, however laborious it may seem, is the most agreeable occupation of my leisure hours.

Bentinck-Street
March 1, 1781.

An Author easily persuades himself that the public opinion is still favourable to his labours; and I have now embraced the serious resolution of proceeding to the last period of my original design, and of the Roman Empire, the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, in the year one thousand four hundred and fifty-three. The most patient Reader, who computes that three ponderous volumes have been already employed on the events of four centuries, may, perhaps, be alarmed at the long pros0pect of nine hundred years. But it is not my intention to expatiate with the same minuteness on the whole series of Byzantine history. At our entrance into this period, the reign of Justinian, and the conquests of the Mahometans, will deserve and detain our attention, and the last age of Constantinople (the Crusades and the Turks) is connected with the revolutions of Modern Europe. From the seventh to the eleventh century, the obscure interval will be supplied by a concise narrative of such facts, as may still appear either interesting or important.

Bentinck-Street
March 1, 1782.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is now delivered to the Public in a more convenient form. Some alterations and improvements had presented themselves to my mind, but I was unwilling to injure or offend the purchasers of the preceding editions. The accuracy of the Corrector of the Press has been already tried and approved; and, perhaps, I may stand excused, if, amidst the avocations of a busy winter, I have preferred the pleasures of composition and study, to minute diligence of revising a former publication.

Bentick-Street
April 20, 1783.

Walpole's Private Correspondence

2006-12-28T10:58:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Private Correspondence of Harace Walpole, Earl of Orford. Now first collected. In four volumes. Vol. I. 1735-1756. London: Printed for Rodwell and Martin, Bond-Street; and Colburn and Co., Conduit-Street, 1820.

To Richard West, Esq.

Florence, Jan. 24, 1740, N.S.

Dear West,

I don't know what volumes I may send you from Rome; from Florence I have little inclination to send you any. I see several things that please me calmly, but à force d'en avoir vù I have left off screaming, Lord! this! and Lord! that! To speak sincerely, Calais surprised me more than any thing I have seen. I recollect the joy I used to propose if I could but once see the Great Duke's gallery; I walk into it now with as little emotion as I should into St. Paul's. The statues are a congregation of good sort of people, that I have a great deal of unruffled regard for. The farther I travel, the less I wonder at any thing: a few days reconcile one to a new spot, or an unseen custom; and men are so much the same every where, that one scarce perceives any change of situation. The same weaknesses, the same passions that in England plunge men into elections, drinking, whoring, exist here, and show themselves in the shapes of Jesuits, Cicisbeos, and Corydon ardebat Alexins. The most remarkable thing I have observed since I came abroad, is, that there are no people so obviously mad as the English. The French, the Italians, have great follies, great faults; but then they are so national, that they cease to be striking. In England, tempers vary so excessively, that almost every one's faults are peculiar to himself. I take this diversity to proceed partly from our climate, partly form our government: the first is changeable, and makes us queer; the latter permits our queernesses to operate as they please. If one could avoid contracting this queerness, it must certainly be the most entertaining to live in England, where such a variety of incidents continually amuse. The incidents of a week in London would furnish all Italy with news for a twelve-month. The only two circumstances of moment in the life of an Italian, that ever give occasion to their being mentioned, are, being married, and in a year after taking a cicisbeo. Ask the name, the husband, the wife, or the cicisbeo of any person, et voila qui est fini. Thus, child, 'tis dull dealing here. Methinks your Spanish war is a little more lively. By the gravity of the proceedings, one would think both nations were Spaniard. Adieu! Do you rmember my maxim, that you used to laugh at? Evert body does every thing, and nothing comes on't. I am more convinced of it now than ever. I don't know wheterh S****'s was not still better, Well, 'gad, there is nothing in nothing. You see how I distil all my speculations and improvements, that they may lie in a small compass. Do you remember the story of the prince, that after travelling three years brought home nothing but a nut? They cracked it: in it was wrapped a piece of silk, painted with all the kings, queens, kindgoms, and every thing in thw world: after many unfoldings, out stepped a little dog, shook his ears, and fell to dancing a saraband. There is a fairy tale for you. If I had any thing as good as your old song, I would send it too; but I can only thank you for it, and bid you good night.

Yours ever,

P.S. Upon reading my letter, I perceive still plainer the sameness that reigns here; for I find I have said the same things ten times over. I don't care; I have made out a letter, and that was all my affair.

Item of the Day: The General History of the Wars of the Romans, by Polybius (1812)

2006-12-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The General History of thw Wars of the Romans, by Polybius. Translated from the Original Greek. By Mr. Hampton. And now reprinted and enlarged with several additions. Complete in one volume. London: Printed and published by J. Davis, 38, Essex Street, Strand, and sold by all the booksellers, 1812.

THE PREFACE.

Among all the historians of antiquity, whose works have been adjudged worthy of the admiration or regard of later times, there is none, perhaps, so little known, as the author who is now offered to the public. The words grave, judicious, excellent, are, indeed, transmitted from pen to pen, and fill the mouth of every critic. But though the name of Polybius be thus still accompanied with some mark of respect and honour, his real character has remained almost unnoticed; and his writings, even though confessed to be the objects of esteem and praise, by degrees have fallen under that kind of neglect and general disregard, which usually foreruns oblivion.

It may be useful, therefore, to consider some of the chief among the causes that have concurred to produce so perverse an accident, before we attempt to lead the reader into a closer view of those many excellences that are peculiar to the following history, and which drew towards it the attention of the wise and learned, in the enlightended times of the Greeks and Romans.

Amidst all the advantages which the moderns are by many supposed to have gained against the ancients, with respect to the points of useful knowledge, and the enlargement of all true and solid science, it cannot but be allowed, that, in the art of writing, the latter still maintain their rank unrivalled; and that the graces and charms, the exactness, strength, and energy, which make severally the character of their most perfect compositions, are in vain sought for in the productions of the present age. Those, therefore, that take into their hands the remains of any celebrated name either of Greece or Rome, are, in the first place, accustomed to expect, if not a faultless work, yet some display, at least, of that superiority which the warmest emulation has not yet been able to exceed; some beaming of those excellences, which strike and captivate the mind, and render irresistible the words of wisdom, when delivered through the lips of beauty. It is not, therefore, judged sufficient, that the matter be grave and weighty, unless the manner also be enchanting. In vain are things disposed in order, and words made expressive of the sense. We demand, likewise, an arrangement that may please the fancy, and a harmony that may fill the ear. On the other hand, if the style be such as rejects the embellishments of art, yet let us find in it at least that full and close conciseness, that commanding dignity, that smooth and pure simplicity, in a word, those naked graces which outshine all ornament.

Such are the expectations of every reader, who has gained a taste sufficient to discern, that these beauties are, in fact, diffused through all the finished pieces of antiquity. For though, even among the antients, there were as many different styles as authors, yet nature, and sound criticism which drew its rules from nature, referred them all to two or three different kinds, of which each had its established laws; which, while they served to instruct the writer in his art, afforded likewise a sure criterion by which his works were either censured or approved. Was it the purpose of an author to recite past events, or convey lessons of instruction, in a language simple and unadorned? It was demanded by these laws that his style should be concise and pure; that the sentiment and diction should be closely joined, and no word admitted that did not add somewhat to the sense: that through the whole should be found a certain air of ease and freedom, mixed, however, with strength and dignity; and that, void of all appearance of study and art, he should strive to make even negligence itself alluring. If on the contrary, his desire was to excel in the florid kind, the same laws required that the simple charms of nature should be adorned with all the elegance and pomp of art; that splendid images should flatter and delude the fancy; that the diction should be noble, polite, and brilliant; that every word should be dressed in smiles; and that the periods should be measured with the nicest care, joined together in the softest bands of harmony, and flow intermingled without obstacle or pause. Lastly, with respect to that likewise which was called the intermediate kind of compositon, these laws were careful also to prescribe the proper temperament in which the beauties of the former two should meet and be united; and to adjust the mixture of graceful and austere, the artificial and the simple, in such exact proportion, that the one never should prevail against the other, but both govern through the whole with a kind of mingled sway . . .

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2006-12-21T16:03:00.000-05:00

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Item of the Day: Howard's Lazarettos in Europe (1789)

2006-12-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

Full Title: An Account of the Principal Lazarettos of Europe; With Various Papers Relative to the Plague: Together with Further observations on some Foreign Prisons & Hospitals; and additional remarks on the present state of those in Great Britain and Ireland, By John Howard London: T. Cadell, 1789.

SECTION II.

PROPOSED REGULATIONS
AND
A NEW PLAN FOR A LAZARETTO.

Having now given the plans of the principal lazarettos in Europe, I shall in what follows take the same liberty that I took with respect to prisons, and draw the outlines of a proper lazaretto. – Many lazarettos are close, and have too much the aspect of prisons; and I have often heard captains in the Levant trade say, that the spirits of their passengers sink at the prospect of being confined in them. In those of them which I have visited, I have observed several pale and dejected persons, and many fresh graves. To prevent as much as possible these disagreeable circumstances, a lazaretto should have the most cheerful aspect. A spacious and pleasant garden in particular, would be convenient as well as salutary.

But waving this observation, I will offer a few remarks respecting quarantines and lazarettos in general; after which I will take notice of some advantages in respect of commerce as well as health, which may accrue from such an establishment in England. I will farther, in the sequel, give the answers of some physicians abroad to a set of questions which I was led to propose to them, by considering that should a lazaretto be erected among us, and this country be ever visited with a scourge so dreadful as the plague, the opinions of eminent physicians experienced in this calamity might be of particular service.

OBSERVATIONS UPON QUARANTINES AND LAZARETTOS.

1. All vessels subject to a quarantine, arriving on our coast, should be obliged to hoist a red flag, or some other signal, at the main top-gallant mast head; in order to warn all persons coming on board notwithstanding such warning, should be detained to perform the quarantine.

2. All boats belonging to any ship in quarantine, as well as all craft employed in unloading the same, should be obliged to carry a red pendant at the mast head, whenever sent from the ship.

3. The ship’s hatch-ways ought not to be opened till the captain and mate have given in their depositions; and all the passengers, the secretary, and such of the sailors who may be permitted to leave the ship, should be landed at the lazaretto, under a very severe penalty.

4. The place appointed for receiving deposition should be so contrived, that the person who takes them may at all times place himself to windward of those who make them. This should also be observed as much as possible, at the barrier of the lazaretto, where people are permitted to speak with those in quarantine. But if not, they should be placed on this account at a greater distance from one another.

5. A fort of quarantine having been performed during the long voyage to England and there being, in my opinion, a great probability that the infection cannot remain in any person without shewing itself, beyond forty-eight hours; the persons under quarantine ought to be allowed to quit the lazaretto sooner than is now customary in other countries. Perhaps a residence of twenty-two days may be fully sufficient.

6. Fumigating of passengers as practiced at Marseilles is an advantage; for a person may carry the infection in his clothes, and communicate it to others, without taking it himself, as in the gaol-fever. But this implies, that it ought to be done at the end of the quarantine, to those only who go out with the clothes which they wore when they came in.

7. Great care should be taken, to keep at a proper distance from persons performing quarantine, all sailors and passengers as well as others. My reason for giving this caution is, that I have seen persons just arrived in ships with foul bills, permitted at the bar of a lazaretto, to come very near to persons whose quarantine was almost over; and thus danger was produced of communicating the plague. – And here I shall take occasion to observe, that in my opinion, this distemper is not generally to be taken by the touch, any more than the gaol-fever, or small-pox; but either by inoculation, or by taking in with the breath in respiration the putrid effluvia which hover round the infected object, and which when admitted set the whole mass of blood into a fermentation, and sometimes so suddenly and violently as to destroy its whole texture, and to produce putrefaction and death in less than forty-eight hours. These effluvia are capable of being carried from one place to another upon any substance where what is called scent can lodge, as upon wool, cotton, &c. and in the same manner that the smell of tobacco is carried from one place to another.

It is by these ideas of the communication of the plague that the foregoing rules have been suggested; and were the regulations for performing quarantine directed by them, some of the restrictions in lazarettos would be abolished, and more care would be taken to improve and enforce others.*

It may be asked, how it is possible, if the plague be communicated by infected air, that a whole body of men in a town where it rages should be capable of being preserved from it, as is the case with Englishmen in Turkey: and also, why every individual in such a town is not taken with it? In answer to the first of these questions, it may be observed, that the infection in the air does not extend far from the infected object, but lurks chiefly, (like that near carrion) to the leeward of it. I am so assured of this, that I have not scrupled going, in the open air, to windward of a person ill of the plague and feeling his pulse. The next question may be answered, by asking why, of a number of persons equally exposed to the infection of the small-pox, or of the gaol-fever, some will not take it? Perhaps physicians themselves are not capable of explaining this sufficiently. It is, however, evident in general, that it must be owing to something in the state of the blood and the constitutions of such persons which renders them not easily susceptible of infection. – The rich are less liable to the plague than the poor, both because they are more careful to avoid infection, and have larger and more airy apartments, and because they are more cleanly and live on better food, with plenty of vegetables; and this, I suppose, is the reason why Protestants are less liable to this distemper than Catholics during their times of fasting; and likewise, why the generality of Europeans are less liable to it than Greeks, and particularly Jews. And would not the former be still more secure in this respect, were they more attentive to the qualities of their food, and lived more on plain and simple diet?**

*It is remarkable, that when the corpse is cold of a person dead of the plague, it does not infect the air by any noxious exhalations. This is so much believed in Turkey, that the people there are not afraid to handle such corpses. The governor at the French hospital in Smyrna told me, that in the last dreadful plague there, his house was rendered almost intolerable by an offensive scent (especially if he opened any of those windows which looked toward the great burying-ground, where numbers every day were left unburied); but that it had no effect on the health either of himself or his family. An opulent merchant in this city likewise told me, that he and his family had felt the same inconvenience, without any bad consequences.

**The poorer sort of Greeks and Jews use much oil with their food; and this I reckon a disadvantage to them. I have heard of instances of servants in European families, who through imprudence and carelessness, have been attacked with the plague, while the rest of the family escaped it.

Item of the Day: Harris's Hermes (1751)

2006-12-20T09:29:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Hermes: or, a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Language and Universal Grammar. By James Harris, London, J. Nourse and P. Vaillant, 1751.

BOOK I.

Chap. I

Introduction.

Design of the Whole.

If Men by nature had been framed for Solitude, they had never felt an Impulse to converse one with another. And if, like lower Animals, they had been by nature irrational, they could not have recogniz'd the proper Subjects of Discourse. Since Speech then is the joint Energie of our best and noblest Faculties, (that is to say, of our Reason and our social Affection) being withal our peculiar Ornament and distinction, as Men; those Inquiries may surely be deemed interesting as well as liberal, which either search how Speech may be naturally resolved; or how, when resolved, it may be again combined.

Here a large field for speculating opens before us. We may either behold Speech, as divided into its constituent Parts, as a Statue may be divided into its several Limbs; or else, as resolved into its Matter and Form, as the same Statue may be resolved into its Marble and Figure.

These different Analyzings or Resolutions constitute what we call Philosophical, or Universal Grammar.

When we have viewed Speech thus analyzed, we may then consider it, as compounded. And here in the first place we may contemplate that Synthesis, which by combining simple Terms produces a Truth; then by combining two Truths produces a third; and thus others, and others, in continued Demonstration, till we are led, as by a road, into the regions of Science.

Now this is that superior and most excellent Synthesis, which alone applies itself to our Intellect or Reason, and which to conduct according to Rule, constitutes the Art of Logic.

After this we may turn to those inferior Compositions, which are productive of the Pathetick, and the Pleasant in all their kinds. These latter Compositions aspire not to the intellect, but being addressed to the Imagination, the Affections, and the Sense, become from their different heightnings either Rhetoric or Poetry.

Nor need we necessarily view these Arts distinctly and apart. We may observe, if we please, how perfectly they co-incide. Grammar is equally requisite to every one of the rest. And though Logic may indeed subsist without Rhetoric or Poetry, yet so necessary to these last is a sound and correct Logic, that without it, they are no better than warbling Trifles.

Now all these Inquiries (as we have said already) and such others arising from them as are of still sublimer Contemplation, (of which in the Sequel there may be possibly not a few) may with justice be deem'd Inquiries both interesting and liberal.

At present we shall postpone the whole synthetical Part, (that is to say, Logic and Rhetoric) and confine ourselves to the analytical, that is to say Universal Grammar. In this we shall follow the Order, that we have above laid down first dividing Speech, as a Whole into its Constituent Parts; then resolving it, as a Composite, and its Matter and Form; two Methods of Analysis very different in their kind, and which lead to a variety of very different speculations.

Should any one object, that in the course of our Inquiry we sometimes descend to things, which appear trivial and low; let him look upon the Effects, to which those things contribute, then from the Dignity of the Consequences, let him honour the Principles.

The following Story may not improperly be here inserted. "When the Fame of Heraclitus was celebrated throughout Greece, there were certain persons, that had a curiosity to see so great a Man. They came, and, as it happen'd, found him warming himself in a Kitchen. The Meanness of the place occasioned them to stop, upon which the Philosopher thus accosted them -- Enter (says he) Boldly, for here too there are Gods."

We shall only add, that as there is no part of nature too mean for the divine Presence; so there is no kind of Subject, having its foundation in Nature, that is below the Dignity of a philosophical Inquiry.

Item of the Day: Mandeville's Fable of the Bees (1723)

2006-12-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

Full Title:

The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits. The second edition, enlarged with many additions. As also an essay on Charity and Charity-Schools and a Search into the Nature of Society. By Bernard Mandeville. Printed in London for Edmund Parker at the Bible and Crown in Lombard Street, 1723.

The Introduction:

One of the greatest Reasons why so few People understand themselves, is, that most Writers are always teaching Men what they should be, and hardly ever trouble their heads with telling them what they really are. As for my part, without any Compliment to the Courteous Reader, or my self, I believe Man (besides Skin, Flesh, Bones, &c. that are obvious to the Eye) to be a Compound of various Passions, that all of them, as they are provoked and come uppermost, govern him by turns, whether he will or no. To shew, that these Qualifications, which we all pretend to be asham'd of, are the great support of a flourishing Society, has been the subject of the foregoing Poem ["The Grumbling Hive"]. But there being some Passages in it seemingly Paradoxical, I have in the Preface promised some explanatory Remarks on it; which, to render more useful, I have thought fit to enquire, how Man no better qualify'd, might yet by his own Imperfections be taught to distinguish between Virtue and Vice: And here I must desire the Reader once and for all to take notice, that when I say Men, I mean neither Jews nor Christians; but meer Man, in the State of Nature and ignorance of the true Deity.

From An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue:

All untaught Animals are only Sollicitous of pleasing themselves, and naturally follow the bent of their own Inclinations, without considering the good or harm that from their being pleased wiill accrue to others. This is the Reason, that in the wild State of Nature those Creatures are fittest to live peaceably together in great Numbers, that discover the least of Understanding, and have the fewest Appetites to gratify, and consequently no Species of Animals is without the Curb of Government, less capable of agreeing long together in Multitudes than that of Man; yet such are his Qualities, whether good or bad, I shall not determine, that no Creature besides himself can ever be made sociable: But being an extraordinary selfish and headstrong, as well as cunning Animal, however he may be subdued by superior Strength, it is impossible by force alone to make him tractable, and receive the Improvements he is capable of.

Item of the Day: Paley's Philosophy (1787)

2006-12-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. By William Paley, M.A. Archdeacon of Carlisle. Dublin: Printed by Brett Smith, For Messrs. P Byrne, W. McKenzie, and W. Jones.
M, DCC,XCIII.

MORAL PHILOSOPHY

BOOK I.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.

CHAP. I.
DEFINITION AND USE OF THE SCIENCE.

Moral Philosophy, Morality, Ethics Casuistry, Natural Law, mean all the same thing; namely, That science which teaches men their duty and the reasons of it.

The use of such a study depends upon this, that, without it, the rules of life, by which men are ordinarily governed, oftentimes mislead them, through a defect either in the rule, or in the application.

These rules are, the Laws of Honour, the Law of the Land, and the Scriptures.

CHAP.II

THE LAW OF HONOUR.

The Law of Honour is a system of rules constructed by people of fashion, and calculated to facilitate their intercourse with one another; and for no other purpose. Consequently, nothing is adverted to by the Law of Honour, but what tends to incommode this intercourse.

Hence this law only prescribes and regulates the duties betwixt equals; omitting such as relate to the Supreme Being, as well as those which we owe to our inferiors.

For which reason, profaneness, neglect of public worship or private devotion, cruelty to servants, rigorous treatment of tenants or other dependants, want of charity to the poor, injuries done to tradesmen by insolvency or delay of payment, with numberless examples of the same kind, are accounted no breaches of honour; because a man is not a less agreeable companion for these vices, nor the worse to deal with, in those concerns which are usually transacted between one gentleman and another.

Again, the Law of Honour being constituted by men occupied in the pursuit of pleasure, and for the mutual conveniency of such men, will be found, as might be expected from the character and design of the law-makers, to be, in most instances, favourable to the licentious indulgence of the natural passions.

Thus it allows of adultery, drunkenness, prodigality, duelling, and of revenge in the extreme; and lays no stress upon the virtues opposite to these.

CHAP. III.

THE LAW OF THE LAND.

That part of mankind, who are beneath the Law of Honour, often make the Law of the Land their rule of life; that is, they are satisfied with themselves, so long as they do or omit nothing, for the doing or omitting of which the law can punish them.

Whereas every system of human laws, considered as a rule of life, labours under the two following defects.

I. Human laws omit many duties, as not objects of compulsion; such as piety to God, bounty to the poor, forgiveness of injuries, education of children, gratitude to benefactors.

The law never speaks but to command, nor commands but where it can compel; consequently those duties, which by their nature must be voluntary, are left out of the statute book, as lying beyond the reach of its operation and authority.

II. Human laws permit, or, which is the same thing, suffer to go unpunished, many crimes, because they are incapable of being defined by any previous description -- Of which nature is luxury, prodigality, partiality in voting at those elections in which the qualification of the candidate ought to determine the success, caprice in the disposition of men's fortunes at their death, disrespect to parents, and a multitude of similar examples.

For this is the alternative; either the Law must define beforehand and with precision the offences which it punishes, or it must be left to the discretion of the magistrate to determine upon each particular accusation, whether it constitutes that offence which the law designed to punish, or not; which is in effect leaving to the magistrate to punish or not to punish, at his pleasure, the individual who is brought before him: which is just so much tyranny. Where, therefore, as in the instances above-mentioned, the distinction between right and wrong is of too subtile or of too secret a nature, to be ascertained by any pre-concerted language, the law of most countries, especially of free states, rather than commit the liberty of the subject to the discretion of the magistrate, leaves men in such cases to themselves.

CHAP. IV.
THE SCRIPTURES.

Whoever expects to find in the Scriptures a specific direction for every moral doubt that arises, looks for more than he will meet with. And to what a magnitude such a detail of particular precepts would have enlarged the sacred volume, may be partly understood from the following consideration. The laws of this country, including the acts of the legislature and the decisions of our supreme courts of justice, are not contained in fewer than fifty folio volumes; and yet it is not once in ten attempts that you can find the case you look for, in any law-book whatever, to say nothing of those numerous points of conduct, concerning which the law professes not to prescribe or determine anything. Had then the same particularity, which obtains in human laws so far as they go, been attempted in the Scriptures, throughout the whole extent of morality, it is manifest they would have been by much too bulky to be either read or circulated; or rather, as St. John says, "even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."

Morality is taught in Scripture in this wise. General rules are laid down of piety, justice, benevolence, and purity: such as worshipping God in spirit and in truth; doing as we would be done by; loving our neighbour as ourself; forgiving others, as we expect forgiveness from God; that mercy is better than sacrifice; that not that which entereth into a man, (nor by parity of reason, any ceremonial pollutions) but that which proceedeth from the heart, defileth him. These rules are occasionally illustrated either by fictitious examples, as in the parable of the good Samaritan; and of the cruel servant who refused to his fellow-servant that indulgence and compassion which his master had shewn to him: or in instances which actually presented themselves, as in Christ's reproof of his disciples at the Samaritan village; his praise of the poor widow, who cast in her last mite; his censure of the Pharisees, who chose out the chief rooms -- and of the tradition, whereby they evaded the command to sustain their indigent parents: or lastly, in the resolution of questions, which those who were about our Saviour proposed to him; as in his answer to the young man who asked him, "What lack I yet?" and to the honest scribe, who had found out, even in that age and country, that "to love God and his neighbour was more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifice."

And this is in truth the way in which all practical sciences are taught, as Arithmetic, Grammar, Navigation, and the like. -- Rules are laid down, and examples are subjoined; not that these examples are the cases, which less all the cases which will actually occur, but by way only of explaining the principle of the rule, and as so many specimens of the method of applying it. The chief difference is, that the examples in Scripture are not annexed to the rules with the didactic regularity to which we are now-a-days accustomed, but delivered dispersedly, as particular occasions suggested them; which gave them however, especially to those who heard them, and were present to the occasions which produced them, an energy and persuasion, which beyond what the same or any instances would have appeared with, in their places in a system.

Beside this, the Scriptures commonly pre-suppose, in the persons to whom they speak, a knowledge of the principles of natural justice; and are employed not so much to teach new rules of morality, as to enforce the practice of it by new sanctions, and by a greater certainty: which last seems to be the proper business of a revelation from God, and what was most wanted.

Thus, the "unjust, covenant breakers and extortioners" are condemned in Scripture, supposing it known, or leaving it, where it admits of doubt, to moralists to determine, what injustice, extortion, or breach of covenant are.

The above considerations are intended to prove that the Scriptures do not supersede the use of the science of which we profess to treat, and at the same time to acquit them of any charge of imperfection or insufficiency on that account.

Item of the Day: Dunlap’s Memoirs of the life of George Frederick Cooke (1813)

2006-12-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Memoirs of George Fred. Cooke, Esq. late of The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. By William Dunlap, Esq. Composed principally from the personal knowledge of the author, and from the manuscript journals left by Mr. Cooke. Comprising original anecdotes of his theatrical contemporaries, his opinions on various dramatic writings, &c. Vol. I. London: Printed for Henry Colburn, British and Foreign Public Library, Conduit-Street, Hanover-Square; and sold by George Goldie, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin, 1813.

PREFACE.

The following work was undertaken by me with reluctance, but has increased upon me in interest, very far beyond what I could have conceived at the commencement.

In the month of May, 1811, Mr. Cooke asked me, rather sportively, to be his Biographer, and I, in the same spirit, promised. Hen then said, that he had several manuscript journals, which he would put into my hands; but as nothing further passed, and the subject was not recurred to, I thought no more of it.

After his death, which happened during a visit I was making to New Jersey, the business was pressed upon me, and three manuscripts put into my hands. His “Chronicle,” or a retrospect of his theatrical life, including the first dramatic impressions made upon his mind, with their growth and consequences, was the most important of the three. This work is brought up to 1807. Accompanying it, were two books of diary, kept at different periods, after his coming to London; without connexion, and at first view, not very intelligible, or interesting. These were the materials upon which I was to build. I knew, however, that I could obtain every information, relative to his American engagement, and the subsequent events of his life; and that I possessed a fund of knowledge, derived from my connexion with the New York theatre, and my intercourse for many months with the subject of the work.

Under these circumstances, I undertook my labour, with the determination to exhibit a faithful picture of this extraordinary man, the events of whose varied life cannot but prove an impressive lesson to every reader. The man of genius will see that he must not rely upon genius along; and the man who is conscious of mediocrity, will be taught that he must keep a strict watch over his conduct, when he sees, that even the most brilliant talent, cannot avail to produce usefulness or happiness, without virtue and prudence.

If I have succeeded in portraying the image formed in my mind, by the knowledge I possess of Mr. Cooke, I have rendered service to the cause of morality, and consequently promoted human happiness.

Actors, and drastic writers, as connected with the subject of my book, necessarily form a part of it. I have given Mr. Cooke’s opinions upon them, as I found those opinions: my own, according to the extent and accuracy of my critical judgment.

An actor, as a subject of biography, is not important because he is an actor, but because he is a man who has been placed in situations interesting to his fellow men; and because his conduct, through an eventful life, if faithfully related, excites attention, interests the feelings, and strikingly indicates to others, the path they should pursue for the attainment of the world’s, and their own approbation. Much dramatic biography is censurable, as frivolous, or worthless, or hurtful to the reader; but there are respectable and valuable works of the kind, which though not perfect, add to the mass of innocent amusement, and useful information. In this last class, I would place Davis’s and Murphy’s Lives of Garrick, and Kirkman’s Life of Macklin. I hope the life of Cooke will at least rank as high, in a moral point of view, it must be my fault, if, from the character of the subject, it does not rank higher, as a work of entertainment.

After commencing my work, I found several other manuscripts of Mr. Cooke’s writing, of an earlier date than those I possessed, and of a more energetic and interesting character. These, with his books, and the parts from which he studied, marked by him in the hour of application, formed a rich mass, not only for the ornament, but for the more essential purpose of strengthening my fabric, and rendering it permanently useful.

By publishing my work both in England and America, I present to the many thousands, who have received delight from witnessing Mr. Cooke’s unrivalled talents, a mass of facts, which could not be given to them by any other person; and I have presumed that there is, throughout Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States, much curiosity respecting a man so eccentric in his conduct, and so eminent in his profession. The closing scenes of such a man’s life, are more interesting and impressive than the preceding acts. These scenes have come immediately under my observation, and the description of them is more peculiarly the gift which I could, alone, make to the public.

What value will be set upon it, is yet to be determined; I doubt not that it will be a fair one. When the public forms an unbiased decision on the merits of a literary work, it is seldom, if ever, erroneous.

WILLIAM DUNLAP.

August 1st, 1813.

Item of the Day: Franco-Gallia (1711)

2006-12-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Franco-Gallia: or, an account of the ancient free state of France, and most other parts of Europe, before the loss of their liberties. Written originally in Latin by the famous civilian Francis Hotoman i.e. Hotman], in the year 1574. And translated into English by the author of The Account of Denmark. London: Printed for Tim. Goodwin, at the Queen’s Head against St. Dunstan’s Church, Fleetstreet, 1711.

THE
PREFACE
TO THE
READER.

The following Treatise was composed by that most Learned and Judicious Civilian FRANCIS HOTOMAN, a grave, sincere, and unexceptionable Author, even in the Opinion of his Adversaries. This Book give an Account of the Ancient Free State of above three Parts in four of all Europe; and has a long time appeared to me so convincing and instructive in those Important Points he handles, that I could not be satisfied whilst it remained unknown, in a manner, to Englishmen; who, of all People living, have the greatest Reason to be thoroughly instructed in what it contains; as having, on the One hand, the most to lose; and, on the Other, the least Sense of their Right to it. Therefore a sincere Desire of Instructing the only Possessors of True Liberty in the World, what Right they have to that Liberty, of how great a Value it is, what Misery follows the Loss of it, and how easily, if Care be taken in time, it may be preserved, has induced me to Translate and send Abroad this small Treatise. And if it either opens the Eyes, or confirms the Honourable Resolutions of any of my Worthy Countrymen, I have gained Glorious End; and done that in my Study, which I would have promoted any other way, if I had been called to it. I hope to dye with the Comfort of Believing, that Old England will continue to be a free Country, and know its self to be such; that my Friends, Relations, and Children, with their Posterity, will inherit their share of this inestimable Blessing, and that I have contributed my part to it.

I have often wish’d, in regard to my Author, that he had omitted his Nineteenth Chapter, wherein he discovers a great Aversion to Female-Governments; having nothing to say in Excuse of him, but that being a Lawyer and a Frenchmen, he was Vindicating the Constitution of his Country: Certain it is (how little favourable soever such Governments have proved to France) other Nations have never flourish’d more, in good Laws, Wealth and Conquests, than under the Administration of Women: There are not brighter Characters in Antiquity, than of Semiramis, Thalestris, Thomiris, Zenobia, and many Others. I am sure our Island in particular has never been able to boast of so much Felicity as under the Dominion of Queens; never been more enriched by Commerce, improved by just Laws, adorned with more excellent Examples of Virtue, or more free from all those Struggles between Prerogative and Liberty, which have stained the Characters of our Otherwise most Glorious Kings. But Providence by yet more extraordinary Dispensations, has endeared them to us, by chusing them to be its Instruments of pulling down or bridling the proudest Empires, which threatned Universal Ruin. Our Ancestors under Boadicia made that noble Effort for Liberty, which shook the Old Roman Dominion amongst us. Queen Elizabeth freed us from the double Tyranny of New Rome and Spain: And the Destruction of the present Grand Oppressor of Europe, seems reserved by Heaven to Reward the Piety and Virtue of our Excellent Queen.

Item of the Day: The Farmer's Almanack 1817

2006-12-13T10:26:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Farmer's Almanack, calculated on a new and improved Plan, for the Year of our Lord 1817. Being the first after bissextile or Leap-Year, and Forty-First of the Independence of America. Fitted to the Town of Boston, but will serve for any of the adjoining states, Containing, besides the large number of Astronomical Calculations, and the Farmer's Calendar for every month in the year, as great a variety as any other Almanack, of New, Useful, and Entertaining Matter. By Robert B. Thomas.

DECEMBER, twelfth Month. 1817

Thus man, endow'd with reason's pow'r,
Shall, like the leaf, which Autumn's show'r
Now scatters o'er the ground,
To him who gave, resign his breath,
And, sinking in the arms of death,
Receive his mortal wound (Selected from Ladies' Mon. Mur.)

FARMER'S CALENDAR

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fool the way to dusky death!" So, my friend, another year of this restless life is gone beyond the flood. Look back upon the past, and see how you have been employed. Have you cultivated your mind, as well as your farm? Have you done your best endeavours to promote temperance, prudence, gratitude, modesty, humility, justice, sincerity, diligence, benevolence, mercy, peace, religion, and Charity. Here, my friend, if you have been a faithful farmer, you will have stores laid up in the granary of heaven; a supply sufficient for a life everlasting where no moth shall corrupt, or thief break through and steal. Let your children be kept at school with as little interruption as possible; draw off, our accounts, and settle peaceably with your neighbours, and live happy -- "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more."

POETRY, ANECDOTES, &c.

GUESS-WORK

When I see a young man possess no more honor than to be dunned, I guess he will never make a man of respectability. When I see a man quit work because he has three or four hired men to oversee, I guess he will have to go to jail to pay them. When I see a man suffer a simple wife to run in debt at the stores for whatsoever she fancies, I guess he will soon wish he had never been married.

When I pass a house and see the yard covered with stumps, old hoops, and broken earthern, I guess the man is a horse-jockey, and the woman a spinner of street yarn. When I pass a house and see the windows broken, a bundle of rags in one, and a hat in another, I guess the mistress is a slut and the master loves RUM. When I see a country merchant hire two clerks to tend his store while he sets by the stove, drinking wine, I guess he will soon have to take the benefit of the Insolvent Act, or take a tour to Vermont.

Item of the Day: Coxe's Travels (1787)

2006-12-11T10:27:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. Interspersed with Historical Relations and Political Inquiries. Illustrated with Charts and Engravings. By William Coxe, A.M.F.R.S. One of the Senior Fellows of King's College, Cambridge; Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Marlborough; Member of the Imperial Economical Society at St. Petersburgh, And of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen. In Four Volumes. The Third Edition. Volume the First. London: Printed for T. Cadell, In the Strand, MDCCLXXXVII.

Book III. Travels into Russia.

August 20. We came into Russia at the small village of Tolitzin, which in 1772 belonged to Poland; but is now comprised in the portion of country ceded to the empress by the late partition treaty. The province allotted to Russia comprises Polish Livonia; that part of the palatinate of Polotsk which lies to the east of the Duna; the palatinates of Bitepsk, Michislaw, and two small portions to the north-east and south-east of the palatinate of Minsk: this tract of land (Polish Livonia excepted) is situated in White-Russia, and includes at least one third of Lithuania.

. . .

At Tolitzin we were greatly astonished at the cheapness of the post-horses: and when our servant had discharged the first account, which amounted to only two copecs, or about a penny a verst* for each horse, we should have concluded, that he had cheated the postmaster in our favour; if we had not been well convinced, from the general character of the Russians, that they were not likely to be duped by strangers. Indeed we soon afterwards discovered, that even half of the charge, which we thought so extremely moderate, might have been saved; if we had taken the precaution of obtaining an order from the Russian embassador at Warsaw.

From Tolitzin, through the new government of Mohilef, the road was excellent, and of considerable breadth, with a double row of trees planted on each side, and ditches to drain off the water. We passed through several wretched villages; ferried at Orsa over the Dnieper, there only a small river; went through Dubroffna; and arrived in the evening at Lady. The country from Tolitzin to Lady is waving and somewhat hilly, abounds in forest, and produces corn, millet, hemp, and flax. In the largest villages we observed schools and other buildings, constructing at the expense of the empress, and also churches with domes, intended for the Polish dissidents of the Greek sect, and the Russians who chuse to settle in the country.

Lady is situated in the government of Smolensko, and, before the late dismemberment, was one of the Russian frontier towns: we took up our quarters at the post-house, where we procured a very comfortable apartment. These post-houses, which frequently occur in the principal high-roads of Russia, are mostly constructed upon the same plan, and are very convenient for the accommodation of travellers: they are large square wooden buildings, enclosing a spacious court-yard, in the center of the front is a range of apartments intended for the reception of travellers, with a gate-way on each side leading into the court-yard; the remainder of the front is appropriated to the use of the post-master and his servants; the other three sides of the quadrangle are divided into stables and sheds for carriages, and large barns for hay and corn. We were agreeably surprized, even in this remote place, to meet with some English strong beer; and no less pleased to see our supper served in dishes of our countryman Wedgewood's cream-colored ware. The luxury of clean straw for our beds was no small addition to these comforts.

Upon calling for our bill in the morning, we found our charge as reasonable as the entertainment was good. The satisfaction we expressed at our reception, perhaps, induced the secretary ( as the post-master himself was absent) to think us proper subjects of imposition. The distance to the next station was about ten miles, and the secretary demanded three times the sum allowed by the public regulations, under pretence of our not being provided with an order for post-horses. We hinted some surprize at this charge: the intimation, though conveyed in the mildest terms, the secretary thought proper to answer with expressions of contempt and defiance; he ordered the horses again into the stables, and declared we should not stir from the place until we discharged the full sum. Though we might easily have been prevailed upon by the slightest apology to have submitted to the fraud, we determined to chastise his insolence. We repaired to the director of the custom-house, and were immediately admitted: to our great satisfaction he spoke German; and after we had laid our case before him he told us, that the Russian had demanded treble the sum he was intitled to; he assured us, we should receive instant redress, and that the offender should be punished for his imposition. Having dispatched a messenger, to whom he whispered a private order, he desired us to wait his return, and offered us coffee. While we were drinking it, he gave us various information relative to the Russian posts; added several hints, which afterwards proved singularly useful; and he particularly cautioned us to procure an order for horses from the governor of Smolensko. In the midst of this conversation we heard a carriage drive to the door, which we perceived to be our own, with all things ready for our immediate departure: our old friend, the post-master's secretary, made at the same time his appearance in a very submissive attitude; we interceded with the director for his back, and obtained a promise that he should only be reprimanded. After making those acknowledgements to our friendly director, which were due to his politeness; we took our leave, and proceeded on our journey.

. . .

The Russians differ widely in their appearance and dress from the Polish peasants. The most striking contrast arises from their method of wearing their hair: the Poles shave their heads, leaving only a small tuft upon the crown; whereas the others suffer their hair to hang quite down to the eye-brows and over the ears, and cut it short round the neck. The country was undulating and hilly, and more open than usual until we arrived within a few miles of Smolensko; when we plunged into a thick forest, which continued almost to the gates of that town, without the intervention of a single village, or scarcely of a single cottage.

*Three quarters of a mile.

Item of the Day: The Complete Angler (1784)

2006-12-08T14:19:00.000-05:00

Full Title:

The Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation; being a Discourse on Rivers, Fish-Ponds, Fish, and Fishing: in Two Parts; the First being written by Mr. Isaac Walton, the Second by Charles Cotton, Esq; with the Lives of the Authors, and Notes Historical, Critical, and Explanatory. By Walton and Cotton, ed. Sir John Hawkins, Knt. Fourth edition, "with large Additions." Contains illustrations, songs, diagrams, commendatory poems, laws, and instructions. London: for John, Francis, and Charles Rivington at the Bible and Crown, St. Paul's Churchyard, 1784.

On the art of fly-making, from Chapter V:

First, let your rod be light, and very gentle, I take the best to be of two pieces, and let not your line exceed, especially for three for four links next to the hook, I say, not exceed three or four hairs at the most, though you may fish a little stronger above in the upper part of your line: but if you can attain to angle with one hair, your shall have more rises and catch more fish. Now you must be sure not to cumber yourself with too long a line, as most do: and before you begin to angle, cast to have the wind on your back, and the sun, if it shines, to be before you, and to fish down the stream; and carry the point or top of your rod downward, by which means the shadow of yourself and the rod too, will be the least offensive to the fish; for the sight of any shade amazes the fish, and spoils your sport, of which you must take great care.

In the middle of March, till which time a man should not in honesty catch a Trout, or in April, if the weather be dark, or a little windy or cloudy, the best fishing is with the palmer-worm, of which I last spoke to you; but of these there be divers kinds, or at least of divers colours; these and the May-fly are the ground of all fly-angling, which are to be thus made.

First, you must arm your hood with the line in the inside of it, then take your scissars, and cut so much of a brown mallard's feather as in your own reason will make the wings of it, you having withal regard to the bigness or littleness of your hook; then lay the outmost part of your feather next to your hook, then the point of your feather next the shank of your hook; and having so done, whip it three or four times about the hook with the same silk with which your hook was armed; and having made the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or capon's neck, or a plover's top, which is usually better; take off the one side of the feather, and then take the hackle, silk, or crewel, gold or silver thread, make these fast at the bent of the hook, that is to say, below your arming; then you must take the ahckle, the silver or gold thread, and work it up to the wings, shifting or still removing your finger, as you turn the silk about the hook: and still looking at every stop or turn, that your gold, or whatever materials soever you make your fly of, do lie right and neatly; and if you find they do so, then when you have made the head, make all fast: and then work your hackle up to the head, and make that fast: and then with a needle or pin divide the wing into two, and then with the arming silk whip it about cross-ways betwixt the wings, and then with your thumb you must turn the point of the feather towards the bent of the hook, and then work three or four times about the shank of the hook, and then view the proportion, and if all be neat and to your liking, fasten.

I confess, no direction can be given to make a man of a dull capacity able to make a fly well: and yet I know, this with a little practice will help an ingenious angler in a good degree: but to see a fly made by an artist in that kind, is the best teaching to make it; and then an ingenious angler may walk by the river and mark what flies fall on the water that day, and catch one of them, if he sees the Trouts leap at a fly of that kind: and then having always hooks ready hung with him, and having a bag also always with him, with bear's hair, or the hair of a brown or sad-coloured heifer, hackles of a cock or capon, several-coloured silk and crewel to make the body of the fly, the feathers of a drake's head, black or brown sheep's wool, or hog's wool, or hair, thread of gold and of silver, silk of several colours, especially sad-coloured, to make the fly's head; and there be also other coloured feathers, both of little birds and of peckled fowl; I say, having those with him in a bag, and trying to make a fly, though he miss at first, yet shall he at last hit it better, even to such a perfection, as none can well teach him; and if he hit to make his fly right, and have the luck to hit also where there is store of Trouts, a dark day, and a right wind, he will catch such a store of them, as will encourage him to grow more and more in love with the art of fly-making.

Item of the Day: Shaftesbury's Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1773)

2006-12-07T11:45:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes. By the Right Honourable Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury. The Fifth Edition. Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville. M.DCC.LXXIII.

TREATISE I. Viz. A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm to My Lord *****.

Sept. 1707.

My Lord,

Now, you are return'd to . . . . . and before the Season comes which must engage you in the weightier Matters of State; if you care to be entertain'd a-while with a sort of idle Thoughts, such as pretend only to Amusement, and have no relation to business or Affairs, you may cast your Eye slightly on what you have before you; and if there be any thing inviting, you may read it over at your leisure.

It has been a establish'd Custom for Poets, at the entrance of their Work, to address themselves to some Muse: and this Practice of the Antients has gain'd so much Repute, that even in our days we find it almost constantly imitated. I cannot but fancy however, that this Imitation, which passes so currently with other Judgments, must at some time or other have stuck a little with your Lordship; who is us'd to examine Things by a better Standard than that of Fashion or the common Taste. You must certainly have observ'd our Poets under a remarkable Constraint, when oblig'd to assume this Character: and you have wonder'd, perhaps, why that Air of Enthusiasm, which fits so gracefully with an Antient, shou'd be so spiritless and aukward in a Modern. But as to this Doubt, your Lordship wou'd have soon resolv'd your-self: and it cou'd only serve to bring a-cross you a Reflection you have often made, on many occasions besides; That Truth is the most powerful thing in the World, since even Fiction it-self must be govern'd by it, and can only please by its resemblance. The Appearance of Reality is necessary to make any Passion agreeably represented; and to be able to move others, we must first be mov'd ourselves, or at least seem to be so, upon some probable Grounds. Now what possibility is there that a Modern, who is known never to have worshhip'd Apollo, or own'd any such Deity as the Muses, shou'd persuade us to enter into his pretended Devotion, and move us by his feign'd Zeal in a Religion out of date? But as for the Antients, 'tis known they deriv'd both their Religion and Polity from the Muses Art. How natural therefore must it have appear'd in any, but especially a Poet of those times, to address himself in Raptures of Devotion to those acknowledg'd Patronesses of Wit and Science? Here the Poet might with probability feign an Extasy, tho he really felt none: and supposing it to have been mere Affectation, it wou'd look however like something natural, and cou'd not fail of pleasing.

But perhaps, my Lord, there was a further Mystery in the case. Men, your Lordship knows, are wonderfully happy in a Faculty of deceiving themselves, whenever they set heartily about it; and a very small Foundation of any Passion will serve us, not only to act it well, but even to work our-selves into it beyond our own reach. Thus, by a little Affectation in Love-Matters, and with the help of a Romance or Novel, a Boy of Fifteen, or a grave Man of Fifty, may be sure to grow a very natural Coxcomb, and feel the Belle Passion in good earnest. A Man of tolerable Good-Nature, who happens to be a little piqu'd, may, by improving his Resentment, become a very Fury for Revenge. Even a good Christian, who wou'd needs be over-good, and thinks he can never believe enough, may, by a small Inclination well improv'd extend his Faith so largely, as to comprehend in it not only all Scriptural and Traditional Miracles, but a solid System of Old-Wives Storys. Were it needful, I cou'd put your Lordship in mind of an Eminent, Learned, and truly Christian Prelate you once knew, who cou'd have given you a full account of his Belief in Fairys. And this, methinks, may serve to make appear, how far an antient Poet's Faith might possibly have been rais'd, together with his Imagination.

But we Christians, who have such ample Faith our-selves, will allow nothing to poor Heathens. They must be Infidels in every sense. We will not allow 'em to believe so much as their own Religion; which we cry is too absurd to have been credited by any besides the mere Vulgar. But if a Reverend Christian Prelate may be so great a Volunteer in Faith, as beyond the ordinary Prescription of the Catholick Church, to believe in Fairys; why may not a Heathen Poet, in the ordinary way of his Religion, be allow'd to believe in Muses? For these, your Lordship knows, were so many Divine Persons in the heathen Creed, and were essential to their System of Theology. The Goddesses had their Temples and Worship, the same as the other Deitys: And to believe the Holy Nine, or their Apollo, was the same as to deny Jove himself; and must have been esteem'd equally profane and atheistical by the generality of sober Men. Now what a mighty advantage must it have been to an antient Poet to be thus orthodox, and by the help of his Education, and a Good-will into the bargain, to work himself up to the Belief of a Divine Presence and Heavenly Inspiration? It was never surely the business of Poets in those days to call Revelation in question, when it evidently made so well for their Art. On the contrary, they cou'd not fail to animate their Faith as much as possible; when by a single Act of it, well inforc'd, they cou'd raise themselves into such Angelical Company.

How much the Imagination of such a Presence must exalt a Genius, we may observe merely from the Influence which an ordinary Presence has over Men. Our Modern Wits are more or less rais'd by the Opinion they have of their Company, and the Idea they form to themselves of the Persons to whom they make their Addresses. A common Actor of the Stage will inform us how much a full audience of the Better Sort exalts him above the common pitch. And you, my Lord, who are the noblest Actor, and of the noblest Part assgn'd to any Mortal on this earthly Stage, when you are acting for Liberty and Mankind; does not the publick Preference, that of your Friends, and the Well-wishers to your Cause, add something to your thought and Genius? Or is that Sublime of Reason, and that power of Eloquence, which you discover in publick, no more than what you are equally Master of, in private; and can command at any time, alone, or with indifferent Company, or in any easy or cool hour? This indeed were more Godlike; but ordinary Humanity, I think, reaches not so high.

For my own part, my Lord, I have really so much need of some considerable Presence or Company to raise my thoughts on any occasion, that when alone, I must endeavour by Strength of Fancy to supply this want; and in default of a Muse, must inquire out some Great Man of a more than ordinary Genius, whose imagin'd Presence may inspire me with more than what I feel at ordinary hours. And thus, my Lord, have I chosen to address myself to your Lordship; tho without subscribing my Name: allowing you as a Stranger, the full liberty of reading no more than what you may have a fancy for; but reserving to myself the privilege of imagining you read all, with particular notice, as a Friend, and one whom I may justifiably treat with the Intimacy and Freedom which allows.

Item of the Day: More From a Provincial Glossary (1790)

2006-12-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

Full Title: A Provincial Glossary; with a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitions. By Francis Grose, Esq. F.A.S. The Second Edition, Corrected, and Greatly Enlarged. London: Printed for S. Hooper, 1790.

POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS

It will scarcely be conceived how a great number of superstitious notions and practices are still remaining and prevalent in different parts of these kingdoms, many of which are still used and alluded to even in and about the metropolis; and every person, however carefully educated, will, upon examination, find that he has somehow or other imbibed and stored up in his memory a much greater number of these rules and maxims than he could at first have imagined.

To account for this, we need only turn our recollection towards what passed in our childhood, and reflect on the avidity and pleasure with which we listened to stories of ghosts, witches, and fairies, told us by our maids and nurses; and even among those whose parents had the good sense to prohibit such relations, there is scarce one in a thousand but may remember to have heard, from some antiquated maiden aunt or cousin, the various omens that have announced the approaching deaths of different branches of the family; a copious catalogue of things lucky and unlucky; a variety of charms to cure warts, the cramp, and tooth-ache; preventatives against the night-mare; with observations relative to sympathy, denoted by shiverings, burning of the cheeks and itchings of the eyes and elbows. The effects of ideas of this kind are not easily got the better of; and the ideas themselves rarely, if ever, forgotten.

In former times these notions were so prevalent, that it was deemed little less than atheism to doubt them; and in many instances the terrors caused by them embittered the lives of a great number of persons of all ages, by degrees almost shutting them out of their own houses, and deterring them from going from one village to another after sun-set. The room in which the head of a family had died, was for a long time untenanted; particularly if they died without a will, or were supposed to have entertained any particular religious opinions. But if any disconsolate old maiden, or love-crossed bachelor, happened to dispatch themselves in their garters, the room where the deed was perpetrated became for ever after uninhabitable, and not unfrequently nailed up. If a drunken farmer, returning from market, fell from Old Dobbin, and broke his neck -- or a carter, under the same predicament, tumbled from his cart or waggon, and was killed by it -- that spot was ever after haunted, and impassable. In short, there was scarcely a bye-lane or cross-way but had its ghost, who appeared in the shape of a headless cow or horse; or, clothed all in white, glared with its saucer eyes over a gate or stile. Ghosts of superior rank, when they appeared abroad, rode in coaches drawn by six headless horses, and driven by headless coachmen and postilions. Almost every ancient manor-house was haunted by some one at least of its former masters or mistresses; where, besides diverse other noises, that of telling money was distinctly heard: and as for the churchyards, the number of ghosts that walked there, according to the village computation, almost equalled the living parishioners: to pass them at night was an atchievement not to be attempted by any one in the parish, the sextons excepted, who perhaps being particularly privileged, to make use of the common expression, never saw any thing worse than themselves.

Terrible and inconvenient as these matters might be, they were harmless, compared with the horrid consequences attending the belief of witchcraft, which, to the eternal disgrace of this country, even made its way into our courts of judicature, and pervaded and poisoned the minds of judges. At present, no one can, without a mixture of shame, remorse, and indignation, read of hundreds of poor innocent persons who fell victims to this ridiculous opinion, and who were regularly murdered under the sanction of, and with all the forms of, the law. Sometimes, by the combination of wicked and artful persons, these notions were made stalking-horses to interest and revenge.

The combinations here alluded to, were practiced by some popish priests during the reign of King James I. who was himself a believer in witchcraft. These priests, in order to advance the interest of their religion, or rather their own emolument, pretended to have the power of casting out devils from demoniacs and persons bewitched; and for this purpose suborned some artful and idle youths and wenches to act the part of persons bewitched, and to suffer themselves to be dispossessed by their prayers, and sprinklings with holy water. In order to perform these parts, they were to counterfeit violent fits and convulsions, on signs given them; and, in compliance with the popular notions, to vomit up crooked nails, pins, needles, coals, and other rubbish, privately conveyed to them.* It was, besides, generally thought necessary to accuse some person of having bewitched them; a poor superannuated man, or peevish old woman, and therefore pitched on, whose detection, indictment, and execution, were to terminate the villainy. Luckily these combinations were at length discovered and exposed; but it must make the blood of every human person thrill with horror, to hear that in New England there were at one time upwards of three hundred persons all imprisoned for witchcraft. Confuted and ridiculed as these opinions have lately been, the seeds of them still remain in the mind, and at different times have attempted to spring forth; witness the Cock-lane Ghost, and the disturbance at Stockwell. Indeed it is within these very few years that witchcraft has been erased from among the crimes cognizable by a jury.

*Since the printing of the first edition of this work, a farce somewhat similar was performed in the vestry-room of the Temple church, in the city of Bristol, by one George Lukins, a taylor, of Yatton, Somersetshire. This impostor pretended to have been possessed by the Devil for eighteen years, and at that present time to have no less than seven devils quartered in him; in proof of which he howled, barked, and counterfeited the most violent convulsions, occasionally swearing and blaspheming in a manner too shocking to repeat: at other times he sung several jovial and hunting songs, in different voices. But what seems the most extraordinary, is, that seven clergymen were found (one to each devil) so extremely weak and credulous as to be imposed on by this nonsense, and seriously to join in expelling these evil spirits by prayer; and one of them carried it still father, by returning publick thanks in Yatton church for the success of their endeavours, and the happy delivery of their patient.

Item of the Day: William Shenstone's Works (1764)

2006-12-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone, Esq; Most of which were never before printed. In Two volumes, With Decorations. Vol I. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-mall. MDCCLXIV.

ELEGY IV.

Ophelia's Urn. To Mr. G------.

Thro' the dim veil of ev'ning's dusky shade,
Near some lone fane, or yew's funereal green,
What dreary forms has magic fear survey'd!
What shrouded spectres superstition seen!

But you secure shall pour your sad complaint,
Nor dread the meagre phantom's wan array;
What none but fear's officious hand can paint,
What none, but superstition's eye, survey.

The glim'ring twilight and the doubtful dawn
Shall see your step to these sad scenes return:
Constant, as crystal dews impearl the lawn,
Shall Strephon's tear bedew Ophelia's urn!

Sure nought unhallow'd shall presume to stray
Where sleep the reliques of that virtuous maid:
Nor aught unlovely bend its devious way,
Where soft Ophelia's dear remains are laid.

Haply thy muse, as with unceasing sighs
She keeps late vigils on her urn reclin'd,
May see light groups of pleasing visions rise;
And phantoms glide, but of celestial kind.

Then same, her clarion pendent at her side,
Shall seek forgiveness of Ophelia's shade;
"Why has such worth, without distinction, dy'd,
Why like the desert's lilly, bloom'd to fade?

Then young simplicity, averse to feign,
Shall unmolested breathe her softest sigh:
And candour with unwonted warmth complain,
And innocence indulge a wailful cry.

Then elegance with coy judicious hand,
Shall cull fresh flow'rets for Ophelia's tomb;
And beauty chide the sates' severe command,
That shew'd the frailty of so fair a bloom!

And fancy then with wild ungovern'd woe,
Shall her lov'd pupil's native taste explain;
For mournful sable all her hues forego,
And ask sweet solace of the muse in vain!

Ah gentle forms expect no fond relief;
Too much the sacred nine their loss deplore;
Well may ye grieve, nor find an end of grief --
Your best, your brightest fav'rite is no more.

Item of the Day: Chesterfields’s Letters to his Son (1774)

2006-12-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Letters Written by the Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to his Son, Philip Stanhope, Esq; Late Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Dresden. Together with Several Other Pieces on Various Subjects. Published by Mrs. Eugenia Stanhope, from the Originals now in her Possession. Vol. I. Dubline: Printed by G. Faulkner, 1774.

LETTER CXLIV.

London, February the 7th, O.S. 1749

DEAR BOY,

Your are now come to an age capable of reflection, and I hope you will do, what, however, few people at your age do; exert it, for your own sake, in the search of truth and sound knowledge. I will confess (for I am not unwilling to discover my secrets to you) that it is not many years since I have presumed to reflect for myself. Till sixteen or seventeen, I had no reflection; and, for many years after that, I made no use of what I had. I adopted the notions of the books I read, or the company I kept, without examining whether they were just or not; and I rather chose to run the risk of easy error, than to take the time and trouble of investigating truth. Thus, partly from laziness, partly from dissipation, and partly from the mauvaise bonte of rejecting fashionable notions, I was (as I since found) hurried away by prejudices, instead of being guided by reason; and quietly cherished error, instead of seeking of rejecting fashionable notions, I was (as I since found) hurried away by prejudices, instead of being guided by reason; and quietly cherished error, instead of seeking for truth. But, since I have taken the trouble of reasoning for myself, and have had the courage to own that I do so, you cannot imagine how much my notions of things are altered, and in how different a light I now see them, from that in which I formerly viewed them, through the deceitful medium of prejudice or authority. Nay, I may possibly still retain many errors, which, from long habit, have perhaps grown into real opinions; for it is very difficult to distinguish habits, early acquired and long entertained, from the result of our reason and reflection.

My first prejudice (for I do not mention the prejudices of boys and women, such as hobgoblins, ghosts, dreams, spilling salt, &c.) was my classical enthusiasm, which I received from the books I read, and the masters who explained them to me. I was convinced there had been no common sense nor common honesty in the world for these last fifteen hundred yeas; but that they were totally extinguished with the ancient Greek and Roman governments. Homer and Virgil could have no faults, because they were ancient; Milton and Tasso could have no merit, because they were modern. And I could almost have said, with regard to the ancients, what Cicero, very absurdly and unbecomingly for a Philosopher, says with regard to Plato, Cum quo errare malim quam cum aliis recte sentire. Whereas now, without any extraordinary effort of genius, I have discovered, that nature was the same three thousand years ago, as it is at present; that men were but men than as well as now; that modes and customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can no more suppose, that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or vegetables were better then, than they are now. I dare assert too, in defiance of the favourers of the ancients, that Homer’s Hero, Achilles, was both a brute and a scoundrel, and consequently an improper character for the Hero of an Epic Poem; he had so little regard for his country, that he would not act in defence of it, because he had quarreled with Agamemnon about a w—e ; and then afterwards, animated by private resentment only, he went about killing people basely, I will call it, because he knew himself invulnerable; and yet, in invulnerable as he was, he wore the strongest armour in the world; which I humbly ap0prehend to be a blunder; for a horse-shoe, clapped to his vulnerable heel, would have been sufficient. On the other hand, with submission to the favourers of the moderns, I assert, with Mr. Dryden, that the Devil is in truth, the Hero of Milton’s poem; His plan, which he lays, pursues, and at last executes, being the subject of the Poem. From all which considerations, I impartially conclude, that the ancients had their excellencies and their defects, their virtues and their vices, just like the moderns; pedantry and affectation of learning, decide clearly in favour of the former; vanity and ignorance, as peremptorily, in favour of the latter. Religious prejudices kept pace with my classical ones; and there was a time when I thought I impossible for the honestest man in the world to be saved, out of the pale of the church of England: not considering the matters of opinion do not depend upon the will; and that it is as natural, and as allowable, that another man should differ in opinion from me, as that I should differ from him; and that, if we are both sincere, we are both blameless: and should consequently have mutual indulgence for each other.

The next prejudices that I adopted, were those of the beau monde; in which, as I was determined to shine, I took what are commonly called the genteel vices, to be necessary. I had heard them reckoned so, and, without farther inquiry, I believed it; or, at least, should have been ashamed to have denied it, for fear of exposing myself to the ridicule of those whom I considered as the models of fine gentlemen. But I now neither ashamed nor afraid to assert, that those genteel vices, as they are falsely called, are only to many blemishes in the character of even a man of the world, and what is called a fine gentleman, and degrade him in the opinions of those very people, to whom he hopes to recommend himself by them. Nay, this prejudice often extends so far, that I have known people pretend to vices they had not, instead of carefully concealing those they had. . . .

Item of the Day: Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy (1660)

2006-11-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

Full Title:

The Anatomy of Melancholy. What it is, with all the kinds causes, symptoms, prognostickes, & seuerall cures of it, In three Partitions, with their severall Sections, members, & subsections, Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically, opened & cut up By Democritus Junior. With a Satyricall Preface, conducing to the following Discourse. [By Robert Burton.] 7th edition. London: E. Wallis, 1660.

The Authors Abstract of Melancholy:

When I goe musing all alone,
Thinking of divers things fore-known,
When I build Castles in the air,
Void of sorrow and void of fear,
Pleasing my self with phantasms sweet,
Me thinks the time runs very fleet.

All my joyes to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as Melancholy.

When I lye walking all alone,
Recounting what I have ill done,
My thoughts on me then tyrannise,
Fear and sorrow me surprise,
Whether I tarry still or go,
Me thinks the time moves very slow.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so sad as Melancholy.

When to my selfe I act and smile,
With pleasing thoughts the time beguile.
By a brook side or wood so green,
Unheard, unsought for, or unseen,
A thousand pleasures doe me bless,
And crown my soul with happiness.

All my joyes besides are folly,
None of sweet as Melancholy.

When I lie, sit, or walk alone,
I sigh, I grieve, making great mone,
In a dark grove, or irksome den,
With discontents and Furies then,
A thousand miseries at once,
Mine heavy heart and soul ensconce.

All my grief to this are jolly,
None so sour as Melancholy.

Me thinks I hear, me thinks I see,
Sweet musick, wondrous melodie,
Towns, places and Cities fine;
Here now, then there; the world is mine,
Rare beauties, gallant Ladies shine,
What e're is lovely or divine.

All other joyes to this are folly,
None so sweet as Melancholy.

Me thinks I hear, me thinks I see
Ghosts, goblins, fiends; my phantasie
Presents a thousand ugly shapes,
Headless bears, black men, and apes,
Dolefull outcries, and fearfull sights,
My sad and dismall soul affrights.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
None so damn'd as Melancholy.

Me thinks I court, me thinks I kiss,
Me thinks I now embrace my mistriss,
O blessed dayes, O sweet content,
In Paradise my time is spent.
Such thoughts may still my fancy move,
So may I ever be in love.

All my joyes to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as Melancholy.

When I recount loves many frights,
My sighes and tears, my waking nights,
My jealous fits; O mine hard fate
I now repent, but 'tis too late.
No torment is so bad as love,
So bitter to my soul can prove.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
Nought so harsh as Melancholy.

Friends and Companions get you gone,
'Tis my desire to be alone;
Ne're well but when my thoughts and I
Do domineer in privacie.
No Gemm, no treasure like to this,
'Tis my delight, my Crown, my bliss.

All my joyes to this are folly,
Naught so sweet as Melancholy.

'Tis my sole plague to be alone,
I am a beast, a monster grown,
I will no light nor company,
I find it now my misery.
The scean is turn'd, my joyes are gone;
Fear, discontent, and sorrows come.

All my griefs to this are jolly,
Naught so fierce as Melancholy.

Ile not change life with any King,
I ravisht am: can the world bring
More joy, then still to laugh and smile;
In pleasant toy time to beguile?
Do not, O doe not trouble me,
So sweet content I feel and see.

All my joyes to this are folly,
None so divine as Melancholy.

Il'e change my state with any wretch,
Thou canst from gaole or dunghill fetch:
My pain, past cure, another Hell,
I may not in this torment dwell,
Now desparate I hate my life,
Lend me a halter or a knife.

All my griefs to this are jolly.
Naught so damn'd as Melancholy.

Item of the Day: Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece (1804)

2006-11-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece. During the middle of the fourth century, before the Christian era. Vol. I. By the Abbe Barthememi, Keeper of the Medals in the Cabinet of the King of France, and Member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres. Translated from the French. Vol. I. First American edition. Philadelphia: Published by Jacob Johnson & Co. . . . , 1804.

[The following advertisement is taken from the popular novel by Jean Jacques Barthelemy, which recounts the narrative of Anacharsis, a young Scythian who travels to Greece in the fourth century B.C.].

ADVERTISMENT

BY THE AUTHOR.

I imagine a Scythian, named Anacharsis, to arrive in Greece, some years before the birth of Alexander; and that from Athens, the usual place of his residence, he makes several excursions into the neighborring [sic] provinces; every where observing the manners and customs of the inhabitants, being present at their festivals, and studying the nature of their governments; sometimes dedicating his leisure to enquiries relative to the progress of the human mind, and sometimes conversing with the great men who flourished at that time; with Epaminondas, Phocion, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, &c. As soon as he had seen Greece enslaved by Philip, the father of Alexander, he returns to Scythia, where he puts in order an account of his travels; and, to prevent any interruption in his narrative, relates in an introduction the memorable events which had passed in Greece before he left Scythia.

The aera I have chosen, which is one of the most interesting that the history of nations presents, may be considered in two points of view. With respect to literature and the arts, it connects the age of Pericles with that of Alexander. My Scythian has conversed with a number of Athenians, who had been intimately acquainted with Sophocles, Euripides, Artistophanes, Thucydides, Socrates, Zeuxis, and Parrhasius. I have mentioned some of the celebrated writers who were known to him. He has seen the masterly productions of Praxiteles, Euphranor, and Pamphilus, make their appearance, as also the first essays of Apelles and Protogenes; and in one of the latter years of his stay in Greece Epicurus and Menander were born.

Under the second point of view, this epocha is not less remarkable. Anacharsis was a witness to the revolution which changed the face of Greece, and which, some time after, destroyed the empire of the Persians. On his arrival, he found the your Philip with Epaminondas: he afterwards beheld him ascend the throne of Macedon; display, in his contests with the Greeks, during two and twenty years, all the resources of his genius; and, at length, compel those haughty republicans to submit to power.

I have chosen to write a narrative of travels rather than a history, because in such a narrative all is scenery and action; and because circumstantial details may be entered into which are not permitted to the historian. These details, when they have relation to manners and customs, are often only indicated by ancient authors, and have often given occasion to different opinions among modern critics. I have examined and discussed them all before I have made use of them; I have even, on a revisal, suppressed a great part of the, and ought perhaps to have suppressed still more.

I began this work in the year 1757, and, since that time, have never intermitted my labours to complete it.* I should not have undertaken it if, less captivated by the beauty of the subject, I had consulted my abilities more than my courage.

*These was written about the latter end of 1788, when the original work was published.

Item of the Day: A Provincial Glossary (1790)

2006-11-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

Full Title: A Provincial Glossary; with a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitutions. By Francis Grose, Esq. F.A.S. The Second Edition, Corrected, and Greatly Enlarged. London: Printed for S. Hooper, 1790.

POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS

CHARMS and CEREMONIES for Knowing Future Events.

Any person fasting on Midsummer eve, and sitting in the church porch, will at midnight see the spirits of the persons of that parish, who will die that year, come and knock at the church door, in the order and succession in which they will die. One of the watchers, there being several in company, fell into a sound sleep so that he could not be waked: whilst in this state, his ghost or spirit was seen by the rest of his companions, knocking at the church door.

Any unmarried woman fasting on Midsummer eve, and at midnight laying a clean cloth, with bread, cheese, and ale, and sitting down, as if going to eat, the street door being left open -- the person whom she is afterwards to marry will come into the room, and drink to her by bowing; and afterwards filling the glass, will leave it on the table, and, making another bow, retire.

On St. Agnes' night, 21st of January, take a row of pins, and pull out every one, one after another, saying a Pater-noster on sticking a pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall marry.

Another method to see a future spouse in a dream: -- The party enquiring must lie in a different county from that in which he commonly resides; and, on going to bed, must knit the left garter about the right-legged stocking, letting the other garter and stocking alone; and, as you rehearse the following verses, at every common knit a knot:

This knot I knit,
To know the thing I know not yet;
That I may see
The man (woman) that shall my husband (wife) be;
How he goes, and what he wears,
And what he does all days and years.

Accordingly in a dream, he will appear, with the insignia of his trade or profession.

Another, performed by charming the Moon, thus: -- At the first appearance of the New Moon, immediately after the new year's day (though some say any other New Moon is as good), go out in the evening, and stand over the spars of a gate or a stile, and, looking on the Moon, repeat the following lines:

All hail to the Moon! all hail to thee!
I prithee, good Moon, reveal to me,
This night, who my husband (wife) must be.

The person must presently after go to bed, when they will dream of the person destined for their future husband or wife.

A slice of the bride-cake, thrice drawn through the wedding ring, and laid under the head of an unmarried man or woman, will make them dream of their future wife or husband. The same is practiced in the North with a piece of the groaning cheese.

To discover a thief by the sieve and sheers: -- Stick the points of the sheers in the wood of the sieve, and let two persons support it, balanced upright, with their two fingers: then read a certain chapter in the Bible, and afterwards ask St. Peter and St. Paul, if A. or B. is the thief, naming all the persons you suspect. On naming the real thief, the sieve will turn suddenly round about.

Item of the Day: The Geneva Bible (1595)

2006-11-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

Full Title:

The Bible: That is, the Holy Scriptures Conteined in the Olde and New Testament: Translated according to the Ebrew and Greeke, and conferred with the best translations in diuers languages. With most profitable Annotations upon all the hard places, and other things of great importance. Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie. 1595.

To the Christian Reader:

Besides the manifold and continual benefits which Almightie God bestoweth upon us, both corporall and spirituall, we are especially bound (deare brethren) to giue him thankes without ceasing for his great grace and unspeakable mercies, in that it hath pleased him to call us unto this marueilous light of his Gospel, and mercifully to regard us after so horrible backsliding & falling away from Christ to Antichrist, from light to darknes, from the liuing God to dumme and dead idoles, and that after so cruel murther of Gods Saints, as alas, hath bene amog us, we are not altogether cast off, as were the Israelites, & many others for the like, or not so manifest wickednes, but receiued againe to grace with most euident signes and tokens of Gods especial loue & fauour. To the intent therefore that we may not be vnmindefull of these great mercies, but seeke by all meanes (according to our duetie) to be thankeful for the same, it behoueth vs so to walke in his feare and loue, that all the dayes of our life we may procure the glory of his holy Name. Now forasmuch as this thing chiefly is attained by the knowledge and practising of the word of God, (which is the light to our paths, the key of the kingdome of heauen, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the schole of all wisdome, the glasse wherein we beholde Gods face, the testimonie of his fauour, and the only foode and nourishment of our soules) we thought that we could bestow our labours & studie in nothing which could be more acceptable to God and comfortable to his Church, then in the translating of the holy Scriptures into our natiue tongue: the which thing, albeit that diuers heretofore haue indeuoured to atchieue: yet considering the infancie of those times and imperfect knowledge of the tongues, in respect of this ripe age and cleare light which God hath nowe reueiled, the translations required greatly to bee perused and reformed. Not that we vendicate any thing to our selues aboue the least of our brethren (for God knoweth with what feare and trembling we haue bene for the space of two yeeres and more day and night occupied herein) but being earnestly desired, and by diuers, whose learning and godlines we reuerence, exhorted, and also incouraged by the ready willes of such, whose hearts God likwise touched, not to spare any charges for the furtherance of such a benefite and fauour of God toward his Church (though the time then was most dangerous, and the persecution sharpe and furious) we submitted ourseues at length to their godly iudgements, and seeing the great opportunities and occasions, which God presented vnto vs his Church, by reason of so many godly and learned men, and such diuersities of translations in diuers tongues: we vndertooke this great and wonderful worke (with all reuerence, as in the presence of God, as intreating the word of God, whereunto we thinke our selues vnsufficient) which now God according to his diuine prouidence and mercie hath directed to a most prosperous ende. And this we may with good conscience protest, that we haue in euery point & worde, according to the measure of that knowledge which it pleased Almightie God to giue vs, faithfully rendred the text, and in all hard places most syncerely expounded the same. For God is our witnes, that we haue by all meanes endeuoured to set foorth the puritie of the worde and right sense of the holy Ghost, for the edifying of the brethren in faith and charitie.

Now as we haue chiefly obserued the sense, and laboured alwayes to restore it to all integritie: so haue we most reuerently kept the proprietie of the woordes, considering that the Apostles who spake and wrote to the Gentiles in the Greeke tongue, rather constrained them to the liuely phrase of the Ebrewe, then enterprised farre by mollifying their language to speake as the Gentiles did. And for this & other causes we haue in many places reserued the Ebrew phrases, notwithstanding that they may seeme somewhat hard in their eares that are not well practised and alos delight in the sweete sounding phrases of the holy Scriptures. Yet least either the simple should be discouraged, or the malicious haue any occasion of iust cauillation, seeing some translations reade after one sort, and some after another, whereas all may serue to good purpose & edification, we haue in the margent noted that diuersitie of speach or reading which may also seeme agreeable to the minde of the holy Ghost, and proper for our language with this marke ║. Againe, whereas the Ebrewe speach seemed hardly to agree with ours, we haue noted it in the margent after this sort ‡, vsing that which was more intelligible. And albeit that many of the Ebrewe names be altered frõ the old text, and restored to the true writing and first original, whereof they haue their signification, yet in the vsual names litle is changed for feare of troubling the simple readers. Moreouer, whereas the necessitie of the sentence required any thing to be added (for such is the grace and proprietie of the Ebrew and Greeke tongues, that it cannot but either by circumlocution, or by adding the verbe or some worde, be vnderstood of them that are not well practised therein) wee haue put it in the text with an other kinde of letter, that it may easily be discerned from the common letter. As touching the diuision of the verses, we haue folowed the Ebrew examples, which haue so euen from the beginning distinguished them. Which thing as it is most profitable for memorie, so doth it agree with the best traslations, and is most easie to find out both by the best Concordances, and also by the quotations which we haue diligently herein perused and set forth by this*. Besides this, the principall matters are noted and distinguished by this marke ¶. Yea and the arguments both for the booke and for the chapters with the number of the verse are added, that by all meanes the reader might be holpen. For the which cause also wee haue set ouer the head of euery page some notable worde or sentence which may greatly further aswell for memorie, as for the chiefe point of the page. And considering how hard a thing it is to vnderstand the holy Scriptures, and what errors, sects and heresies grow dayly for lacke of the true knowledge thereof, & how many are discouraged (as they pretend) because they cannot attaine to the true and simple meaning of the same, we haue also indeuoured both by the diligent reading fo teh best cõmentaries, and also by the conference with the godly and learned brethren, to gather briefe annotations vpon all the hard places, aswel for the vnderstanding of such words and are obscure, and for the declaration of the text, as for the application fo the same, as may most appertain to Gods glory & the edification of his Church. Furhetmore whereas certaine places in the bookes of Moses, of the Kings and Ezekiel seemed so darke, that by no descriptiõ they could be made easie to the simple reader, we haue so set them forth with figures & notes for the full declaration thereof, that they which cannot by iudgement, being holpen by the annotations noted by the letters, a.b c.&c, atteine thereunto yet by the perspectiue, and as it were by the eye, may sufficiently knowe the true meaning of all such places, whereunto also we haue added certaine Mappes of Cosmographie which necessarily serue for the perfect vnderstanding and memorie of diuers places and countreys, partly described, and partly by occasion touched, both in the Old and new Testament.

Finally, that nothing might lack which might be bought by labours for the increase of knowledge & furtherance of Gods glory, there are adioyned two most profitable Tables, the one seruing for the interpretation of the Ebrewe names: and the other conteyning all the chiefe & principal matters of the who Bible: so that nothing (as we trust) that any could iustly desire, is omitted. Therefore, as brethren that are partakers of the same hope & salutation with vs, we beseech you, that this rich pearle and inestimable treasure may not be offred in vaine, but as sent from God to the people of God, for the increase of his kingdom, the comfort fo his Church, and discharge of our conscience, whom it hath pleased him to raise vp for this purpose, so you would willingly receiue the worde of God, earnestly study it, and in all your life practise it, that ye may now appeare in deede to be the people of God, not walking any more according to this world, but in the fruites of the Spirit, that God in vs may be fully glorified, through Christ Iesus our Lord, who liueth and reigneth for euer. Amen.

Item of the Day: Gray's-Inn Journal (1752)

2006-11-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Gray's-Inn Journal. (By Arthur Murphy) In Two Volumes. Vol.. I. London: Printed by W. Faden, for P. Vaillant, in the Strand, MDCCLVI.

The Gray's-Inn, Saturday, October 21, 1752.

It has been remarked by Writers, whom a Desire of adding to the Entertainment of the Public has incited to portion out their endeavours into periodical Essays, that the first Address, in the introductory Explanation of their Plan, has occasioned more vehement Corrosions of their Nails, and more frequent Rubbings of the Forehead, than any other successive Composition; in like Manner as we find Men, who, upon their first Admission into a Company of Strangers, betray several aukward Movements in their Deportment, arising from the different Ideas of Bashfulness and Diffidence, which agitate their Minds until the initial Ceremonies are adjusted. As I propose to hold a literary Intercourse with the Public, and flatter myself with the Hopes of conversing with many Hundreds of my Countrymen every Saturday, I cannot issue out my first Performance, without feeling an extraordinary Solicitude for the Event, and being disconcerted by those Alarms and Perturbations of Spirit, which are apt to seize People of Sensibility in their Tempers, when irresistible Principles of Action have prevailed over their Modesty, and called them forth into a conspicuous Point of View. The first Impression has always great Influence upon Mens Judgments, and the Mind will often hastily form Associations of Ideas, which it cannot afterwards easily separate. On this Account I have been not a little anxious about my first Appearance, and after much Contemplation and deep Study, I should have been entirely at a Loss how to set off, had not the Example of our parliamentary Candidates pointed out a Mode of Eloquence, to which I think proper to adhere on the present Occasion, as the most persuasive Rhetoric I can suggest to myself.

To the Gentlemen, Clergy, and Freeholders of Great-Britain,

Gentlemen,

As I have the Honour, at a Meeting of my Friends to be put in Nomination to represent you, and all your Vices, Follies, and Foibles, in a new Paper, to be published every Saturday, and entitled The Gray's-Inn Journal, I desire the Favour of your Votes and Interest, assuring you that I shall at all Times exert my most vigorous Endeavours to serve you, being a sincere Friend to the Cause of true Wit and Humour, and a steady Assertor of Decency, Virtue and Good-manners. With these Sentiments I have the Honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient and devoted Servant,
CHARLES RANGER.
N.B. I am of no Party whatever.

Having thus declared my ambition for Literary Fame, I do not expect that all those rival Wits, who for some Time past have been making their Court to the Public, should Instantly decline the Poll; on the contrary, I am apprehensive, that, as it generally happens at Elections, much Scurrility will be discharged upon the present Writer; and I am no way doubtful but they will proceed to the Extremity of disputing my Property in Parnassus, and obliging me to make out my qualification. Of this, however, I hope to give sufficient Proof in the Sequel; and whatever Animosities may arise, I am resolved to pursue my Course, without going out of the Way, like the Countryman in the Fable, to crush the Grasshoppers that may make a Noise around me. I shall console myself in that Case with a Reflection that those Nuisances are ever found in the Sunshine.

. . .

Henceforth then be it known unto all Men, whom it may concern, that we Charles Ranger, Esq; have undertaken, and by these Presents do undertake, the conduct of a Paper entitled The Gray's-Inn Journal, which Name it is thought proper to give it, on Account of the author's Residence in Gray's-Inn. We intend that this our Paper shall be a general Critique on the times, and all false Appearances in Men and Books; and as we have observed, that, what Dr. Young calls laughing Satire has always been most conducive to the End we propose, we are determined to exert some certain Powers called Wit, Humour, and Raillery, and we hereby advise our dearly beloved Readers to get their risible Faculties in order; reserving to ourselves, more majorum, the Privilege of being dull by Design. And it is therefore ordered by these Presents, that on or before Saturday next all Offences shall cease, or they who shall be found delinquent shall be prosecuted according to the Laws of honest Satire, in some subsequent Essay, or be obliged to take their Trial upon Indictment in our Court of Censorial Enquiry, the Proceedings of which shall be faithfully recorded in our True Intelligence.

Given under our Hand this 21st of October, 1752.

CHARLES RANGER.

Item of the Day: Davis's Travels in America (1803)

2006-11-27T10:37:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America; During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802. Dedicated by Permission to Thomas Jefferson, Esq. President of the United States. By John Davis. London: 1803.

Chap. 1.

Upon my landing at New-York, my first care was to deliver a letter of recommendation which I had been favoured with by a friend to a merchant in the city; together with a volume of Travels from Boston to Philadelphia, which he had recently published. But I cannot say that I was received with the urbanity I had anticipated. Neither my friend's letter, nor his book, could soften the features of the stern American; and were the world to read the volume with as little interest as he, it would soon be consigned to the peaceful shelf.

I was now to become the architect of my own fortune. Though on a kindred shore, I had not even an acquaintance to whom I could communicate my projects; the letter had failed me that was to decide my fortune at one blow, and I found myself solitary and sad among the crouds of a gay city.

But I was not long depressed by melancholy reflections over my condition, for I found a friend in a man, who, having himself been unfortunate, could feel for another in adversity. A concurrence of circumstances had brought me into the company of Mr. Caritat, a bookseller, who, being made acquainted with my situation, addressed me with that warmth, which discovers a desire to be useful, rather than a wish to gratify curiosity.

He inquired into my projects. I told him that my scheme was to get into some family as a private tutor. A private Tutor! said he. Alas! the labour of Sisyphus in hell is not equal to that of a private Tutor in America! Why your project put me in mind of a young Mr. Primrose. And your exclamations, said I, remind me of his cousin in London. Just enough, rejoined Mr. Caritat, and let me examine you a little after the manner of his cousin.

Do you write a good hand, and understand all the intricacies of calculation? No. then you will not do for a private Tutor. It is not your Latin and Greek, but your hand-writing and cyphering, that will decide your character. Penmanship, and the figures of arithmetic, will recommend you more than logic and the figures of rhetoric. Can you passively submit to be called School-master by the children, and Cool Mossa by the negroes? No. Then you will not do for a private Tutor. Can you comply with the humility of giving only one rap at the door that the family may distinguish it is the Private Tutor; and can you wait half an hour with good humour on the steps, till the footman or housemaid condescends to open the door? No. Then you will not do for a private Tutor. Can you maintain a profound silence in company to denote your inferiority; and can you endure to be helped always the last at table, aye even after the clerk of the counting-house? No. Then you will not do for a private Tutor. Can you hold your eyes with your hands, and cry Amen! when grace is said; and can you carry the childrens' bibles and prayer-books to church twice every Sunday? No. Then you will not do for a private Tutor. Can you rise with the sun, and teach till breakfast; swallow your breakfast, and teach till dinner; devour your dinner, and teach till tea-time; and from tea-time to bed-time sink into insignificance in the parlour? No. Then you will not do for a private Tutor. Do you expect good wages? Yes. then you will never do for a private Tutor. No, sir, the place of private Tutor is the last I would recommend you; for as Pompey, when he entered a tyrant's dominions, quoted a verse from Euripides that signified his liberty was gone, so a man of letters, when he undertakes the tuition of a family in America, may exclaim he has lost his independence.

Item of the Day: Letters from America (1792)

2006-11-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Letters from America, Historical and Descriptive; Comprising Occurrences from 1769, to 1777, Inclusive. By William Eddis, Late Surveyor of the Customs, &c. at Annapolis, in Maryland. London: Printed for the author, and sold by C. Dilly, in the Poultry, MDCCXCII. [1792]

LETTER V.

Annapolis, June 8th, 1770.

Though we are yet far behind the mother country, with respect of cultivation and improvements, yet, in a comparative view, Maryland may boast considerable advantages. The inhabitants are enterprising and industrious; commerce and agriculture are encouraged; and every circumstance clearly evinces, that this colony is making a rapid progress to wealth, power, and population.

Provisions of every kind, are excellent and plentiful; and the Chesapeak [sic], with our numerous rivers, affords a surprising variety of excellent fish. Poultry, and wild-fowl, abound amongst the humble cottagers; and beef, mutton, pork, and other provisions, are at least equal to the production of the best British markets.

Deer, a few years since, were very numerous in the interior settlements; but, from the unfair methods adopted by the hunters, their numbers are exceedingly diminished. These people, whose only motive was to procure the hide of the animal, were dextrous [sic], during the winter season, in tracing their path through the snow; and from the animal’s incapacity to exert speed, under such circumstance, great multitudes of them were annually slaughtered, and their carcases [sic] left in the woods. This practice, however, has been though worthy the attention of the legislature, and an act of assembly has taken place, laying severe penalties on “persons detected in pursuing or destroying deer, within a limited term;” and it is probable, the apprehension of punishment may very greatly restrain, if not totally eradicate an evil founded on cruelty and rapacity.

In England, almost every country is distinguished by a peculiar dialect; even different habits, and different modes of thinking, evidently discriminate inhabitants, whose local situation is not far remote: but in Maryland, and throughout the adjacent provinces, it is worthy of observation, that a striking similarity of speech universally prevails; and it is strictly true, that the pronunciation of the generality of the people has an accuracy and elegance, that cannot fail of gratifying the most judicious ear.

The colonists are composed of adventurers, not only from every district of Great Britain and Ireland, but from almost every other European government, where the principles of liberty and commerce have operated with spirit and efficacy. Is it not, therefore, reasonable to suppose, that the English language must be greatly corrupted by such a strange intermixture of various nations? The reverse is, however, true. The language of the immediate descendants of such a promiscuous ancestry is perfectly uniform, and unadulterated; nor has it borrowed any provincial, or national accent, from its British or foreign parentage.

For my part, I confess myself totally at a loss to account for the apparent difference, between the colonists and the persons under equal circumstances of education and fortune, resident in the mother country. This uniformity of language prevails not only on the coast, where Europeans form a considerable mass of the people, but likewise in the interior parts, where population has made but slow advances; and where opportunities seldom occur to derive any great advantages form an intercourse with intelligent strangers.

You, my friend, are seated at the fountain head of literary and political intelligence, and from you I shall expect frequent, and circumstantial communications. Most sincerely do I wish you may be enabled to acquaint me, that the first transaction in the ensuing session of parliament, is a total repeal of acts, which are never likely to be productive of any considerable revenue; and which are esteemed in this country, to have no other tendency but to enforce claims, which the colonists universally consider as impolitic and unconstitutional. How far their sentiments are justly founded, I am by no means competent to determine; but it is a certain fact, that the statute imposing duties on glass, paper, and tea, has undermined the foundation of that cordiality, which the repeal of the stamp act had happily re-established; and it is with the utmost concern, I am necessitated to acquaint you, that a spirit of discontent and opposition is universally predominate in the colonies.

Item of the Day: Benjamin Rush "On the Vices and Virtues of Physicians" (1801)

2006-11-20T12:03:00.001-05:00

Full Title: Sixteen introductory lectures, to courses of lectures upon the Institutes of Practical Medicine, with a syllabus of the latter. To which are added, two Lectures upon the pleasures of the senses and of the mind; with an inquiry into their proximate cause Delivered in the University of Pennsylvania by Benjamin Rush, M.D. Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine, the said University, Philadelphia: Published by Bradford and Innskeep, 1811.

Lecture V.

Delivered November 2d, 1801.

Gentlemen,

Man is a compound of good and evil. These dispositions appear in different proportions, according to the circumstances in which he is placed. They are much influenced by different states of society, and by different pursuits and occupations in life. Every profession has its peculiar vices and virtues. The business of our present lecture shall be to point out such of them that are attached to the profession of medicine. This investigation I hope will be useful, by teaching you in your outset in life, to avoid the former, and to cherish the latter. By these means, you will at once render the practice of physic, and your own characters, more respectable. You will likewise be enabled thereby, to bear with more composure and fortitude the vexations and distresses which are connected with a medical life.

The vices of physicians may be divided into three heads.
I. As they relate to the Supreme Being.
II. To their patients, and
III. To their professional bretheren.

1st. Under the first head I shall begin by lamenting, that men whose educations necessarily open to them the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, and whose duties lead them constantly to behold his power over human life, and all its comforts, should be so very prone to forget him. This they evidence by their neglect of that worship, which is paid to him in different forms, under true, or false names, in every country. If it be a fact, that physicians are more inclined to infidelity, than any other body of men, it must be ascribed chiefly to this cause. To correct this disposition, it is necessary we should be frequently reminded of the arguments on which Christianity is founded, and of the numerous and powerful motives which enforce a belief of it. It is in places of public worship that these arguments and motives are delivered to the most advantage, and it is by neglecting to hear them, that the natural propensity of the human heart to infidelity, is cherished and promoted. This vice of the understanding has no natural alliance with the practice of physic, for to no secular profession does the Christian religion afford more aid, than to medicine. Our business leads us daily into the abodes of pain and misery. It obliges us likewise, frequently to witness the fears with which our friends leave the world, and the anguish which follows in their surviving relatives. Here the common resources of our art fail us, but the comfortable views of the divine government, and of a future state, which are laid open by Christianity, more than supply their place. A pious word, dropped from the lips of a physician in such circumstances of his patients, often does more good than a long, and perhaps an ingenious discourse from another person, inasmuch as it falls upon the heart, in the moment of its deepest depression from grief. There is no substitute for this cordial in the materia medica.

2d. An undue confidence in medicine, to the exclusion of a Divine and Superintending Power over the health and lives of men, is another vice among physicians. A Dr. -----, in New York prescribed on an evening for a sick man. The next day he called and asked him how he was: "Much better (said he), thank God." "Thank God! (said the doctor) thank me, it was I who cured you."

3d. Drunkenness is a medical vice, which offends not only God, but man. It is generally induced by fatigue, and exposure to great heat and cold. But a habit of drinking intemperately is often incurred by a social spirit, leading physicians to accept of offers of wine, or spirits and water, in every house they enter, in the former part of the day. Good men have often been seduced and ruined by this complaisant practice. I shall hereafter mention to you the safety, and advantages of eating a little fruit, or portable aliment, in preference to drinks of any kind before dinner, or when the body is in a languid state from fatigue. Drunkenness is a hideous vice in any person, but peculiarly so in a physician. If it rendered him offensive to his patients only by the smell it imparted to his breath, it should be sufficient motive to deter him from it, but its evils are much more serious and extensive. It corrupts his manners, impairs his judgment, and renders him unfit to prescribe for the sick. Two instances of death have occurred, within my knowledge, from patients having excessive doses of liquid laudanum, from the hands of a drunken physician.

Item of the Day: Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles.

2006-11-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s principles, and made easy to those who have not studied mathematics. To which are added, a plain method of finding the distances of all the planets from the sun, by the transit of Venus over the sun’s disc, in the year 1761. An account of Mr. Horrox’s observation of the transit of Venus in the year 1639: and, of the distances of all the planets from the sun, ad deduced from observations of the transit of Venus in the year 1761. Seventh edition. By James Ferguson. London: Printed for W. Strahan, J. Rivington and sons, T. Longman, B. Law, G. Robinson, T. Cadell, J. Johnson, J. Bew, J. Murray, R. Baldwin, T. Evans, W. Lowndes, and C. Bent, 1785.

Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles.

CHAP. I.

Of astronomy in general.

1. Of all the sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful. For, by knowledge derived from this science, not only the bulk of the earth is discovered, the situation and extent of the countries and kingdoms upon it is ascertained, trade and commerce carried on to the remotest parts of the world, and the various products of several countries distributed for the health, comfort, and conveniency of its inhabitants; but our very faculties are enlarged with the grandeur of the ideas it conveys, our minds exalted above the low contracted prejudices of the vulgar, and our understandings clearly convinced, and affected with the conviction of the existence, wisdom, power, goodness, immutability, and superintendency of the SUPREME BEING ! So that without an hyperbole,

"An undevout Astronomer is mad.”

2. From this branch of knowledge we also learn by what means or laws the Almighty carries on, and continues the wonderful harmony, order, and connexion observable throughout the planetary system; and are led by very powerful arguments to form this pleasing deduction, that minds capable of such deep researches, not only derive their origin from that adorable Being, but are also incited to aspire after a more perfect knowledge of his nature, and a stricter conformity to his will. . . .

8. It is no ways probable that the Almighty, who always acts with infinite wisdom, and does nothing in vain, should create so many glorious Suns, fit for so many important purposes, and place them at such distances from one another, without proper objects near enough to be benefited by their influences. Whoever imagines they were created only to give a faint glimmering light to the inhabitants of this Globe, must have a very superficial knowledge of Astronomy, and a mean opinion of the Divine Wisdom: since, by an infinitely less exertion of creating power, the Deity could have given our Earth much more light by one single additional Moon.

9. Instead then of one Sun and one World only in the Universe, as the unskilful in Astonomy imagine, that Science discovers to us such an inconceivable number of Suns, Systems, and Worlds, dispersed through boundless Space, that if our Sun, with all the Planets; Moons, and Comets, belonging to it, were annihilated, they would be no more missed, by an eye that could take in the whole Creation, than a grain of sand from the sea-shore. The space they possess being comparatively so small, that it would scarce be a sensible blank in the Universe, although Saturn, the outermost of our planets, revolves the Sun in an Orbit of 4884 millions of miles in circumference, and some of our Comets make excursions upwards of ten thousand millions of miles beyond Saturn’s Orbit; and yet, at that amazing distance, they are incomparably nearer to the Sun than to any of the Stars; as is evident from their keeping clear of the attractive power of all the Stars, and returning periodically by virtue of the Sun’s attraction.

10. From what we know of our own System, it may be reasonably concluded that all the rest are with equal wisdom contrived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational inhabitants. Let us therefore take a survey of the System to which we belong; the only one accessible to us; and from thence we shall be the better enabled to judge of the nature and end of the others Systems of the Universe. For although there is almost an infinite variety in the parts of the Creation, which we have opportunities of examining, yet there is a general analogy running through and connecting all the parts into one scheme, one design, one whole! . . .

15. What an august, what an amazing conception, if human imagination can conceive it, does this give the works of the Creator! Thousands of thousands of Suns, multiplied without end, and ranged all around us, at immense distances from each other, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmonious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed them; and these worlds peopled with myriads of intelligent beings, formed for endless progression in perfection and felicity!

16. If so much power, wisdom, goodness, and magnificence is displayed in the material Creation, which is the least considerable part of the Universe, how great, how wise, how good must HE be, who made and governs the Whole!

Item of the Day: An Account of the Pelew Islands (1783)

2006-11-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

Full Title: An Account of the Pelew Islands, Situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean. Composed From the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and Some of his Officers, Who, in August 1783, were there Shipwrecked in The Antelope, A Packet Belonging to the Honourable East India Company, By George Keate, Esq. F.R.S. and S.A. London: Printed for G. Nicol, Bookseller to His Majesty, Pall-Mall. MDCCLXXXVIII.

Chapter II.
Loss of the Antelope, and the immediate Distresses arising from the Accident.

The wind having freshened after midnight, the sky became overcast, with much lightning, thunder, and rain. The chief mate having the watch upon deck, had lowered the top-sails, and was going to reef them with the people upon duty, not thinking it necessary to call the hands out or acquaint the Captain, who had only quitted the deck at twelve o'clock; Mr. Benger judging from the thunder that the weather would break and clear up, and only prove a slight squall. The people being upon the yards reefing the sails, the man who was on the look-out called Breakers!
yet so short was the notice, that the call of Breakers had scarce reached the officer upon deck before the ship struck. The horror and dismay this unhappy event threw every body into was dreadful; the Captain, and all those who were below in their beds, sprang upon deck in an instant, anxious to know the cause of this sudden shock to the ship, and the confusion above; a moment convinced them of their distressed situation, the breakers along-side, through which the rocks made their appearance, presented the most dreadful scene, and left no room for doubt. The ship taking a heel, in less than an hour filled with water as high as the lower deck hatchways; during this tremendous interval, the people thronged round the Captain, and earnestly requested to be directed what to do, beseeching him to give orders and they would immediately execute them. Orders were in consequence instantly given to secure the gunpowder, ammunition, and small arms, and that the bread, and such other provision as would spoil by wet, should be brought upon deck and secured by some covering from the rain; while others were directed to cut away the mizen-mast, the main and foretop-mast, and lower yards, to ease the ship and prevent her oversetting, of which they thought there was some hazard, and that every thing should be done to preserve her as long as possible (the sails having all be clewed up as soon as the ship struck). The boats were hoisted out, and filled with provision and water, together with a compass in each, some small arms, and ammunition; and two men were placed in each boat, with directions to keep them under the lee of the ship, and be careful they were not staved, and be ready to receive their ship-mates in case the vessel should break to pieces by the dashing of the waves and the violence of the wind, it was then blowing a storm. Every thing that could be thought expedient in so distressful and trying an occasion was executed with a readiness and obedience hardly ever exceeded. The people all now assembled aft, the quarter-deck laying highest out of the water, the quarter-board afforded some little shelter from the sea and rain; here, after contemplating a few moments their wretched situation, the Captain endeavoured to revive their drooping spirits, which began to sink through anxiety and fatigue, by reminding them that shipwreck was a misfortune to which those who navigate the ocean were always liable; that theirs indeed was more difficult, from happening in an unknown and unfrequented sea, but that this consideration should rouse their most active attention, as much, as much must depend on themselves to be extricated from their distress; that when these misfortunes happened, they were often rendered more dreadful than they otherwise would be by the despair and disagreement of the crew; to avoid which, it was strongly recommended to every individual not to drink any spiritous liquor. A ready consent was given to this advice; and, they being all wet and fatigued with excessive labour, it was thought advisable to take some refreshment, which to each person was a glass of wine and some biscuit; after eating, a second glass of wine was given them, and they now waited with the utmost anxiety the return of day, in hope of seeing land, for yet they had not discovered any; the third mate and one of the quarter-masters only, in the momentary interval of a dreadful flash of lightning, imagined they had seen the appearance of land ahead of the ship. During these anxious moments, they endeavoured to console and cheer one another, and each was advised to clothe and prepare himself to quit the ship when necessity should make that step inevitable; and herein the utmost good order and regularity was observed, not a man offering to take any thing but what truly belonged to himself, nor did any one of them either ask for, or attempt to take a dram, or complain of negligence or misconduct against the watch or any particular person. The dawn of day discovered to their view a small island to the southward, about three or four leagues distant, and soon after some other islands were seen to the eastward. They now felt apprehensive on account of the inhabitants, of whose dispositions they were strangers; however, after manning the boats, and loading them in the best manner they could for the general good, they departed from the ship under the care of Mr. Benger, who, together with the people in them, were earnestly requested to endeavour to obtain a friendly intercourse with the inhabitants if they found any, and carefully to avoid any disagreement unless reduced to the last necessity, as the fate of all might depend upon the first interview. As soon as the boats were gone, those who remained went immediately to work to get the booms overboard, in order to make a raft to secure themselves, as the Antelope was hourly expected to go to pieces, and the utmost disquietude was entertained for the safey of the boats, not only on account of the natives, but also of the weather it continuing to blow very hard.-- But in the afternoon, they perceived with inexpressible joy the boats coming off; a sight the more welcome, as they were fearful from their long stay, they might have met with some disaster, either from the inhabitants, or the storm; they were however happily relieved from this anxiety by their getting safe to the ship about four o'clock, having left the stores and five men on shore. They brought the welcome news that there was no appearance of inhabitants on the island where they had landed; that they had found a secure harbour well sheltered from the weather, and also some fresh water.

Item of the Day: DuPratz on Louisiana (1763)

2006-11-15T13:53:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The History of Louisiana, or of Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina: Containing A Description of the Countries that lye on both Sides of the River Mississippi: With An Account of the Settlements, Inhabitants, Soil, Climate, and Products. Translated from the French, (Lately Published.) By M. LePage Du Pratz; With Some Notes and Observations Relating to our Colonies. In Two Volumes. Vol I. London, Printed for T. Becket and P.A. DeHondt in the Strand. MDCCLXIII.

Extract from a late French Writer, concerning the importance of Louisiana to France.

"One cannot help lamenting the lethargic state of that colony (Louisiana,) which carries in its bosom the bed of the greatest riches; and in order to produce them, asks only arms proper for tilling the earth which is wholly disposed to yield an hundred fold. Thanks to the fertility of our islands, our Sugar plantations are infinitely superior to those of the English, and we likewise excel them in our productions of Indigo, Coffee, and Cotton.

Tobacco is the only production of the earth which gives the English an advantage over us. Providence, which reserved for us the discovery of Louisiana, has given us the possession of it, that we may be their rivals in this particular, or at least that we may be able to do without their Tobacco. Ought we to continue tributaries to them in this respect, when we can so easily do without them?

I cannot help remarking here, that among several projects presented of late years for giving new force to this Colony, a company of creditable Merchants proposed to furnish Negroes to the inhabitants, and to be paid for them in Tobacco alone at a fixed valuation.

The following advantages, they demonstrated, would attend their scheme. I. It would increase a branch of Commerce in France, which affords subsistence to two of the English Colonies in America, namely Virginia and Maryland, the inhabitants of which consume annually a very considerable quantity of English stuffs, and employ a great number of ships in the transportation of their Tobacco. The inhabitants of those two provinces are so greatly multiplied, in consequence of the riches they have acquired by their commerce with us, that they begin to spread themselves upon territories that belong to us. II. The second advantage arising from the scheme would be, to carry the cultivation of Tobacco to its greatest extent and perfection. III. To diminish in proportion the cultivation of the English plantations, as well as lessen their navigation in that part. IV. To put an end entirely to the importation of any Tobacco from Great Britain into France, in the space of twelve years. V. To diminish annually, and in the same space of time finally to put an end to, the exportation of specie from France to Great Britain, which amounts annually to five millions of our money for the purchase of Tobacco, and the freightage of English ships, which bring it into our ports. VI. By diminishing the cause of the outgoing of specie, to augment the ballance of Commerce in favour of this nation. These are the principal advantages which France would have reason to have expected from the establishment of this company, if it had been effected." Effai sur les Interets du Commerce Maritime, par M. Du Haye. 1754.

Item of the Day: Horne Tooke's Diversions of Purley (1786)

2006-11-14T16:21:00.000-05:00

Full Title:

The Diversions of Purley, Part I. By John Horne Tooke, A.M. London: J. Johnson, 1786.

From the Introduction:

B.

—THE mystery is at last unravelled. I shall no more wonder now that you engross his company at Purley, whilst his other friends can scarce get a sight of him. This, you say, was President Bradshaw's seat. That is the secret of his attachment to the place. You hold him by the best security, his political prejudices and enthusiasm. But do not let his veneration for the memory of the antient possessor pass upon you for affection to the present.

H.

Should you be altogether so severe upon my politics; when you reflect that, merely for attempting to prevent the effusion of brother's blood and the final desmemberment of the empire, I stand the single legal victim during the contest, and the single instance of proscription after it? But I am well contented that my principles, which have made so many of your way of thinking angry, should only make you laugh. Such however as they are, they need not now to be defended by me: for they have stood the test of ages; and they will keep their ground in the general commendation fo the world, till men forget to love themselves; though, till then perhaps, they are not likely to be seen (nor credited if seen) in the practice of many individuals.

But are you really forced to go above a hundred years back to account for my attachment to Purley? Without considering the many strong public and private ties by which I am bound to its present possessor, can you find nothing in the beautiful prospect from these windows? nothing in the entertainment every one receives in this house? nothing in the delightful rides and walks we have taken round it? nothing in the cheerful disposition and easy kindness of its owner, to make a rational man partial to this habitation?

Item of the Day: Mercy Otis Warren's History of the American Revolution (1805)

2006-11-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

Full Title: History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, Interspersed with Biographical, Political and Moral Observations. In Three Volumes. By Mrs. Mercy Warren of Plymouth (Mass.) Vol. 1 Boston: Printed by Manning and Loring, for E. Larkin, No. 47 Cornhill, 1805.

An Address to the Inhabitants of the United States of America.

At a period when every manly arm was occupied, and every trait of talent or activity engaged, either in the cabinet or the field, apprehensive, that amidst the sudden convulsions, crowded scenes, and rapid changes, that flowed in quick succession, many circumstances might escape the more busy and active members of society, I have been induced to improve the leisure Providence had lent, to record as they passed, in the following pages, the new and unexperienced events exhibited in a land previously blessed with peace, liberty, simplicity, and virtue.

. . .

Connected by nature, friendship, and every social tie, with many of the first patriots, and most influential characters on the continent; in the habits of confidential and epistolary intercourse with several gentlemen employed abroad in the most distinguished stations, and with others since elevated to the highest grades of rank and distinction, I had the best means of information, through a long period that the colonies were in suspense, waiting the operation of foreign courts, and the success of their own enterprising spirit.

The solemnity that covered every countenance, when contemplating the sword uplifted, and the horrors of civil war rushing to habitations not inured to scenes of rapine and misery; even to the quiet cottage, where only concord and affection had reigned; stimulated to observation a mind that had not yielded to the assertion, that all political attentions lay out of the road of female life.

It is true there are certain appropriate duties assigned to each sex; and doubtless it is the more peculiar province of masculine strength, not only to repel the bold invader of the rights of his country and of mankind, but in the nervous style of manly eloquence, to describe the blood-stained fields, and relate the story of slaughtered armies.

Sensible of this, the trembling heart has recoiled at the magnitude of the undertaking, and the hand often shrunk bank from the task; yet, recollecting that every domestic enjoyment depends on the unimpaired possession of civil and religious liberty, that a concern for the welfare of society ought equally to glow in every human breast, the work was not relinquished. The most interesting circumstances were collected, active characters portrayed, the principles of the times developed, and the changes marked; nor need it cause a blush to acknowledge, a detail was preserved with a view of transmitting it to the rising youth of my country, some of them in infancy, others in the European world, while the most interesting events lowered over their native land.

Conscious that truth has been the guide of my pen, and candor, as well as justice, the accompaniment of my wishes through every page, I can say, with an ingenious writer, "I have used my pen with the liberty of one, who neither hopes nor fears, nor has any interest in the success or failure of any party, and who speaks to posterity -- perhaps very far remote."

. . .

Before this address to my countrymen is closed, I beg to leave to observe, that a new century has dawned upon us, the mind is naturally led to contemplate the great events that have run parallel with, and have just closed the last. From the revolutionary spirit of the times, the vast improvements in science, arts, and agriculture, the boldness of genius that marks the age, the investigation of new theories, and the changes in the political, civil, and religious characters of men, succeeding generations have reason to expect still more astonishing exhibitions in the next. In the mean time, Providence has clearly pointed out the duties of the present generation, particularly the paths which Americans ought to tread. The United States form a young republic, a confederacy which ought ever to be cemented by a union of interests and affection, under the influence of those principles which obtained their independence. These have indeed, at certain periods, appeared to be in the wane; but let them never be eradicated, by the jarring interests of parties, jealousies of the sister states, or the ambition of individuals! It has been observed by a writer of celebrity, that "that people, government, and constitution is the freest, which makes the best provision for the enacting of expedient and salutary laws." May this truth be evinced to all ages, by the wise and salutary laws that shall be enacted in the federal legislature of America!

May the hands of the executive of their own choice, be strengthened more by the unanimity and affection of the people, than by the dread of penal inflictions, or any restraints that might repress free inquiry, relative to the principles of their own government, and the conduct of its administrators! The world is now viewing America, as experimenting a new system of government, a FEDERAL REPUBLIC, including a territory to which the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland bear little proportion. The practicability of supporting such a system, has been doubted by some; if she succeeds, it will refute the assertion, that none but small states are adapted to republican government; if she does not, and the union should be dissolved, some ambitious son of Columbia, or some foreign adverturer, allured by the prize, may wade to empire through seas of blood, or the friends of monarchy may see a number of petty despots, stretching their sceptres over the disjointed parts of the continent. Thus by the mandate of a single sovereign, the degraded subjects of one state, under the bannerets of royalty, may be dragged to sheathe their swords in the bosoms of the inhabitants of another.

The state of the public mind, appears at present to be prepared to weigh these reflections with solemnity, and to receive with pleasure an effort to trace the origin of the American revolution, to review the characters that effected it, and to justify the principles of the defection and final separation from the parent state. With an expanded heart, beating with high hopes of the continued freedom and prosperity of America, the writer indulges a modest expectation, that the following pages will be perused with kindness and candor: this she claims, both in consideration of her sex, the uprightness of her intentions, and the fervency of her wishes for the happiness of all the human race.

Mercy Warren.

Item of the Day: Pierpont’s The American First Class Book

2006-11-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The American first class book; or, exercises in reading and recitation: selected principally from modern authors of Great Britain and America: and designed for the use of the highest class in publick and private schools. By John Pierpont, Minister of Hollis-street Church, Boston: Author of Airs of Palestine, &c. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins and Richardson, Lord & Holbrook, 1831.

Preface.

This book has been compiled with a special reference to the publick Reading and Grammar Schools of this city. It is the result of an attempt to supply the want—which has long been a subject of complaint among those whom the citizens of Boston have charged with the general superintendence of their publick schools, as well as with those who are appointed to the immediate instruction of them—of a book of Exercises in Reading and Speaking better adapted, than any English compilation that has yet appeared, to the state of society as it is in this country; and less obnoxious to complaint, on the ground of its national or political character, than it is reasonable to expect that any English compilation would be, among a people whose manners, opinions, literary institutions, and civil governments, are so strictly republican as our own.

But, though the immediate design of this compilation was a limited and local one, it has been borne in mind, throughout the work, that the want, which has been a subject of complaint in this city, must have been still more widely felt; especially by those, in every part of our country, who are attentive to the national, moral, and religious sentiments, contained in the books that are used by their children while learning to read, and while their literary taste is beginning to assume something of the character which it ever afterwards retains.

How far the objections, which have been made to other works of this sort, have been obviated in the present selection, it is for others to determine. I willingly leave the decision of this question to the ultimate and only proper tribunal—the publick; to whose kindness, as shown towards one of my efforts, in another department of literature, I am no stranger, and for which I should prove myself ungrateful should I not acknowledge my obligation. –I only hope that the kindness of the publick towards the past, many not have led into presumption and carelessness in regard to the present.

In as much, however, as this book departs, in some particulars, from most others of the same general character, it may be expected that the author should assign his reasons for such deviations. These relate principally to the omission of some things that are usually deemed essential to a school-reader; and to the arrangement of the materials of which this is made up.

First, then, it may be urged as an objection to this, as a compilation that is to be used by those who are learning to read, that it consists entirely of exercises in reading and speaking, to the exclusion of those rules, the knowledge of which is indispensable to any considerable proficiency in either.

I have observed, however, that that part of school-books which consists of Brief Treatises upon Rhetorick, Rules for Reading, and Essays on Elocution is, almost uniformly, little worn; --an evidence that it is little used; in other words, that it is of little use. I have construed this fact into an oracular monition not to devote to such Rules, Treatises, or Essays, any part of the present work.

The truth probably is, that reading, like conversation, is learned from example rather than by rule. –No one becomes distinguished, as a singer, by the most familiar knowledge of the gamut; so, no one is ever made an accomplished reader or speaker by studying rules for elocution, even though aided by a diagram. There is even less aid derived from rules in reading than singing: for musick is, in a great degree, a matter of strict science; while reading, after the alphabet is learned, is altogether an art: --an art, indeed, which requires a quick perception, a delicate taste, a good understanding, and, especially, a faculty of nicely discriminating and accurately expressing the various shades of an author’s meaning: --but, still, an art that is less capable than musick of being reduced to definitive rules, or of being taught by them.

To become a good reader or a good speaker, the best examples of elocution, in these respective departments, must be see, and heard, and studied. The tones that express particular emotions and passions must be caught by the ear. The same organ must inform us what is mean: by the very terms in which all rules must be expressed, --what is meant by a rapid or deliberate enunciation; what by speaking loudly or softly, on a high or low key, with emphasis or in a monotony, distinctly or indistinctly. We may amuse ourselves, if we please, with laying down rules upon these matters, but, till our rules are illustrated by the voice and manner of a good reader, they are totally inoperative; and, when thus illustrated, totally unnecessary. The learner imitates the example of reading which is given in explaining a rule, and the rule itself is forsaken and soon forgotten.

It seems to me that the readiest, indeed, the only good way, to teach children to read well, is, to give them the charge of instructers who are themselves good readers, --instructers, who, like teachers of musick, will not content themselves with laying certain rules for regulating the tones, inflexions, and cadences of the voice before your child’s eye, which can neither receive a sound nor give one, but who will address his ear with living instruction, --with the rich and informing melody of the human voice. . . .

Boston, June, 1823.

Upcoming events in the NYC area

2006-11-09T16:49:00.000-05:00

Please note that this Friday (tomorrow) afternoon at 2pm, the Eighteenth-Century Interdisciplinary Group is hosting a talk in the Reading Room called "Revisiting Purley: John Horne Tooke's Logocentrism" by Dr. Brijraj Singh of Hostos Community College, CUNY. Please contact me at carrieshanafelt at gmail dot com if you'd like to attend this event and do not have a CUNY ID.

The Bard Graduate Center for Sudies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, located at 18 and 38 West 86th Stree in NYC has a series of upcoming events and programs scheduled. An exhibit entitled James "Athenian" Stuart, 1713-1788 The Rediscovery of Antiquity will take place November 16, 2006 through February 18, 2007 . On Thursday, December 7th from 6-8 pm, archaeologist and art historian Jenifer Neils will be giving a talk entitled "James 'Athenian' Stuart and the Parthenon" at the Bard Center. Registration is $17 for general admission, $12 for seniors and students. For more information or to register, please call 212-501-3011 or e-mail programs@bgc.bard.edu. Information regardging their other programs and events can be found at http://www.bgc.bard.edu/public/exhibit_events.shtml

Item of the Day: Isaiah Thomas, Junr's Almanack for 1804 (1803)

2006-11-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

Full Title: Isaiah Thomas, Junr's Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont Almanack, With an Ephemeris, for the Year of our Lord 1804: Being Bissextile or Leap Year, and Twenty-Eighth of Columbian Independence. From Creation, According to the Scriptures, 5766. Fitted to the Latitude and Longitude of the Town of Boston, but will serve without essential variation for the adjacent States. Containing, besides the more than usual Astronomical Calculations, a large Quantity and greater Variety, than are to be found in any other Almanack of Matters Curious, Useful and Entertaining. Printed at Worcester, Massachusetts, by Isaiah Thomas, Jun.

A NEW METHOD TO PRESERVE CIDER.

The green and defective apples should be first made up and the cider sent to the distillery, to make brandy, which is a very good cordial, if softened with a little sugar, and kept until matured with age. The good and found apples, should be kept till they begin to grow mellow, then ground fine and the cider pressed out. It should be strained through a hair sieve when put into the casks, which will take out the gross parts of the apples. The casks should then be removed home and set on skids at the North end of a building, or some other cool place (but not in the cellar) where being placed a little slooping, the bungs should be taken out and filled up daily with cider, so that all the scum may go off. When the liquor is fine or clear, which will be in four or five days, it should be drawn off in clean casks, bunged up close, and stowed away in the cellar for future use.

It will be much softer and pleasanter than when preserved in the usual way; and the reason is plain; for all the fermentation in cider proceeds from small particles of apples remaining in the liquor. In the above method they are mostly separated very soon and thereby the cider is prevented fermenting so far as to make it sour.

The cider that is designed to be kept after June, should again be racked off in March; and if a match of brimstone is burnt in each cask and a quart of cider brandy added to each barrel, and is kept quite tight bunged, it will keep good two or three years.

There is considerable saving of casks in the above method, as each may be filled quite full of good cider, without any sediment at the bottom, or space at the top after the cider is wrought. -- The emptyings or sediment that is left, will answer for the still.

INNOCULATION OF TREES.

August and September, are the proper months to innoculate or graft most kinds of Fruit Trees -- Prune your Trees in the month of March, without any regard to the moon -- when you cut off large limbs, the stumps should be carefully plastered over with cowdung, and a little salt, to keep out the air.

Item of the Day: The Port Folio Prospectus (1801)

2006-11-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

Full Title:

PROSPECTUS

OF A NEW WEEKLY PAPER,

SUBMITTED TO MEN OF AFFLUENCE, MEN OF LIBERALITY,

AND MEN OF LETTERS.

A young man, once known among village-readers, as the humble historian of the hour, the conductor of a Farmer's Museum, and a Lay Preacher's Gazette, again offers himself to the public as a volunteer-editor. Having, as he conceives, a right to vary, at pleasure, his fictitious name, he now, for higher reasons than any fickle humour might dictate, assumes the appellation of OLDSCHOOL. Fond of this title, indicative of his moral, political, and literary creed, he proposes publishing, every Saturday, on a super-royal quarto sheet,

A NEW WEEKLY PAPER,

To be Called,

THE PORT FOLIO

By Oliver Oldschool, Esq.

Warned by the "waywardness of the time," and the admonitions of every honest printer, the Editor begins his work on a Lilliputian page, and like a saving grocer, gives of his goods only a small sample; but Subscribers, if peradventure the Editor should have any, must not "despise the day of small things." It is proposed always to give plenty of letter press, in proportion to the public demand, and, as the exigency of the season, or copiousness of materials may require to double, treble, and even quadruple the number of pages in the PORT FOLIO. Hereafter, more may be done, if more be wanted, and if more be fostered. . . .

More certain and confident respecting that which he can shun, than that which he can accomplish, he stipulates, with perfect sincerity, not to do certain things, and makes his public contract as Theologians, at the beginning of the century, used to divide their sermons, with a First, negatively,

He will not publish an impartial paper, in that style of cold, callous, supine, and criminal indifference, which views, with equal eye, a chieftain, and a follower -- a man of sense, and a fool -- the philosophy of the Greeks, and the philosophy of the French -- a stable government, and the uproar of anarchy. He will not make his paper "a carte-blanche on which every fool and knave may scribble what he pleases." To gratify the malignancy of fanatics, he will not asperse the government or the church, the laws or the literature of England. Remembering that WE ARE AT PEACE with that power -- that the most wholesome portions of our polity are modelled from hers -- that we kneel at shrines, and speak a language common to both, he will not flagitiously and foolishly advert to ancient animonisites, nor with rash hand, attempt to hurl the brand of discord between the nations.

He will not strive to please the populace, at the expence of their quiet, by infusing into every ill-balanced and weak mind, a jealousy of rulers, a love of innovation, an impatience of salutary restraint, or the reveries of liberty, equality, and the rights of man.

He will not labour to confound the moral, social, and political system, nor desperately essay "to break up the fountains of the great deep" of government. He will not calumniate Talents and Authority, and the "higher powers," whether of Genius or Wealth, or "Might and Dominion." He will not repeat to "hewers of wood and drawers of water," the Fairy-Tales of France, that all men are kings and emperors, and nobles, and judges, and statesmen. To plunder property, and to suffocate genius, he will not invite either a Wat Tyler, or a Jack Cade.

He will not, with political adversaries, maintain any other than well-manner'd controversy, and will not, in the rage of a zealot, forget the principles of a gentleman.

And, lastly, He will not print any other than a uniform, correct, and independent paper; nor gratify the caprice of parties, sects, or individuals, by departing no, not for a moment, from that scheme of political and literary composition, which has hitherto been pursued by the Editor, with sufficient approbation from the good, the loyal, and the studious. He will not be an inconstant and luke-warm supporter to principles and law; nor, like the parasite of the poet,

"Supple to every wayward mood, strike sail,

And shift, with shifting humour's peevish gale:

Nor be a glass, with flattering grimace,

Still to reflect the temper of each face."

Item of the Day: The Port Folio (1801)

2006-11-06T12:07:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Port Folio. By Oliver Oldschool, Esq. Volume 1. No. 4. Philadelphia, Saturday, January 24th, 1801.

One of the most mischievous articles of the new-fangled creed of "Equality" is that, which teaches the unlearned and the unwise to believe themselves competent to discharge all the functions of the well-taught and the sage. In former times a diligent apprenticeship was thought at least not less necessary to form a good legislator, a good judge, or a wise politician, than to make a mender of old shoes, or a patcher of old garments. But now, while statutes and acts of assembly most cautiously provide for the education of these latter, all men are supposed to be instinctively legislators, judges and politicians. Many a worthy mechanic is spoiled by being a chairman of a town meeting, and rendered worthless to his country, his family and himself: and many a fool, whose folly might have been concealed in retirement, inflamed with a desire to imitate his superiors, like Sancho's apple, has exposed himself to contempt and disgrace.

"Non omis fert omnia tellus," and the variety of soils cannot exceed the variety of men's talents. The human mind is limited in its operations, and is distracted and weakened by a variety of pursuits. Very few excel in more than one and it is an old and true adage, that "a Jack of all trades, is good at none." The folly of Chrysippus, an old Stoic, who affected to believe that a wise man is ipso facto, "et sutor bonus, et solus formosus, et rex," of all trades and professions, was formerly the subject of much mirth; but we have surpassed him in folly, for, now-a-days, "sutor est," ipso facto "sapiens, et rex" and good at everything.

Whenever I observe a tradesman talking politics by noon-day at street corners, frequenting state-house meetings, wearing the tri-coloured badge of party, or putting his family upon allowance for a month, to pay for a dinner to celebrate the success of a party favourite, I infer, that while his attention is absorbed by these things, his journeymen and apprentices are idle, his customers neglected, and that he is hastening to ruin, at the rate of a galloping consumption.

It is true, that the nature of our government and the frequent recurrence of our elections (hardly affording a sufficient interval for finishing a heel-tap) require and suppose a certain degree of activity and information from every citizen. God forbid that the honest and industrious should, in these times, refuse the duty they owe to their country. But I affirm, that valuable information is not to be had from town-meetings, turbulent demagogues and beer-house politicians; these darken and obscure the judgment and set the bad passions at work. An honest man, if left to himself, will generally judge correctly in important affairs, and the activity of that citizen who is busied in his own affairs, is most beneficial to himself and to society.

"Let the Cobbler, then, stick to his last."

Item of the Day: Whimsical Method of Punishing Libellers in Russia.

2006-11-03T09:16:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Universal magazine of knowledge and pleasure: containing news, letters, poetry, musick, biography, history, geography, voyages, criticism, translations, philosophy, mathematicks, husbandry, gardening, cookery, chemistry, mechanics, trade, navigation, architecture, and other arts and sciences, which may render it instructive and entertaining to gentry, merchants, farmers and tradesmen: to which occasionally will be added an impartial account of books in several languages and of the state of learning in Europe also of the stage, new operas, plays and oratorios. Vol. LXI. Published monthly according to an act of Parliament. London: John Hinton.

[Extracted from The Universal Magazine for September 1777.]

Whimsical Method of Punishing LIBELLERS in Russia.
Recommended to the Consideration of the British Legislature.

Everybody knows that the government in Russia is arbitrary, and consequently ever watchful over the few daring subjects who presume to make any advances towards that liberty, to which, as natives of the earth, all men seem so duly intitled. The punishment inflicted upon such unconstitutional delinquents is, however, not so severe as one might expect: but, in my opinion, much more exemplary than is to be found in a country celebrated for the equity of its decisions, and the salutary purpose of its laws. –While I resided at Moscow, there was a gentleman who thought fit to publish a quarto volume in vindication of the liberties of the subject, grosly reflecting upon the unlimited power of the Czar Peter, and exposing the iniquity of the whole legislature (if it may be so called) of that empire. The offender was immediately seized by virtue of a warrant signed by one of the principal officers of state; he was tried in a summary way, his book determined to be a libel, and he himself, as the author, condemned to “eat his own words.” This sentence was literally carried into execution on the following day. A scaffold was erected in the most populous part of town; the imperial provost was the executioner, and all magistrates attended at the ceremony. The book was severed from the binding, the margins were cut off, and every leaf was rolled up, as near as I can recollect, in the form of a lottery ticker, when it is taken out of the wheel at Guildhall by the blue-coat boy. The author of the libel was then served with them separately by the provost, who put them into his mouth, to the no small diversion of the spectators. The gentleman had received a complete mouthful before he began to chew; but he was obliged, upon pain of the severest bastinado, to swallow as many leaves as the Czar’s serjeant surgeon and physician thought it possible for him to do without immediate hazard to his life. As soon as they were pleased to determine that it would be dangerous to proceed, the remainder of the sentence was suspended for that time, and resumed again the next day, at the same place and hour, and strictly conformable to the same ceremony. I remember it was three days before this execution was over; but I attended it constantly, and was convinced that the author had actually swallowed every leaf of the book. Thus, I think, he may be very justly to have eaten his own words. Some part of this punishment seemed to give the culprit little or no concern; but I could not help observing, that now and then he suffered great torture: which, from an accurate attention, I discovered to arise from particular leaves on which the strongest points of his arguments were printed.

On recollecting this mode of execution, I confess I wished it to be adopted by the law of England: for setting aside the ridicule which it naturally brings upon the offender, it contains a spirit of equity that renders it in a particular manner worthy of consideration of the British legislature.

An Old Traveller.

Item of the Day: The Gentleman's Magazine (1764)

2006-11-02T11:31:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle. Volume XXXIV. For the Year M.DCC.LXIV. By Sylvanus Urban, Gent. London: Printed by D. Henry and R. Cave, at St. John's Gate.

Poetical Essays: June 1764.

To the Rev. Gentleman on his being presented with a Pair of Garters by a Lady.

Since P---r, substitute of Venus now,
To whom a crowd of vot'ries daily bow,
From the rich stores of her abundant grace,
Mov'd with thy fair rotundity of face;
(That face where smiles eternal vigils keep,
For sure you smile when you are fast asleep)
Has on your Reverendship bestow'd the garter
From angry rivals, brother, hope no quarter;
But, by the lusty sun, she judges right,
Thou are a blooming, full proportion'd knight
But what, my rose of Sharon, means this gift,
Is now the business of thy brains to sift;
Say, did the fair present this mystic garter
Merely to make thy person something smarter?
Nought can be added to the man she loves,
Brawny as Mars, and sleek as Venus' doves.
Perhaps she meant "but Friendship's holy knot,
"The union incorporeal" -- You sot
'Twas not the ethereal touch of soul and soul
These garters typify'd. 'twas cheek by jole;
And, but for virgin shame, herself would own
The purpose was -- to have the stocking thrown.

Item of the Day: More of The Stranger in America (1807)

2006-11-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Stranger in America: containing Observations made during a long Residence in that Country on the Genius, Manners and Customs of the People of the United States; with Biographical Particulars of Public Characters; Hints and Facts relative to the Arts, Sciences, Commerce, Agriculture, Manufactures, Emigration and the Slave Trade by Charles William Janson, Esq. Published by James Cundee, Albion Press London, 1807.

Chap. XI.

Baptism by Immersion

I was present at a baptism according, as they say, to the doctrine of Saint John, in Rhode Island. the day was one of the severest in the month of January, and in that part of the world it is many degrees colder than in England. the thermometer was, at the time, 10 below 0.

A concourse of people near the water-side attracted my attention. I joined the crowd, and found that it was assembled to witness a baptism by immersion. The ice, which was about a foot thick, had been cut through to the distance of twenty or thirty yards, but so intense was the frost, that some of the elect were obliged, with poles and staves, to keep the hallowed water from freezing. A few minutes would have cemented the whole again. In order to turn the hearts of unbelievers, and to reclaim such as have gone astray, the baptists on these occasions are particularly prolix. They assert that the spirit enures them to this rigid penance, making to them the day mild, and the water of the summer's temperature. I had waited for the end of the minister's exhortation, after which he was to lead his flock to the water, until my limbs ached with cold. At length the penitents appeared. They consisted of the members of the meeting, two and two; then followed the devotees, about twelve in number, of both sexes, in long gowns, resembling a robe de chambre. At the head of the noviciates was the priest, alternately praying and singing, in honor of Saint John the baptist: and thus without slackening his pace, or altering his dress, he plunged into the freezing stream, till he was nearly breast-high in the water. His disciples, with wonderful resolution, hand in hand, followed; while the members who had already been purified by immersion, ranged themselves along the margin of the deep. The pastor then turned round, and began a solemn exhortation on baptism, which continued a few minutes; a dreadful interval in his situation! He then seized the nearest devotee, and with great dexterity immersed him entirely in the water. Another short prayer succeeded, then another immersion; and this was repeated till the whole had thus received the holy sacrament. They returned, giving thanks to God, after suffering the severity of the freezing water, at such as season, about ten minutes.

During this unnatural ceremony, I was no less entertained with the remarks of the spectators. One of them observed that, severe as the discipline was, they seldom took cold, or suffered subsequent bodily pains; adding, that their enthusiasm was so great, and their minds were wrought up to such a degree of religious phrenzy, that no room was left for reflection, or sense of danger. Another related a story of a public baptism of this nature in Connecticut, which was attended with a fatal circumstance. "It was about the same time of year," continued the narrator, (for the severer the weather the greater their faith) "when I was present at one of these duckings, (as he termed it.) It was performed in a small but rapid river, then covered with ice, except a place cut for the purpose. The minister, with his followers, advanced to the proper distance into the water: after the usual introductory prayer, being in the act of immersing the first, he accidentally lost his hold of the unfortunate person, who was in an instant carried down the stream, still running under the ice, and irrecoverably lost. The good man finding his subject gone, with a happy serenity of mind exclaimed, "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away, blessed by the name of the Lord: -- come another of you, my children." The remainder, astonished and confounded, lost their faith, and fled.

A third spectator declared, that one of his relations, an elderly man, had suddenly become a frequenter of the baptist meetings, and offered himself a candidate for a place among the elect. The penance necessary to endure is severe, and the probation arduous, before the repentant sinner can pass the ordeal of the ministers and the elders. The old man had, it seems, obtained the blessed sanction, and a distant day was appointed for his regeneration by baptism. Upon reflection, finding that it would happen in the greatest severity of winter, at the next meeting he petitioned that the ceremony might take place in warmer weather; alledging, that it would certainly prove his death to be put under water in time of frost and snow. The congregation murmured, while the priest, without a reply, read his sentence of excommunication, with the most severe anathemas on his head as an unbeliever, possessing neither faith nor the holy spirit; and never could he recover the effects of his indiscretion, or be again admitted into the number of the elect.

Item of the Day: The Gentleman's Magazine (1752)

2006-10-30T11:05:00.000-05:00

Full Title: The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Volume XXII. For the Year M.DCC.LII. By Sylvanus Urban, Gent. London: Printed for Edward Cave, at St. John's Gate.

For December, 1752.
New Method of extracting lightening from the clouds, by B. Franklin

Philadelphia, Oct. 19. 1752.

As frequent mention is made in the newspapers from Europe, of the success of the Philadelphia experiment for drawing the electric fire from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high buildings, etc, it may be agreeable to inform the curious that the same experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia, tho' made in a different and more easy manner, which is as follows:

Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as to reach to the four corners of a large thin silk handkerchief when extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which being properly accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like those made of paper; but this being of silk is fitter to bear the wind and wet of a thunder gust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be ty'd a silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder gust appears to be coming on, and the person who holds the string must stand within a door, or window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with all the twine, will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the twine will stand out every way, and be attracted by an approaching finger. And when the rain has wet the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged; and from electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled, and all the other electric experiments be performed, which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube; and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning compleatly demonstrated.

B.F.

Item of the Day: A Defence of the Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage, &c.

2006-10-27T09:57:00.000-04:00

Full Title: A Defence of the Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage, &c. Being a Reply to Mr. Congreve’s Amendments, &c. And to the Vindication of the Author of the Relapse. By Jeremy Collier. London: Printed for S Keble, R. Sace, and N. Hindmarsh, 1699.

To the READER.

Since the publishing my late View, &c. I have been plentifully rail’d on in Print: This give me some reason to suspect the Answerers and the Cause, are not altogether unlike. Had there been nothing but plain Argument to encounter, I think I might have ventured my Book with them: But being charged with mis-citations and unfair Dealing, ‘twas requisite to say something: For Honesty is a tender point, and ought not to be neglected.

Mr. Congreve and the Author of Relapse, being the most eager Complainants, and Principals in the Dispute, I have made it my choice to satisfie them. As the Volunteers, they will find themselves affected with the Fortune of their Friends; and besides, I may probably have an opportunity of speaking farther with them hereafter.

Notwithstanding the singular Management of the Poets and the Play-House, I have had the satisfaction to perceive, the Interest of Virtue is not altogether Sunk, but that Conscience and Modesty have still some Footing among us. This consideration makes me hope a little farther Discovery of the Stage may not be unacceptable. The Reader then may please to take notice, that The Plot and no Plot swears at length, and is scandalously Smutty and Profane. The Fool in Fashion for the first four Acts is liable to the same Imputation: Something in Swearing abated, Caesar Borgia, and Love in a Nunnery, are no better Complex’d than the former. As lastly. Limberhan, and the Soldier’s Fortune, are meer prodigies of Lewdness and Irreligion. If this general Accusation appears too hard, I am ready to make it good. ‘Twere easy to proceed to many other Plays, but possibly this Place may not be so proper to enlarge upon the Subject.

Some of the Stage-Advocates pretend my Remarks on their Poetry are foreign to the Business. On the contrary, I conceive it very defensible to disarm an Adversary, if it may be, and disable him from doing Mischief.

To expose that which would expose Religion, is a warrantable way of Reprizals. Those who Paint for Debauchery, should have the Fucus pull’d off, and the Coarseness underneath discover’d. The Poets are the Aggressors, let them lay down their Arms first. We have suffer’d under Silence a great while; If we are in any fault, ‘tis because we began with them no sooner.

Item of the Day: The Stranger in America (1807)

2006-10-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Stranger in America: containing Observations made during a long Residence in that Country on the Genius, Manners and Customs of the People of the United States; with Biographical Particulars of Public Characters; Hints and Facts relative to the Arts, Sciences, Commerce, Agriculture, Manufactures, Emigration and the Slave Trade by Charles William Janson, Esq. Published by James Cundee, Albion Press London, 1807.

Chap. II

We landed in Boston on the third of July, and the fourth was the day of Jubilee -- the anniversary of the declaration of American independence. The fatigue of getting my baggage on shore in the excessive heat of a meridian sun, had nearly exhausted me before I reached my lodgings. I, however, met with no detention or aggravating circumstances at the custom-house -- no extortion -- no demand of fees. An oath was administered to me, that the baggage was for my own private use; and this was the only ceremony I underwent.

. . .

Boston bears considerable resemblance to an old city in England, It is two miles in length, but of unequal breadth, being seven hundred and twenty-six yards at the broadest part. It contains about 3500 dwelling-houses, many of which are built of wood, besides a great number of store-houses, and nearly 28,000 inhabitants. This town is famed for a wharf, leading from State-Street into the harbor, 1743 feet in a direct line, and in breadth 104 feet. On approaching it from the sea, it appears to the greatest advantage. At the back part is Beacon Hill which greatly adds to the prospects. On the top of this hill is a column, on which are inscribed the achievements of those who fell by the swords of the British during the revolutionary war. At Boston they distill large quantities of that detestable spirit, there called New England, but in the Southern States, Yankee rum, and in this employment there are nearly forty large distilleries. It is made of the worst and the damaged molasses, and its baleful effects are severely felt in every part of the union. In Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, it foments quarrels, which produce combats like those of bears and wolves -- gouging, biting kicking, and tearing each others' flesh; of which I shall make more particular mention when I speak of those states. It is sold for about an English half-crown per gallon, is strong, and has the most execrable smell with which any kind of spirit ever assailed my nasal organ.

. . .

An excursion through Connecticut, and part of Massachusets, afforded me an opportunity of observing the mode of travelling, and the accommodations on the road. In order to view the country at my leisure, I purchased a horse, which, with a tolerable bridle and saddle, cost me sixty dollars. Upon my new purchase I set out, before the break of day, from New London, in order to arrive at Norwich before the sun acquired his full power. After riding three hours, I stopped at a decent looking house, with a vile daub of General Washington for a sign, in order to feed my nag, which had ingratiated himself in my favor by the morning's performance, and to take breakfast. I was greatly surprized to see a hot beef-steak, swimming in grease and onions, brought upon the table; and still more so to find this substantial dish followed by another of fried eggs and bacon. My ride had sharpened my appetite, so that the fume of these smoaking dishes was by no means unpleasant. They remained upon the table till nearly cold, before a single person came into the room. My patience was exhausted -- hunger drove away ceremony; I could no longer restrain its calls, and therefore commenced an attack, for the first time in my life, upon a clumsy beef-steak, at eight in the morning. I saw no appearance of tea or coffee, and concluded that I must make a dinner instead of a breakfast, but in a little time the room began to fill with country-looking people of both sexes, to my confusion -- for I was stared at with looks not very prepossessing, till I observed, that being a stranger, in haste to pursue my journey, not knowing company were expected, and above all, the steak cooling, I had begun to eat. Very little notice was taken of my apology, but each followed my example, with stomachs not a whit less keen than my own. If, methought, looking round the table, and fixing my eyes upon a pretty girl, who was too deeply engaged with a plate of eggs and bacon to notice me, -- if you make a practice of breaking your fast thus, pretty damsel, you must surely be a maiden of the days of Queen Bess, preferring "to such slip-slops as tea the leg of an ox." A few days convinced me that this is the daily custom in the morning with this class of people, who must have something hot and substantial . Besides this fare, let me not forget to mention, we were served with some most detestable coffee. I wished for ale or porter after my steak, but was offered "Yankee rum," the most execrable spirit ever distilled; and at length I allayed my thirst with a glass of sour cyder.

Item of the Day: Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America.

2006-10-25T11:51:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America, to which is added, the conquest of Siberia, and the history of the transactions and commerce between Russia and China. By William Coxe. London: Printed by J. Nichols, for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1780.

[The following passage is excerpted from a passage in Appendix I entitled: Extract from the journal of a voyage made by Captain Krenitzin and Lieutenant Levasheff to the Fox Islands, in 1768, 1769, by order of the Empress of Russia—they sail from Kamtchatka—arrive at Beering’s and Copper Islands—reach the Fox Islands—Krenitzin winters at Alaxa—Levasheff upon Unalashka—productions of Unalashka—description of the inhabitants of the Fox Islands—their manners and customs, &c.]

The inhabitants of Alaxa, Umnak, Unalaksha, and the neighboring islands, are of a middle stature, tawny brown colour, and black hair. In summer they wear coats (parki*) made of bird skins, over which, in bad weather, and in their boats, they throw cloaks, called kamli, made of thin whale guts. On their heads they wear wooden caps, ornamented with duck’s feathers, and the ears of the sea-animal, called Scivutcha or sea-lion: they also adorn these caps with beads of different colours, and with little figures of bone or stone. In the partition of the nostrils they place a pin, about four inches long, made of the bone, or of the stalk of a certain black plant; from the ends of this pin or bodkin they hang, in fine weather and on festivals, rows of beads, one below the other. They thrust beads, and bits of pebble cut like teeth, into holes made in the under-lips. They also wear strings of beads in their ears, with bits of amber, which the inhabitants of the other islands procure from Alaxa, in exchange for arrows and kamli.

They cut their hair before just above the eyes, and some shave the top of their heads like minks. Behind the hair is loose. The dress of the women hardly differens from that of the men, excepting that it is mad of fish-skins. They sew with bone needles, and thread made of fish guts, fastening their work to the ground before them with bodkins. They go with the head uncovered, and the hair cut like that of the men before, but tied up behind in a high knot. They paint their cheeks with strokes of blue and red, and wear nose-pins, beads, and ear-rings like the men; they hang beads round their neck, and checkered strings round their arms and legs.

In their persons we should reckon them extremely nasty. They eat the vermin with which their bodies are covered, and swallow the mucus from the nose. Having washed themselves, according to custom, first with urine, and then with water, they suck their hand dry. When they are sick, they lie three or four days without food; and if bleeding is necessary, they open a vein with lancets made of flint, and suck the blood.

Their principal nourishment is fish and whale fat, which they commonly eat raw. They also feed upon sea-wrack and roots, particularly the saran, a species of lily; they eat a herb called kutage, on account of its bitterness, only with fish or fat. They sometimes kindle fire by catching a spark among dry leaves and powder of sulphur: but the most common method is by rubbing two pieces of wood together, in the manner practiced at Kamtchatka,** and which Vaksel, Beering’s lieutenant, found to be in use in that part of North America which he saw in 1741. They are very fond of Russian oil and butter, but not of bread. They could not be prevailed to taste any sugar until the commander shewed it home to their wives.

The houses of the islanders are huts built precisely in the manner of those in Kamtchatka, with the entry through a hold in the middle of the roof. In one of these huts live several families, to the amount of thirty or forty persons. They keep themselves warm by means of whale fat burnt in shells, which they place between their legs. The women set apart from the men. . . .

* Parki in Russian signifies a shirt, the coats of these islanders being made like shirts.

** The instrument made us of by the Kamtchadals, to procure fire, is a board with several holes, and turned about swiftly, until the wood within the holes begins to burn, where there is tinder ready to catch the sparks.

Item of the Day: More of Abraham Bishop's Oration in Honor of the Election of President Jefferson, and the peaceable Acquisition of Louisiana (1804)

2006-10-23T10:30:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Oration, In Honor of the Election of President Jefferson, and the Peaceable Acquisition of Louisiana, delivered at the National Festival, in Hartford, on the 11th of May, 1804. By Abraham Bishop. Printed for the General Committee of Republicans. From Sidney's Press, 1804.

We shall not do injustice to the occasion, which has convened us, if we improve the remainder of it in examining the peculiar attitude of this state in respect to this important acquisition and the other measures of the general government.

This state has furnished no part of the votes, by which President Jefferson was elected, no part of the wise counsels by which Louisiana was obtained, and the honorable and reverend federal republicans* who convened yesterday, do not rejoice in the event which we celebrate.

Formerly decency was outraged, if the character of the President and the measures of government were not treated with respect: now decency is outraged, if both be not treated with marked contempt. Formerly the friends of the general government held all the offices in this State, and afferted loudly the political infallibility of the majority of the Union: Now those offices are holden by the enemies of the government, and republicans have been treated with as much severity as if they had destroyed the first born of every family, for the mere crime of having applied principles, which federalists lately held sacred and inviolable. The exterior of this state has been democratic, and every thing promised attachment to such a system of measures as is now pursued: Yet religion has always been in danger and under pretence of this danger, measures, which the people would from their natural habits have abhorred, have been approved, and measures, which they would have approved, have been reprobated; yet in all these alarms not one federal priest, deacon, judge or lawyer considered his own religion in danger. All were alarmed about the religion of their neighbors, yet not one man could be found in the state, who had any apprehension for his own.

Every seeming enigma of this kind may be solved by a correct explanation of facts.

The charter of Charles 2d. gave to Connecticut power to raise armies, levy war and do many things, wholly inconsistent with our relation to the federal government, but provided well enough, for the day of it, the means by which the people of this, then thinly settled colony, might govern themselves.

At the declaration of independence this charter became of no effect, and it was proper that the people of this free state should, like the people of other free states, have been convened to form a constitution: But the legislature, which was not impowered for that purpose, and which may repeal at pleasure its own laws, usurped the power of enacting, that the form of government, contained in the charter of king Charles, should be the civil constitution of this state. Thus by the pleasure of his majesty all the legislative, executive and judicial powers of government tumbled into a common mass, together with the power of raising armies, whenever the stockholders of power should think best.

This precise condition of society, absurd and unsafe as it is in theory, has proved far more so in practice. At the present moment all these powers, together with a complete control of elections, is in the hands of seven lawyers**, who have gained a seat at the council board. -- These seven virtually make and repeal laws as they please, appoint all the judges, plead before those judges, and constitute themselves a supreme court of errors to decide in the last resort on the laws of their own making. To crown this absurdity, they have repealed a law which prohibited them to plead before the very court of which they are judges.

. . .

This shews under what influence the legislative and executive powers of our government are dispensed.

*Not long since the very term Republican, was reprobated by the federalists here, who now call themselves Federal Republicans.
**These seven lawyers are, Mess'rs Daggett, Smith, C. Goodrich, Brace, Allen, Edmonds, and E. Goodrich, holding the same undefined powers, which their predecessors have held, and which their successors will hold, till we shall have a constitution. The term, seven men, will be used (as was the term, directory, under the French government) signifying the depository of supreme power. Every obnoxious act in force will be justly considered their act, till they shall repeal it.

Item of the Day: Steuben’s Order of Discipline

2006-10-20T09:53:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Regulations for the order and discipline of the troops of the United States. Philadelphia: Printed by Charles Cist, No. 104 North Second-street, M,DCC,XCIV.

C H A P T E R XXIV.
Of the Treatment of the Sick.

There is nothing which gains an officer the love of his soldiers more than his care of them under the distress of sickness; it is then he has the power of exerting his humanity in providing them every comfortable necessary, and making their situation as agreeable as possible.

Two or three tents should be set apart in every regiment for the reception of such sick as cannot be sent to the general hospital, or whose cases may not require it. And every company shall be constantly furnished with two sacks, to be filled occasionally with straw, and serve as beds for the sick. These sacks to be provided in the same manner as cloathing [sic] for the troops, and finally issued by the regimental clothier to the captain of each company, who shall be answerable for the same.

When a soldier dies, or is dismissed from the hospital, the straw he lay on is to be burnt, and the bedding well washed and aired before another is permitted to use it.

The serjeants [sic] and corporals shall every morning at roll-call give a return of the sick of their respective squads to the first serjeant, who must make out one for the company, and lose no time in delivering it to the surgeon, who will immediately visit them, and order such as he thinks proper to the regimental hospital; such whose cases require their being sent to the general hospital, he is to report immediately to the surgeon general, or principal surgeon attending the army.

Once every week (and oftener when required) the surgeon will deliver the commanding officer of the regiment a return of the sick of the regiment, with their disorders, distinguishing those in the regimental hospital, from those out of it.

When a soldier is sent to the hospital, the non-commissioned officer of his squad shall deliver up his arms and accoutrements to the commanding officer of the company, that they may be deposited in the regimental arm-chest.

When a soldier has been sick, he must not be put on duty till he has recovered sufficient strength, of which the surgeon should be judge.

The surgeons are to remain with their regiments as well as on a march as in camp, that in case of sudden accidents they may be at hand to apply the proper remedies.

Item of the Day: Oration, In Honor of the Election of President Jefferson, and the peaceable Acquisition of Louisiana (1804)

2006-10-19T11:11:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Oration, In Honor of the Election of President Jefferson, and The Peaceable Acquisition of Louisiana, Delivered at the National Festival, in Hartford, on the 11th of May, 1804 by Abraham Bishop. Printed for the General Committee of Republicans. From Sidney's Press, 1804.

We are not convened to do homage to a tyrant, nor to parade the virtues of a President and Senate for life, nor to bow before a First Consul, nor to bed the knee before a host of privileged orders; but we have assembled to pay our annual respects to a President, whom the voice of his country has called to the head of the freest and happiest nation on earth.

While Providence is giving to Britons a solemn commentary on the burning of our towns and the murder of our brethren, we are enjoying the fruits of a glorious defence against the passive obedience, which her insatiate court attempted to impose on us, as a punishment for the high misdemeanors of having descended from themselves, of having fought liberty of mind and conscience in this new world, and of having resolved to be free.

While France is learning, under awful impressions, the danger of delegating power without limit, and of trusting to ambition and the sword what ought to remain in the sacred deposit of peace and legislative counsel, the people of most of our States enjoy the full benefit of free elections, and derive from them all the blessings, which the best state of society admits.

While symptoms of death have seized on the governments of the eastern continent, and are hurrying them to that grave, which has buried all the ancient empires, we, are in youth, advancing to maturity rapidly, as a found constitution well guarded, and the best nourishment well administered can advance us.

The history of the world teaches that nations, like men, must decay. Ours will not forever escape the fate of others. Wealth, luxury, vice, aristocracies will attack us in our decline: these are evils of society, never to be courted, but to be put to as distant a day as possible. -- The season of national youth, of vigor, of pure principles and fair prospects is peculiarly a season of joy. -- We have lived at a period, more eventful than any which can recur. Having passed the dark season of our revolution, having witnessed the birth of our empire, having combated the tendency of an administration, which fought to rank us with nations, whose systems of eternal war and debt we abhorred, which publicly approved the doctrines of the old school, and in every measure founded our retreat to the runins of the old world, we have lived to see a real republic, combining all the blessings for which our fathers professed to embrace this country, and distressing none but the enemies of civil and religious liberty.

. . .

Uniform respect for the sovereign people and for peace has characterized our President: his ears have been open to the voice of the people, who called him to his high office, and he has waited till that voice was distinctly expressed. In the present case the southern people called loudly for the acquisition, republicans were united in sentiment, and federalists declared that Louisiana was worth the price of blood. -- To kings and the lovers of a President and Senate for life be it left to shed blood for territory; our President saw in amicable negociation a prospect of gaining the desired possession. -- He might have marshaled armies and bid defiance to the mighty power of France -- the blood of your sons and brothers might have flown like the waters of the Ohio and reddened the Mississippi, and this would have been the only export ever acquired -- the banks of that majestic river would have furnished another scene of whitened bones, and this would have been the only right of deposit ever secured! Louisiana would have remained the proud possession of France, and land of citadels, from which all the southern world would have been successfully annoyed. The wilderness, now blossoming as the rose, and filled with the shouts of republican husbandmen, would have been restored to beasts of prey. The rice of blood would indeed have been paid, but the object forever defeated!

. . .

To federalists this territory, for which they would have shed blood, now seems a barren waste, where no verdure quickens; but to us it appears fruitful, abounding in broad rivers and streams, producing whatever is necessary to our commerce with foreign nations. We see in Louisiana an assurance of long life to our cause. The Atlantic states, as they advance to that condition of society, where wealth and luxury tend to vice and aristocracies, will yield to that country accessions of enterprizing men. The spirit of faction, which tends to concentrate, will be destroyed by this diffusion. We see in this acquisition the enterprize, which it excites, the fraternity which it promises, an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, without fear of an alien act, destroying the germs of war and opening the spring of that century of seasons, which exhibits the whole western continent detached from the wars of the eastern, from its kings, its first consuls, and nobles, from vast plans of dominion by conquest, a country producing the best and making it the interest of all nations to trade with us, promising a rich addition of revenue to expedite a legal oblivion to a detested funding system.

. . .

We have before rejoiced that the aristocratic factions of our country were humbled -- that the energetic measures of the reign of terror were at an end, and that in the person of our first magistrate was expressed the public sentiment in favor of the principles of our revolution. While greater lamentation and woe have been heard among federalists than was founded in Ramah, because they had lost not only their first-born, but nearly the whole of their family, we have rejoiced in the constant increase of confidence in our administration, produced by a conviction of the integrity and utility of its measures. The people of other nations are born to see some hereditary potentate over them, scattering death and desolation, wasting their substance, dragging their children to the slaughter, and conducting as if they had been sent on earth merely to curse every portion of it, to which their power extended -- but we see at our head a man, whom the people have literally delighted to honor, whose life has been republican and whose services have been devoted to an experimental illustration of that political system which the philosophers of the east always considered visionary. He is demonstrating that a republican government is the strongest on earth and the will of the people, faithfully expressed, forms the most perfect system of laws and policy: A talk far more elevated than that of making marble pincushions.*

In the acquisition which we celebrate, he has exhibited the characteristic difference of system between the parties. Federalists would have shed blood for Louisiana, he preferred to purchase it from the right owners. They love the expensive and energetic measures of the old school, he prefers the pure, peaceful principles, the truth and value of which were sealed by the ceaseless labors and dangers of an army of freemen.

This acquisition did not rise as would a palace from the midst of ruins, but it arose naturally from a course of measures, having for their basis peace, economy, equal rights and honest friendship for all nations. Union in these sentiments has produced a festival from Orleans to New Hampshire, and it must add not a little to the occasion that this last state is substantially added to the republican force. Massachusetts and Connecticut are the solitary mourners over the remains of federalism.

*See Mr. Daggett's oration, where the republican system of Mr. Jefferson is represented to be as idle and visionary as would be an attempt to make pincushions from marble.

Item of the Day: A Briefe Narration of the Originall Undertakings of the Advancement of Plantations Into the Parts of America (1658)

2006-10-18T11:11:00.000-04:00

Full Title: A Briefe Narration of the Originall Undertakings of the Advancement of Plantations Into the parts of America. Especially, Shewing the begining, progress and continuance of that of New-England. Written by the right Worshipfull, Sir Ferdinando Gorges Knight and Governour of the Fort and Island of Plymouth in Devonshire. London: Printed by E. Brundenell, for Nath. Brook at the Angell in Corn-hill, 1658.

Chapter I.

Of the First Seisin Possession and Name of VIRGINIA.

That Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and Sir Richard Grenvile, and many others, Noble spirits of our Nation attempted to settle a Plantation in the parts of America, in the Reigne of Queen Elizabeth is sufficiently published in the painfull collections of Mr. Hackluit, together with the variable successes, of those undertakers of whose labour and charge there remained no other fruit then the Primor seisin and royal possession taken thereof, as of right belonging to the Crown of England, giving it the name of Virginia, in the memory and Honour of the virgin Queen, the wonder of her Sex; by whose authority those attempts took their first life, and dyed not till the actors ended their daies, and their cheife supporters, and advancers tryed with so many fruitless attempts and endless charge without hope of profit to follow for many ages to come; so that, that attempt had its end, as many others since that of greater hopes and better grounded, but what shall we say? As nothing is done but according to the time some decreed by God's sacred Providence, so doth he provide wherewith to accomplish the same in the fulness of it, but the mirror of Queens being summoned to the possession of a more Glorious Reigne, left her terrestriall Crown to her Successor James, the Sixth of Scotland, to whom of right it did belong.

Chapter II.

The Reasons and meanes of renewing the undertakings of Plantations in America.

This great Monarch gloriously ascending his Throne, being borne to greatnesse above his Ancestors, to whom all submitted as to another Salemon, for wisedome and justice, as well as for that he brought with him another Crown, whereby those Kingdomes that had so long contended for rights and liberties, perhaps oft times pretended rather to satisfie their present purposes, then that justice required it; but such is the frailty of humane nature as not to be content with what we possesse, but strives by all meanes to enthrall the weaker that is necessistated to prevent the worst, though by such meanes sometimes to their greater ruine; With this Union there was also a generall peace concluded between the State, and the King of Spaine, the then onely enemy of our Nation and Religion, whereby our men of war by Sea and land were left destitute of all hope of imployment under their owne Prince; And therefore there was liberty given to them (for preventing other evils) to be entertained as Mercenaries under what Prince or State they pleased; A liberty granted upon shew of reason, yet of dangerous consequence, when our friends and Allyes that had long travelled with us in one and the same quarrell, should now finde our swords sharpned as well against, as for them; Howsoever reason of State approved thereof, the World forbore not to censure it as their affections led them, others grew jealous what might be the issuees, especially when it was found that by such liberty the sword was put into their hands, the Law had prohibited them the use; Some there were not liking to be servants to forreigne States, thought it better became them to put in practice the reviving resolution of those free Spirits, that rather chose to spend themselves in seeking a new World, then servilely to be hired by as Slaughterers in the Quarrels of Strangers; This resolution being stronger then their meanes to put it into execution, they were forced to let it rest as a dreame, till God should give the meanes to stir up the inclination of such a power able to bring it to life; And so it pleased our great God that there hapned to come into the harbour of Plymouth (where I then commanded) one Captain Waymouth that had been imployed by the Lord Arundell of Warder for the discovery of the North-west passage.

But falling short of is Course, hapned into a River on the Coast of America, called Pemmaquid, from whence he brought five of the Natives, three of whose names were Manida, Skettwarroes, and Tasquantum, whom I seized upon; they were all of one Nation, but of severall parts, and severall Families; This accident must be acknowledged the meanes under God of putting on foote, and giving life to all our Plantations, as by the ensuing discourse will manifestly appeare.

Chapter III.

Of the use I made of the Natives.

After I had those people sometimes in my custody, I observed in them an inclination to follow the example of the better sort; And in all their carriages manifest shewes of great civility farre from the rudenesse of our common people; And the longer I conversed with them, the better hope they gave me of those parts where they did inhabit, as proper for our uses, especially when I found what goodly Rivers, stately Islands, and safe harbours those parts abounded with, being the speciall marks I levelled at as the onely want our Nation met with in all their Navigations along that Coast, and having kept them full three yearses, I made them able to set me downe what great Rivers ran up into the Land, what Men of note were seated on them, what power they were of, how allyed, what enemies they had, and the like of which in his proper place.

Item of the Day: Mirabeau's Lettres des Cachet (1787)

2006-10-17T16:44:00.000-04:00

Full Title:

Enquiries concerning lettres de cachet, the consequences of arbitrary imprisonment, and a history of the inconveniences, distresses and sufferings of state prisoners, by Honoré-Gabriel de Riquetti, comte de Mirabeau. In two volumes, written in the dungeon of the Castle of Vincennes. With a preface by the translator. London, G. G. J. and J. Robinson, 1787.

Preface:

The title of the present work seems only to announce a discussion purely local, and uninteresting to any other than the French nation; this, however, is far from being the case. The author, plunged a second time into a state dungeon, by an arbitrary mandate, in which dreary abodes he had the opportunity at length offered him by the late lieutenant of police, of committing to paper, at great personal risk, as liberal and noble sentiments as have ever proceeded from a generous and enlightened mind.

Had the Count de Mirabeau confined himself, like the celebrated Mr. Linguet, in his Memoirs of the Bastile, to details of his own sufferings, however interesting the history of human misery must ever be to human nature, the translator would not have given himself the trouble of celebrating an egotist: but when he saw the author availing himself of his subject, to descant on the dreadful abuses of arbitrary power in every country, and in every age, and pointing out, with an admirable accuracy, great knowledge, and exquisite sensibility, the fatal consequences of the slightest infringement on the natural rights of mankind, and, really, making his own sufferings but a secondary object in his undertaking, the translator, who glories in thinking with such men, determined to contribute his mite to the propagation of such principles, and, by submitting to his countrymen so affecting a display of the progress of despotism, to shew them how imperceptibly and completely a nation may lose its liberties, and be reduced to a desperate state of ostentatious, but wretched servitude.

Facilis descensus Averni,
Sed revocare gradum; hic labor, hoc opus est!

The first part of this work embraces a variety of politico-philosophical questions, as the author stiles them, of the most extensive and general utility. Besides a very learned and laborious discussion of natural right, the fatal effects of the union of the civil and ecclesiastical powers, the origin of all government, and the social right of punishment, richly illustrated by notes, it contains a very neat and precise history of the progress of despotism in France, the chain of artful and violent measures by which it has arrived at its present uncontrolled state of exercise, and a series of specific proofs of the national privileges once possessed by that enslaved people, a subject hitherto discussed but vaguely, and but little understood in England.

The reader will find too, in the tenth chapter, a very ingenious and useful enquiry into the police of great cities, as connected with public liberty, exemplified in those of Amsterdam, London, and Paris, wherein he will see an admirable delineation of the enormities, not beauties as Englishmen are artfully wished to believe, of the latter metropolis, that sink of vice, violence, and insecutiry.

In the twelfth chapter is a cursory view of the history of France, and the French monarch, from the reign of Philip le Bel to the present time, drawn by a most masterly hand, and, as the translator thinks, with strict impartiality, but marked with the hardy traits of a zealous and determined enemy to tyranny. Louis XIV, that insolent despot, whose character, as it escapes from the blaze of false glory, has been long declining in the eye of impartial justice, is here stripped of all his arrogant pretensions, and delivered over to the present age, and to posterity, as one of the most fatal scourges that ever ruled, and tyrannized over a generous people; nay, even as a fastidious pretender to the patronage of the arts and sciences, the strong-hold of his flatterers, and the remnant of his tottering reputation.

The reign of Louis the well-beloved too is pourtrayed with no less ability and boldness; nor does he hesitate to point ou tthe enourmities of the present established system of government, nor to express a noble indignation at the complete triumph o fdespotism, and the downfal of public freedom and public spirit in his country.

Throughout this part, as well as in the whole work, the author passes many deserved eulogiums on the English constitution, interspersed into such just and salutary structures on its actual states, and the perils it has to apprehend, as cannot be unwelcome to any real friend to freedom. His superior mind soars about the authority of names, and every predilection not founded on real utility, and on the solid basis of permanent public good. He combats with as much intrepedity, but always with respect, the erroneous positions of a Montesquieu, or a Blackstone, as he would trample on the sophisticated and dangerous dogmas of a Filmer, a Shebbaeare, a Johnson, or a Markham.

In the second part, is the detail of his own sufferings in the dungeon of Vincennes, and the usual mode of treatment in state prisons, with an exquisite portrait of one of those monsters, with which France in infested, who, through scenes of adulation, and every species of infamy, though decorated with the insignia of military merit, arrive at the still more odious occupation than the executioner's, that of being the perpetual torturers of their fellow-creatures. The manner in which this detail is given, though sufficiently minute, is neither trivial nor uninteresting. Self does not constitute its leading feature, as in that of Mr. Linguet. The author's philanthropy and sensibility are universal; his feelings are exquisitely painted, but his is a manly sorrow; nor can any generous mind refuse a tear of sympathy with him, for the cruel anguish of the wretched thousands, groaning in these horrid mansions.

The translator will only add, that the above eulogium is no more than the genuine tribute of an uninterested and sincere admiration of the work, which he would not have attempted to clothe in his native language, did it not contain principles and sentiments congenial with his own, and under the hope of being useful to mankind. Of the execution he shall say nothing, but request the indulgence of the reader for occasional errors, as he is at a great distance from a very careful press, it is true, but without the possibility of correcting it.

Item of the Day: Society in America (1837)

2006-10-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Society in America by Harriet Martineau, Author of "Illustrations of Political Economy." in Two Volumes. Vol. I. New York Saunders and Otley, Ann Street, and Conduit Street, London. 1837.

Section VII.

POLITICAL NON-EXISTENCE OF WOMEN

One of the fundamental principles announced in the Declaration of Independence is, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. How can the political condition of women be reconciled with this?

Governments in the United States have power to tax women who hold property; to divorce them from their husbands; to fine, imprison, and execute them for certain offences. whence do these governments derive their powers? They are not "just," as they are not derived from the consent of the women thus governed.

. . .

The democratic principle condemns all this as wrong; and requires the equal political representation of all rational beings. children, idiots, and criminals, during the season of sequestration, are the only fair exceptions.

The case is so plain that I might close it here; but it is interesting to inquire how so obvious a decision has been so evaded as to leave to women no political rights whatever. The question has been asked, from time to time, in more countries than one, how obedience to the laws can be required of women, when no woman has, either actually or virtually, given any assent to any law. No plausible answer has, as far as I can discover, been offered; for the good reason, that no plausible answer can be devised. The most principled democratic writers on government have on this subject sunk into fallacies, as disgraceful as any advocate of despotism has adduced. In fact, they have thus sunk from being, for the moment, advocates of despotism. Jefferson in America, and James Mill at home, subside, for the occasion, to the level of the author of the Emperor of Russia's catechism for the young Poles.

Jefferson says, "Were our State a pure democracy, in which all the inhabitants should meet together to transact all their business, there would yet be excluded from their deliberations,

1. Infants, until arrived at years of discretion;
2. Women, who, to prevent deprivation of morals, and ambiguity of issue, could not mix promiscuously in the public meetings of men;
3. Slaves, from whom the unfortunate state of things with us takes away the rights of will and of property."

If the slave disqualification, here assigned, were shifted up under the head of Women, their case would be nearer the truth than as it now stands. Woman's lack of will and of property, is more like the true cause of her exclusion from the representation, than that which is actually set down against her. As if there could be no means of conducting public affairs but by promiscuous meetings! As if there would be more danger in promiscuous meetings for political business than in such meetings for worship, for oratory, for music, for dramatic entertainments, -- for any of the thousand transactions of civilized life! The plea is not worth another word.

. . .

Some who desire that there should be an equality of property between men and women, oppose representation, on the ground that political duties would be incompatible with the other duties which women have to discharge. The reply to this is, that women are the best judges here. God has given time and power for the discharge of all duties; and, if he had not, it would be for women to decide which they would take, and which they would leave. But their guardians follow the ancient fashion of deciding what is best for their wards. The Emperor of Russia discovers when a coat of arms and title do not agree with a subject prince. The King of France early perceives that the air of Paris does not agree with a free-thinking foreigner. The English Tories feel the hardship that it would be to impose the franchise on every artizan, busy as he is in getting his bread. The Georgian planter perceives the hardship that freedom would be to his slaves. And the best friends of half the human race preemptorily decide for them as to their rights, their duties, their feelings, their powers. In these cases, the persons thus cared for feel that the abstract decision rests with themselves; that, though they may be compelled to submit, they need not acquiesce.

. . .

That woman has power to represent her own interests, no one can deny till she has been tried. The modes need not be discussed here: they must vary with circumstances. The fearful and absurd images which are perpetually called up to perplex the question, -- images of women on woolsacks in England, and under canopies in America, have nothing to do with the matter. The principle being once established, the methods will follow, easily, naturally, and under a remarkable transmutation of the ludicrous into the sublime. The kings of Europe would have laughed mightily, two centuries ago, at the idea of a commoner, without robes, crown or sceptre, stepping into the throne of a strong nation. Yet who dared to laugh when Washington's super-royal voice greeted the New World from the presidential chair, and the old world stood still to catch the echo?

Item of the Day: Proceedings of the French National Convention on the Trial of Louis XVI.

2006-10-13T09:35:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Proceedings of the French National Convention on the trial of Louis XVI. Late king of France and Navarre; to which are added, several interesting occurrences and particulars attending the treatment, sentence and execution of the ill-fated monarch; the whole carefully collected from authentic documents, and republished with additions, from the paper of The World. By Joseph Trapp, A.M. London: Printed for the author; Sold by Messrs. Murray, Kearsley, and Wenman and Co. Fleet-street; Ridgway, York-street, St. James’s; Deighton, Holborn; Downes, and M’Queen, Strand; and at the World Office, 1793.

From the moment Louis XVI. had attempted to fly the kingdom, and was brought back from Varennes to Paris, a continual torrent of misfortunes rushed upon him, which nothing could stop till it had swept away the tide of his wretched existence. The generality of the inhabitants of Paris, excited by the leading members of the Legislative Assembly, seduced from their principles by the licentiousness of the press, by means of which every effort was used to denigrate the character of the unfortunate Prince and his family, were now quite against him, and sought eagerly for opportunities to insult and grieve him, and to ill-treat those individuals who were determined to remain his friends and loyal subjects. Emigration—the conduct of the French princess at foreign courts—the invasion of the French territories by the combined armies—the massacres on the 10th of August and those which followed in the beginning of September, soured still more the public opinion against the King; he became the object in whom all their hatred and resentment concentrated. He and his family were confined in the temple, royalty was abolished, a National Convention convened, and France declared a republic. Not the smallest traces of royalty were left behind; the crown, scepter, and other insignia of royalty were broke and sent to the mint, and every statue, or monument of Kings, wantonly destroyed; even the ashes of the dead were insulted by those profane innovators, they were taken out of the quiet tomb, and burnt or scattered in the most disgraceful manner. For the name of King, that of Tyrant substituted; morality and good order fled from the kingdom; the ministers of the Altar were most rigorously prosecuted, and those who had not the good fortune to fly, fell victims to their principles. The new created National Convention did every thing to propagate their principles of modern philosophy; they insulted the very name of religion, and by so doing dissolved every tie of morality among the vulgar, who abandoned themselves to the most profligate and iniquitous excesses. When royalty had been abolished, commissaries were sent to the temple to signify the decree to the King; he heard his degradation without distorting a feature of his countenance; and when he was ordered to give up his star and ribband, he resigned them cheerfully; from that moment he was treated as a common individual, not with compassion but with rudeness, and consummate cruelty. In the beginning, the KING’s confinement was not close, and he could walk about the temple, but on Sunday the 30th of September, the Council General of the Commons of Paris, who were entrusted with the safety of royal captives, ordered the following decree to be put into execution at 11 o’clock in the evening;

That Louis XVI. Be immediately conducted to the Great Tower of the Temple, and confined in a private room.
That Antoinette be separated from her husband, and confined in a separate cell.
That they be deprived of the use of pens, paper, ink, pencils, books, offensive and defensive arms, all the plate, and every other article not absolutely necessary.
That their Valet be put under arrest.
That the citizen Hebert be joined to the five commissaries already appointed to guard the prisoners.
The council authorize the said commissaries to execute this order instantly, and impower [sic] them to use every means that their prudence will suggest, for the safety of these hostages of the combination of tyrants.

Item of the Day: The Harvard Lyceum (1810)

2006-10-12T14:34:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Harvard Lyceum Published in 1810 & 1811 Cambridge: Published, Semi-Monthly, by Hilliard and Metcalf. 1811

No. 2, Vol. I

Cambridge, July 28, 1810

CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

To every Americana the name of liberty is a grateful sound. Talk to the drowsy Turk, or the ignorant Spaniard, of the enjoyment of his natural rights, and he feels no emotion; but the man, who has once tasted the sweets of freedom, has learnt, that without it life is a worthless gift. Every native of this happy land, taught to dread slavery as that severest curse, can well appreciate his privileges; and when called upon to surrender them, and submit to foreign restraint, indignation and honor nerve his arm, and he prepares to show the world how dear the temerity of those must cost them, who attempt to strip him of what nature gave.

These remarks were suggested by the recent celebration of our glorious anniversary. The ardour of patriotism, which was kindled by the recurrence of this day, has in a degree subsided, and given place to sober reason. Let us seize this opportunity to make some remarks, which demand the exercise of that faculty. The present manner of commemorating the birth day of our country is sanctioned by a custom of thirty years’ continuance. Such age surely deserves reverence. Do not fear lest I should refuse this just respect – I will not inconsiderately deny the propriety of the usual mode of expressing our joy on this joyful occasion; but I will leave it to my countrymen to conclude, how far this inference follows. What, then, I will ask, is the object of this celebration? Is it merely to hear an oration and prepare for a splendid entertainment? Any other day in the calendar is equally appropriate. The true object of this pageant is, to pay a just tribute to the heroes and sages who achieved our independence, to take a retrospect of our country’s struggles, and, by the price our freedom cost, to learn to estimate it justly, and inhale a spirit of patriotism, which shall be its future Palladium. So far as the present mode of commemorating this day answers these purposes, so far it is worthy of a free and enlightened people; if it fails of this effect, it is worse than trifling; it vitiates the populace.

How far does this celebration promote the designs of the festival? How few, amidst so much parade, remember the cause! How few, by calling to mind the bloody scenes of the revolution, are made better men or more zealous patriots. I wish I could say otherwise of my countrymen; but the truth is obvious. Observe the crowd on this occasion, and calculate how large a proportion come merely to see such a concourse; how many to join their acquaintance, equally idle, and equally ignorant. The lower grade of citizens, illiterate and indigent, meet to gaze at their superiours and salute their equals; another equally worthless grade, better clad indeed, but full as light, assemble on this day, because it affords an opportunity of dissipating time, which would otherwise hang heavy on their hands, and of appearing learned and patriotick. To either of these classes of citizens the anniversary ceremony brings no advantages – it adds to the profanity of the first, binds still stronger the bonds of poverty, and increases their misery – it confirms the vanity and self-conceit of the second, without improving their minds, their patriotism, or their virtue. But there is another order of citizens, of whom I can speak with more pleasure. Yes, my countrymen, we have men, whose hearts, as they assemble on this sacred day, beat high in unison with the patriotick pulse of ’75. Such men view the day in a proper light, and wish to recount the deeds of our forefathers, that they may learn to go and do likewise; and while they learn the value of our inestimable privileges, they make a silent compact with heart and hand, gloriously to defend and transmit them unimpaired.

Such are the feelings of this valuable part of the community, and such their object, when they assemble to listen to the orator of the day. But are these orations generally such, as to favour and promote this object? Alas! My country, I blush, when I answer in the negative. How long shall the feeble triteness, or the unmeaning fustian of these performances disgust the friends of American and the defenders of her literary character? If these are correct specimens of American talents and learning, well may we plead guilty to the imputations of weakness and want of literary taste, which are urged against us by Europeans. The Edinburgh reviewers bring as a proof of our small progress in learning, that no one has yet been able to tell the story of that revolution, which gave us freedom, in a tolerable style. Perhaps the time is not far distant, should the Corsican usurper survive, when his ministers will affirm that America, who has never been able to celebrate her birth day with proper splendour and ability, deserves not independence.

I hope no one will accuse me of sinister motives, or improper bias, when I hazard a few remarks on the late independence orations. Let those who have read Mr. Townsend’s oration judge, whether my remarks on it are just. In this I think his division of the active causes of our independence into “feelings, manners, and principles,” is scarcely logical. It is a division without nature, or if it is a natural division, he leaves it very obscure. Nor can I call my country’s fortunes, as Mr. Townsend does, a “comedy of errours.” Even though Columbus might “blunder” toward this continent, (to speak in the elegant language of Mr. Townsend,) yet I cannot grant, that we “blundered” into independence, nor can I hope that our country will, at some future time, “blunder” into glory. On the whole, I cannot think this performance worthy to have been written by an alumnus of Harvard University, or to be heard by the enlightened citizens of our metropolis.

Mr. Lincoln’s performance, though not marked with that limping feebleness, which sinks Mr. Townsend’s below criticism, is yet as offensive from its noisy rant. When he talks of connexion with Britain he seems furious. But he should recollect, that showing hatred toward other countries, is not evincing love for his own. Should my companion tell me, that he hated all mankind beside myself, so far from thinking it followed that he loved me, I should be well persuaded of the contrary. Mr. Lincoln also strives to prove the misery brought upon the inhabitants of the Indies by British connexion. A greater proof of miscalculation and ignorance does not appear in the whole work. We know, that in the war which subdued the Indies, as in all other wars, many were slaughtered, and perhaps unnecessary barbarities committed; but event he enemies of the British government acknowledge, that the people of India are much happier under the regular and pacifick establishment of the English, than when murdering and tormenting one another with intestine wars.

I feel relieved from a burden, when I pass from such productions, to the oration of Mr. Metcalf, delivered at Dedham. This deserves a considerable share of praise. The writer shows some genius and laudable goodness of heart. When this gentleman defends the conduct of our ancestors on virtuous principles, I hope every American joins sincerely in his opinion. He declares, that our fathers fought in defence of rights – this is in fact, and what all ought to know. Here mark what Mr. Townsend says – that our country was “of age to be free;” she had found out this, therefore she was free. A small share of common sense can easily show the folly and absurdity of this reasoning. I cannot stand to refute such palpable misstatements; my object being to contrast Mr. Metcalf’s correct judgment and honourable principles, with the ignorance and perverse opinions of Mr. Townsend.

In the arbitrary notion, that we ought to be free, there are no limits. It will apply even now to any part of our Union, any part of France, any part of England.

The foregoing remarks are necessarily extremely general. I do not say, that the orations of preceding years were not equally faulty, but I do hope, that none so pitiful will ever again insult us in a printed pamphlet. I hope, for the honour of my country and the good of my fellow-citizens, that these duties will, in future, be discharged by men, who can justly eulogize past worth; who can add to our literary character, and strengthen our love of country.

Item of the Day: Rush's Essays (1798)

2006-10-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Essays, Literary, Moral & Philosophical by Benjamin Rush, M.D. And Professor the Institutes of Medicine and Clinical A Practice in the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas & Samuel F. Bradford, No. 8, South Front Street. 1798

Biographical Anecdote of Anthony Benezet.

This excellent man was placed by his friends in early life in a counting house, but finding commerce opened temptations to a worldly spirit, he left his master, and bound himself as an apprentice to a cooper. Finding this business too laborious for his constitution, he declined it, and devoted himself to school-keeping; in which useful employment, he continued during the greatest part of his life.

He possessed uncommon activity and industry in everything he undertook. He did everything as if the words of his Saviour were perpetually founding in his ears, "wist ye not, that I must be about my Father's business?"

He used to say, "the highest act of charity in the world was to bear with the unreasonableness of mankind."

He generally wore plush clothes, and gave as a reason for it, that after he had worn them for two or three years, they made comfortable and decent garments for the poor.

He once informed a young friend that his memory began to fail him; "but this," said he,"gives me one great advantage over thee -- for thou canst find entertainment in reading a good book only once -- but I enjoy that pleasure as often as I read it; for it is always new to me."

He published several valuable tracts in favor of the emancipation of the blacks, and of the civilizing and christianizing the Indians. He also published a pamphlet against the use of ardent spirits. All these publications were circulated with great industry, and at his own expense, throughout every part of the United States.

He wrote letters to the queen of Great-Britain, and to the queen of Portugal to use their influence with their respective courts to abolish the African trade. He accompanied his letters to the queen of Great-Britain with a present of his works. The queen received them with great politeness, and said after reading them "that the author appeared to be a very good man."

He also wrote a letter to the king of Prussia, in which he endeavoured to convince him of the unlawfulness of war.

During the time the British army was in possession of the city of Philadelphia, he was indefatigable in his endeavours to render the situation of the persons who suffered from captivity as easy as possible. He knew no fear in the presence of his fellow men, however dignified they were by titles or station, and such were the propriety and gentleness of his manners in his intercourse with the gentlemen who commanded the British and German troops, that when he could not obtain the objects of his requests, he never failed to secure their civilities, and frequently their esteem.

So great was his sympathy with every thing that was capable of feeling pain, that he resolved towards the close of his life, to eat no animal food. Upon coming into his brother's house one day, when his family was dining upon poultry, he was asked by his brother's wife, to sit down and dine with them. "What! (said he) would you have me eat my neighbours?"

This misapplication of a moral feeling, was supposed to have brought on such a debility in his stomach and bowels, as produced a disease in those parts of which he finally died.

Few men, since the days of the apostles, ever lived a more disinterested life. And yet, upon his death bed, he said, he wished to live a little longer, that "he might bring down SELF."

The last time he ever walked across his room, was to take from his desk six dollars, which he gave to a poor widow whom he had long assisted to maintain.

He bequeated after the death of his widow, a house and lot in which consisted his whole estate, to the support of a school of the education of negro children, which he had founded and taught for several years before his death.

He died in May 1784, in the 71st year of his age.

His funeral was attended to persons of all religous denominations, and by many hundred black people.

Colonel J--n, who has served in the American army, during the late war, in returning from the funeral, pronounced an eulogium upon him. It consisted only of the following words: "I would rather," said he, "be Anthony Benezet in that coffin, than George Washington with all his fame."

July 15, 1788.

Item of the Day: Bailey's Dictionary (1736)

2006-10-10T17:16:00.000-04:00

Full Title:

Dictionarium Britannicum: or a more compleat universal etymological English dictionary than any extant. By Nathan Bailey. Second Edition. London, T. Cox, 1736.

Title Page:

DICTIONARIUM BRITANNICUM:
Or a more C_OMPLEAT
U_NIVERSAL E_TYMOLOGICAL
ENGLISH DICTIONARY
Than any EXTANT
CONTAINING

Not only the Words and their Explication; but their Etymologies fron the Antient
British, Teutonick, Dutch Low and High, Old Saxon, German, Danish, Swedish, Norman and Modern French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, &c. each in its proper Character.

A L S O
Explaining hard and technical Words, or Terms of Art, in all the ARTS, SCIENCES,
and MYSTERIES following. Together with ACCENTS directing to their proper Pronuntiation, shewing both the Orthography, and the Orthoepia of the English Tongue,

VIZ. IN

Algebra, Anatomy, Architecture, Arithmetick, Astrology, Astronomy, Botanicks, Catoptricks, Chymistry, Chiromancy, Chirurgery, Confectionary, Cookery, Cosmography, Dialling, Dioptricks, Ethicks, Fishing, Fortification, Fowling, Gardening, Gauging, Geography, Geometry, Grammar, Gunnery, Handicrafts, Hawking, Heraldry, Horsemanship, Hunting, Husbandry, Hydraulicks, Hydrography, Hydrostaticks, Law, Logick, Maritime and Military Affairs, Mathematicks, Mechanicks, Merchandize, Metaphysicks, Meteorology, Navigation, Opticks, Otacousticks, Painting, Perspective, Pharmacy, Philosophy, Physick, Physiognomy, Pyrotechny, Rhetorick, Sculpture, Staticks, Statuary, Surveying, Theology, and Trigonometry.

Illustrated with near Five Hundred CUTS, for giving a clear Idea of
those Figures, not so well apprehended by verbal description.

L I K E W I S E
A Collection and Explanation of English P_ROVERBS; also of WORDS and PHRASES us'ed in our ancient Charters, Statutes, Writs, Old Records and Processes at Law.

A L S O

The Iconology, Mythology, Theogony, and Theology of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, &c. being an Account of their Deities, Solemnities, either Religious or Civil, their Divinations, Auguries, Oracles, Hieroglyphicks, and many other curious Matters, necessary to be understood, especially be the Readers of English POETRY.

To which is added,
A Collection of Proper Names of Persons and Places in Great-Britain, &c with their Etymologies and Explications.

The Whole digested into an Alphabetical Order, not only for the Information of the Ignorant, but the Entertainment of the Curious; and also the Benefit of Artificers, Tradesmen, Young Students and Foreigners.

A WORK useful for such as would _UNDERSTAND what they _READ and _{HEAR, SPEAK} what they _MEAN, and _WRITE true ENGLISH.

The SECOND EDITION with numberous A_DDITIONS and I_MPROVEMENTS.

By N. BAILEY,

Assisted in the Mathematical Part by G. GORDON; in the Botanical by P. MILLER; and in the Etymological, &c. by T. LEDIARD, Gent. Professor of the Modern Languages in Lower Germany.

L O N D O N:
Printed for T. COX, at the Lamb under the Royal-Exchange.
M,DCC,XXXVI

Item of the Day: Mrs. Piozzi’s Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy and Germany.

2006-10-06T11:10:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy and Germany. By Hester Lynch Piozzi. Vol. I. London: Printed for A. Strahan, and T. Cadell, 1789.

PREFACE.

I was made to observe at Rome some vestiges of an ancient custom very proper in those days—it was the parading of the streets by a set of people called Preciae, who went some minutes before the Flamen Dialis to bid the inhabitants leave work or play, and attend wholly to the procession; but if ill omens prevented the pageants from passing, or if the occasion of the show was deemed scarcely worthy its celebration, these Preciae stood a chance of being ill-treated by the spectators. A Prefatory introduction to a work like this, can hope little better usage from the Public than they had; it proclaims the approach of what often passed by before, adorned most certainly with greater splendour, perhaps conducted too with greater regularity and skill: Yet will I not despair of giving at least a momentary amusement to my countrymen in general, while their entertainment shall serve as a vehicle for conveying expressions of particular kindness to those foreign individuals, whose tenderness softened the sorrows of absence, and who eagerly endeavoured by unmerited attentions to supply the loss of their company on whom nature and habit had given me stronger claims.

That I should make some reflections, or write down some observations, in the course of a long journey, is not strange; that I should present them before the Public is I hope not too daring: the presumption grew up out of their acknowledged favour, and if too kind culture has encouraged a coarse plant till it runs to seed, a little coldness from the same quarter will soon prove sufficient to kill it. The flattering partiality of private partisans sometimes induces the authors to venture forth, and stand a public decision; but it is often found to betray them too; not to be tossed by waves of perpetual contention, but rather to sink in the silence of total neglect. What wonder! He who swims in oil must be buoyant indeed, if he escapes falling certainly, though gently, to the bottom; while he who commits his safety to the bosom of the wide-embracing ocean, is sure to be strongly supported, or at worst thrown upon the shore.

On this principle it has been still my study to obtain from a humane and generous Public that shelter their protection best affords from the poisoned arrows of private malignity; for though it is not difficult to despise the attempts of petty malice, I well not say with the Philosopher, that I mean to build a monument to my fame with the stones thrown at me to break my bones; nor yet pretend to the art of Swift’s German Wonder-doer, who promised to make them fall about his head like so many pillows. Ink, as it resembles Styx in its colour, should resemble it a little in its operation too; whoever has been once dipt should become invulnerable: But it is not so; the irritability of authors has long been enrolled among the comforts of ill-nature, and the triumphs of stupidity; such let it long remain! Let me at least take care in the worst storms that may arise in public or in private life, to say with Lear,

--I’m one
More sinn’d against, than sinning.

For the book—I have not thrown my thoughts into the form of letters; because a work of which truth is the best recommendation, should not above all others begin with a lie. My old acquaintance rather chose to amuse themselves with conjectures, than to flatter me with tender inquiries during my absence: our correspondence then would not have been any amusement to the Public, whose treatment of me deserves every possible acknowledgment; and more than those acknowledgments will I not add—to a work, which, such as it is, I submit to their candour, resolving to think as little of the event as I can help; for the labours of the press resemble those of the toilette, both should be attended to, and finished with care; but once complete, should take up no more of our attention; unless we are disposed at evening to destroy all effect of our morning’s study.

Item of the Day: Irving’s History of New York

2006-10-05T12:05:00.000-04:00

Full Title: A History of New-York, from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty. Containing among many surprising and curious matters, the unutterable ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the disastrous achievements of Peter the Headstrong, and three Dutch governors of New Amsterdam; being the only authentic history of the times that ever hath been published. By Diedrich Knickerbocker. Vol. I. Philadelphia: Published by M. Thomas, 1819.

CHAPTER V.

In which the Author puts a mighty question to the rout, by the assistance of the Man in the Moon—which not only delivers thousands of people from great embarrassment, but likewise concludes this introductory book.

The writer of a history may, in some respects, be likened unto an adventurous knight, who, having undertaken a perilous enterprise, by way of establishing his fame, feels bound in honour and chivalry, to turn back for no difficulty nor hardship, never to shrink or quail whatever enemy he may encounter. Under this impression, I resolutely draw my pen and fall to with might and main, those doughty questions and subtle paradoxes, which, like fiery dragons and bloody giants, beset the entrance to my history, and would fain repulse me from the very threshold. And at this moment a gigantic question has started up, which I must needs take by the beard and utterly subdue, before I can advance another step in my historic undertaking—but I trust this will be the last adversary I shall have to contend with, and that in the next book I shall be enabled to conduct my readers in triumph into the body of my work.

The question which has thus suddenly arisen, is, what right had the first discoverers of America to land and take possession of a country, without first gaining the consent of its inhabitants, or yielding them an adequate compensation for their territory?—a question which has withstood many fierce assaults, and has given much distress of mind to multitudes of kind hearted folk. And indeed, until it be totally vanquished, and put to rest, the worthy people of America can by no means enjoy the soil they inhabit, with clear right and title, and quiet, unsullied conscious.

The first source of right, by which property is acquired in a country, is DISCOVERY. For as all mankind have an equal right to any thing, which has never before been appropriated, so any nation, that discovers an uninhabited country, and takes possession thereof, is considered as enjoying full property, and absolute, unquestionable empire therein.

This proposition being admitted, it follows clearly, that the Europeans who first visited America, were the real discoverers of the same; nothing being necessary to the establishment of this fact, but simply to prove that it was totally uninhabited by man. This would at first appear to be a point of some difficulty, for it is well known, that this quarter of the world abounded with certain animals, that walked erect on two feet, had something of the human countenance, uttered unintelligible sounds, very much like language, in short, had a marvelous resemblance to human beings. But the zealous and enlightened fathers, who accompanied the discoverers, for the purpose of promoting the kingdom of heaven, by establishing fat monasteries and bishoprics on earth, soon cleared up this point, greatly to the satisfaction of his holiness the pope, and of all Christian voyagers and discoverers.

They plainly proved, and as there were no Indian writers arose on the other side, the fact was considered as fully admitted and established, that the two legged race of animals before mentioned, were mere cannibals, detestable monsters, and many of them giants—which last description of vagrants have, since the time of Gog, Magog, and Goliath, been considered as outlaws, and have received no quarter in either history , chivalry or song. Indeed, even the philosophic Bacon, declared the Americans to be people proscribed by the laws of nature, inasmuch as they had a barbarous custom of sacrificing men, and feeding upon man’s flesh. . . .

From the foregoing arguments, therefore, and a variety of others equally conclusive, which I forbear to enumerate, it was clearly evident that this fair quarter of the globe when first visited by Europeans, was a howling wilderness, inhabited by nothing but wild beasts; and that the trans-atlantic visitors acquired an incontrovertible property therein, by the right of discovery.

This right being fully established, we now come to the next, which is the right acquired by cultivation. . . .

It is true the savages might plead that they drew all the benefits from the land which their simple wants required—they found plenty of game to hunt, which together with the roots and uncultivated fruits of the earth, furnished a sufficient variety for their frugal repasts;--and that as heaven merely designed the earth to form the abode, and satisfy the wants of man; so long as those purposes were answered, the will of heaven was accomplished. –But this only proves how undeserving they were of the blessings around them—they were so much the more savages, for not having more wants; for knowledge is in some degree an increase of desires, and it is this superiority both in the number and magnitude of his desires, that distinguishes the man from the beast. Therefore the Indians, in not having more wants, were very unreasonable animals; and it was but just that they should make way for the Europeans, who had a thousand wants to their one, and therefore would turn the earth to more account, and by cultivating it, more truly fulfil the will of heaven. Besides—Grotius and Lauterbach, and Puffendorff, and Titius, and many wise men beside, who have considered the matter properly, have determined, that the property of a country cannot be acquired by hunting, cutting wood, or drawing water in it—nothing but precise demarcation of limits, and the intention of cultivation, can establish the possession. Now as the savages (probably from never having read the authors above quoted) had never complied with any of these necessary forms, it is plainly followed that they had no right to the soil, but that it was completely at the disposal of the first comers, who had more knowledge, more wants, and more elegant, that is to say, artificial desires than themselves. . . .

2007 Eighteenth-Century Reading Room Essay Competition

2006-10-04T13:21:00.000-04:00

2007 CUNY-Wide

Eighteenth-Century Reading Room Essay Competition

The competition is open to all undergraduate and masters level CUNY students of any discipline

FIRST PRIZE $500

SECOND PRIZE $300
THIRD PRIZE $200

Essays will be judged by the following criteria:

Research centering on at least two resources housed in the Eighteenth-Century Reading Room
Originality, style, and thesis
No more than eight to ten double-spaced pages in 12 point Times New Roman font
Properly cited and formatted using MLA or Chicago standards

Submissions accepted any time until May 11, 2007. Essays may be sent electronically to cfuchs@gc.cuny.edu with the subject line "2007 contest submission." Essays sent via regular mail should be addressed to Caroline Fuchs at the Mina Rees Library/CUNY Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Entries may also be hand delivered to room C196.05 on the concourse level of the Mina Rees Library. Please include contact information with your submissions.

Prize winners will be honored at a Fall 2007 reception in the Reading Room and their essays will be published on our blog

For further information concerning the contest and submissions to the 2007 essay competition, contact the Reading Room at 212-817-7085 or email Caroline Fuchs at cfuchs@gc.cuny.edu

Item of the Day: National Intelligencer (1812)

2006-10-04T11:17:00.000-04:00

Full Title: National Intelligencer, Vol. XII. No. 1791 [Washington City] 31 October 1812.

WASHINGTON THEATRE

GRAND NEW EXHIBITION

Mr. and Mrs. Dominico, From Spain. Having never performed before in this city intend exhibiting on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the following feats of

DANCING, LEAPING & VAULTING ON THE TIGHT & SLACK ROPE.

Tight rope 7 feet high, and 50 in length
Slack rope 15 feet high

Mr. Dominico respectfully informs the ladies and gentlemen of Washington, Georgetown, and their vicinages, that every exertion shall be used to render his performance entertaining. Each evening's performance will consist of some new feats. Good Music will be provided.

TIGHT ROPE

Mr. Dominico will commence with country dances on the tight rope in all their steps and attitudes. He will place a tumbler on the rope, and stand on his head without assistance. He will perform an astonishing feat on the tight rope, by jumping over a ribbon, 5 feet high and lighting on the rope, followed with a grand feat of balancing. He will dance with a tumbler on his forehead, one in each hand, and pass with them through the feet of a chair, and perform many other surprising feats.

SLACK ROPE

The Slack Rope exercises will terminate by Mr. Dominico turning himself round with such velocity that his features cannot be distinguished. On the slack rope he will go through several feats which he hopes will produce general satisfaction.

The doors will open at six, performance at seven o'clock. Box one dollar, Pit 50 cents. Children half price.

Item of the Day: The Farmer's Weekly Museum: Newhamsphire and Vermont Journal (1798)

2006-10-03T11:21:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Farmer's Weekly Musuem: Newhampshire and Vermont Journal. Vol. V. No. 251. [Walpole, NH] 23 January, 1798.

MORALS

Vicious men are distrusted and despised, even by the vicious themselves. A man without character soon becomes an outcast of society. Let it, therefore, be your first care to establish a firm character for scrupulous integrity. A lie admits of no apology. The truth is so generally understood, that even among the most profligate, what is called giving the lie must be atoned for, at the hazard of life. But do not therefore hastily conclude that you are to tend a challenge to every ill mannered, or drunken puppy, who dares to dispute your veracity. I mean only to prove the vice of lying to be so universally detested, that to tell a gentleman he is guilty of it, is the most unpardonable offence; and very justly, to because it is, by implication, calling him a coward. A man of true courage will disdain the protection of a falsehood, were it ever to save his life. When he has once passed the Rubicon, he will march boldly on to the Capital. He has put his life upon a cast and will nobly stand the hazard of the die.

There is indeed in this trait of a great character no medium; and it becomes infinitely desirable, when you reflect on the influence it will have on all your actions. If you be positively determined to preserve your veracity, you will seldom perpetrate what you would be ashamed to confess. Be Truth, therefore, your Palladium. I cannot bequeath you a better inheritance.

Item of the Day: United State's Gazette, for the Country. (1804)

2006-09-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

Full Title: United States' Gazette, for the Country. Volume IV. No. 344. [Philadelphia] 4 December 1804.

From the Charleston Times.

TO THE MANUFACTURING CITIZENS OF THE EASTERN STATES.

A planter of the state of South Carolina, takes the liberty to propose to you an object of manufacture, in his opinion very well worthy of your attention; and in which opinion he is not singular, but from a communication he has had with many respectable planters, who with himself hold a number of slaves, and wish to see them cloathed in the winter seasons, with the manufacturers of our own states, rather than be dependent on foreign supplies of this kind; as our country can never be said to be independent , while we rely entirely on foreign cloth to cover us. The present time we deem highly propitious for the beginning of the manufacture of this cloth in the eastern states. The fabrick recommended is a warp of cotton, and to be filled with wool dyed brown, or in its natural colour; to be seven-eights of a yard wide, and to be well milled of good thickness, and dressed on the surface. For such cloth, from 55 to 75 cents per yard might be readily obtained, if delivered in Charleston, fitting for this manufacture, at the rates of from 16 to 20 cents per pound; a quantity of wool, which is now thrown aside for want of a market, might also be had at a low rate; and thus a beneficial exchange of our raw material for your manufacture, would be established. I wish the enterprizing spirit of my fellow citizens to the Northward, would make the experiment above recommended; I can assure them of success, if the cloth is well made, and of sufficient warmth to make our people comfortable in winter. Negro cloths imported from England are yearly advancing in price, to an extent this season (the best 92 cents per yard;) and the next season it may be expected by the troubles of war, it will be 100 cents, and perhaps more. In our revolutionary war, were at first put to many shifts and difficulties for clothing of our slaves comfortably in winter, but in a little time we got the better of it, and many of us made to our plantations, as much cloth of this kind as clothed all our people in a warm comfortable manner; but on the return of peace we returned to our former habits of buying imported cloth, which then was reasonable in price; but of late, and the present season, the prices are greatly advanced, which in my opinion makes the present time favourable to the introduction of our own manufactures, besides the advantage of strengthening the bond of our union. I wish it be understood, that I have no private interested motives in his hint, am as little embarrassed in my fortune as any man, therefore find as little difficulty in paying these high prices for imported negro cloth -- but it has long been a wish of mine to see our supplies of this article come from the Eastern States of our union; and no time was ever more favourable to the introduction of them than the present.

A NATIVE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

Item of the Day: A Compendious History of New England (1809)

2006-09-27T14:30:00.000-04:00

Full Title: A Compendious History of New England Designed for Schools and Private Families by Jedidiah Morse, D.D. and Elijah Parish, D.D. Second Edition, with Improvements by the Authors. Published at Newburyport, by Thomas & Whipple Sold Wholesale and Retail at their Book-store No. 2 State Street, 1809.

Chap. XIX.

Comet; Philip's War; life and character of captain Church.

The people of New England were surprised by the appearance of a comet, from the 17th of November, 1664, til the 4th of February following. They deemed it ominous (as they afterward did the Aurora Borealis,) of some calamity, which was shortly to befall them.

In the year 1675, a war with the Indians, by the name of Philip's war, broke out, which endangered the existence of the colony. Some doubted whether the Indians would not succeed in the total extirpation of the English. This distressing war lasted more than a year.

This was the first hostile attack from the natives, which had been really alarming to the country. In 1637, the troops of Massachusetts and Connecticut had destroyed the Pequots. In 1643, there were some disturbances with the Narragansets, but matters were settled without shedding blood. In 1646, a plot was formed by Sequasson a sachem near new Haven, to assassinate the magistrates of that colony; but he effected nothing. In 1647, there were some transient difficulties with the Narragansets and Mohegans. The next year, the Narragansets hired the Mohawks to assist them against the Mohegans, but were detected. The following year, some persons were murdered by the Indians at New Haven and Long Island.

In the year 1653, the public mind was agitated, a general panic seized the country, from an apprehension that there was a conspiracy of the Indians through the country to cut off the English. These rumors and terrors of the day appeared, afterward, to have had no just foundation.

In 1657, Alexander, the son of Massasoit, invited the Narragansets to join with him in revolting from the English; general Winslow went with only ten men, and brought him to Plymouth, where, though he was treated very civilly, his vexation and madness threw him into a fever, of which he died. His brother Philip succeeded him, and renewed his covenant with the English in 1662; yet, in 1671, he commenced hostilities against the English, but was soon subdued, and promised never to begin war again, before he had made complaint himself to Plymouth colony. Exception these slight difficulties, for almost forty years the English had enjoyed peace with the Indians.

In 1675, John Sausaman, an Indian whom the English had employed as a missionary to instruct his brethren, informed the governor of Plymouth, that Philip, with several other tribes, was plotting the destruction of the English. Soon after this, Sausaman was found murdered; three Indians were arrested, tried, convicted, and hung for the murder. Philip, now more offended, sent away his women, armed his men, and robbed several houses in the vicinity of his own dwelling. June 24, 1675, the colony observed as a day of humiliation and prayer. As the people of Swanzey were returning from public worship, the Indians, lying in ambush, fired a volley, killed one man and wounded another. Two men, who went for a surgeon, were shot, and at the same time, in another part of the town, six other persons were killed. Immediately, a company of horse and foot, marched from Boston, and another company of foot from Plymouth, and arrived the 28th near Philip's seat; twelve men the same evening reconnoitred his camp, were fired upon, one was killed, and one wounded; the next morning a resolute assault was made, when the savages fled, leaving their camp and their country to the conquerors.

. . .

The enemy soon burnt 32 houses in Springfield. The general court, then sitting in Boston, appointed a committee, who, with the ministers of the vicinity, might suggest what were the sins, which brought these heavy judgments, and what laws could be enacted for the prevention of those sins. Their report was received October 19, and measures were taken to carry the design into effect. The same day, at Hatfield, the new England troops obtained a decisive victory over the enemy. Seven or eight hundred of them assaulted the town, but were repulsed in such a vigorous manner, that they fled in every direction; numbers of them were drowned in attempting to cross the river; others reached the Narraganset country before they rested. The English, on this important day, lost but one man. Those in Narraganset retired to a small piece of dry land, in a great swamp seven miles west of the south ferry that goes over to Newport.

. . .

This was a most distressing time in new England. The war had been raging almost a year; the towns all over the country had been in a constant state of alarm and terror; the enemy appearing in different and distant places at the same moment. The season of planting was at hand; to neglect this service would produce a famine; to call home their troops would be only to invite the enemy to destroy them. Parties must be sent out, garrisons must be manned; the labors of the field must be performed. In this crisis a spirit of prayer was remarkably conspicuous through country. Fervent supplications were offered by the churches of New England.

. . .

Never has New England seen so dismal a period as the war with Philip. About 600 men, the flower of her strength, had fallen in battle, or been murdered by the natives. A great part of the inhabitants were in mourning. There were few families, who had not lost some near relative. In Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Rhode Island, twelve or thirteen towns had been utterly destroyed, and others greatly damaged. About 600 buildings, chiefly dwelling houses, had been burned; a large debt had been contracted, and bast quantities of goods, cattle and other property had been destroyed. About every eleventh family had been burned out, and an eleventh part of the militia through New England had been slain in the war. So costly is the inheritance we have received from our valiant forefathers. The land we sow has been stained with their blood.

Item of the Day: An Enquiry into the Duties of Men (1794)

2006-09-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

Full Title: An Enquiry into the Duties of Men in the Higher and Middle Classes of Society in Great Britain, Resulting from their Respective Stations, Professions, and Employments. By Thomas Gisborne, M.A. London: Printed by J. Davis, For B. and J. White, Fleet-Street, 1794.

Chapter I
Plan of the Work Explained.

To apply moral truths to practical purposes; to point out their bearings on modern opinions and modern manners; and to deduce from them rules of conduct by which the inhabitants of the country in particular, each in his respective station, may be aided in acquiring the knowledge and encouraged in the performance of their several duties, are objects of unequivocal utility. They are the objects which it is my wish to attain, as far as I am able, in the present work.

. . .

The plan proposed required me to enter into a regular and to a certain degree minute detail of the various duties of the different classes of society, which fall within its limits; to combine in every branch of my enquiry, as far as the nature of the subjects will admit, the conclusions of reason with the dictates of religion; and to deduce such inferences, and subjoin such remarks, as appear immediately applicable to the circumstances of Englishmen in common life. In the prosecution of a plan of this nature, the attention will of course be attracted in the first place by those objects which are of the most general importance, and those situations which render the persons fixed in them particularly conspicuous. And it will afterwards be directed to points which interest either a smaller proportion of the community, or that part of it which is more withdrawn from public observation. I propose therefore, in the outset of the undertaking, to investigate the conformity between the acknowledged principles of the British Constitution, as it stands and is administered at present, and those fundamental rules of political wisdom, which ought to be carefully regarded in every civil society: to offer, in the next place, some remarks on the functions of the sovereign, and to notice the general duties of Englishmen as subjects and fellow-citizens: and afterwards to discriminate the upper and middle classes of the inhabitants of this country according to the several ranks, professions, and employments, into which they are distributed, beginning with those of a public nature, and descending to those which are private and domestic, and to state the several duties and temptations peculiar to each. It will not be expected that in a work of this kind a distinct part should be appropriated to those, who are placed in the lowest ranks of society. By them argumentatives and bulky treatises on morality will not be read. The careful perusal of their bible, and the study of short and familiar expositions of its precepts, aided by the public and private admonitions of their pastors, are to them the principal sources of instruction. Not but that the morals of the common people may be materially corrected, their understandings improved and their misconceptions rectified, with equal benefit to themselves and to the whole community, by judicious attention on the part of their superiors among the laity. To pursue those objects with diligence, with perseverance, and with a studious regard to the difference of temporary or local circumstances, practices, and opinions, is a moral obligation strictly incumbent on all persons in the higher classes; and one which will not pass without further notice in the course of the following pages.

To the choice of this plan I was determined by a persuasion, that it offered the fairest opportunity of effectually bringing home the duties of men to their understandings and bosoms. He who would read with indifference an abstract enquiry into the nature of a particular duty, and the proper means of performing it, might be struck with a faithful representation of the occasions on which the performance of that duty is required, the manner in which it is to be effected, and the pretences by which it is commonly evaded, exemplified in the occurrences which attend his own profession and situation in life. Remarks, which in the former case he might probably have slighted as the reveries of speculative theory, in the latter press upon his mind corroborated by the energy of authentic facts, of the truth of which he has had ocular and almost hourly demonstration. I may likewise add as a further reason for adopting the method proposed, that I do not recollect any ethical work in which a similar plan is pursued with regularity, and at the same time extended to any considerable variety of subjects.

There is however one imperfection inseparable from this mode of proceeding, which it may be requisite briefly to mention. No man acts in a single character; nor can all his duties be brought into one point of view. The member of the legislature, the minister of state, the counsellor, the merchant, is also a subject, a husband, a parent, a landlord, or a master. In order then to avoid the repetition which would only swell the bulk of the performance without conveying additional information; I request the reader, of whatever description he may be, not to confine his attention to the chapter appropriated to the station or profession to which he belongs; but to consider those chapters also which include the general duties of subjects, and the especial obligations of private and domestic life, as particularly addressed to himself. If I should be told that remarks and directions will still be found applied to persons of one description which equally appertain to those of another; instead of sheltering myself under the acknowledged impossibility of avoiding all defects in any undertaking, or pleading that the defect alleged is of no prominent magnitude, I might reply that it is a circumstance which I scarcely desire to be otherwise. For, as the matter now stands, even the cursory enquirer, who turns to a particular chapter from curiosity to know what is there stated concerning the profession of which it treats, though a profession in which he is not personally engaged; may chance to meet with observations, which he may perceive to be not altogether inapplicable to his own.

Item of the Day: A Fragment out of the sixth book of Polybius (1743)

2006-09-22T11:36:00.000-04:00

Full Title: A Fragment out of the sixth book of Polybius, containing a dissertation upon government in general, particularly applied to that of the Romans, together with a description of the several powers of the consuls, Senate, and people of Rome, Translated from the Greek with notes. To which is prefixed a preface, wherein the system of Polybius is applied to the government of England: and, to the above-mentioned Fragment concerning the powers of the Senate, is annexed a Dissertation upon the constitution of it. By a Gentleman [Edward Spelman]. London: Printed by J. Bettenham, and sold by W. Meyer, 1743.

[Elements of the political beliefs of the 2nd-century historian Polybius are evident in the writings of the John Adams and in the debates among the delegates at the Constitutional Convention. These would include the importance to a republic of a mixed government and a system of checks and balances. The text immediately below is taken from the preface of Spelman’s preface to the Fragment, and is followed by a translated excerpt of Polybius. This 1743 volume contains both the Greek and the English translation.]

THE
PREFACE.

Several Considerations led me to lay before the Publick a Translation of the following Fragment of Polybius: The Principal of which was, the very great Satisfaction I received, as an Englishman, in finding the whole Reasoning of that excellent Author as applicable to our own Constitution, as to That, for which it was intended.

The great Advantages flowing from the happy Temper, and equal Mixture of the three Orders, for which he so justly celebrates the Roman Government, are all to be found in our own; with this Circumstance in our Favour, that our Situation, as an Island, forbids us either to fear, or aim at Conquests; by the gaining, as well as the suffering of which, that political Harmony is in Danger of being destroyed: By the Spoils of conquered Nations Caesar was enabled to corrupt the Roman People, and bribe them to be the Instruments of their own Ruin, by erecting an absolute Monarchy in his Favour; which, growing, afterwards, wanton for Want of a Check from the other Orders, weak for Want of their Assistance, became, at last, a Prey to a barbarous Invader, often vanquished, and always despised, while the Balance of all Three was preserved.

If my Countrymen will attentively consider every Argument, made Use of by Polybius, to shew the Excellence of a Government founded on an equal Mixture of Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, they will, I dare say, have the same Satisfaction I enjoyed; that is, they will find the System of Policy, laid down by that great Man, in the following Dissertation of the Constitution of the Romans, to be a Description of the Advantages enjoyed under That of England.

I would not be thought to say this in Flattery to the Government, under which I was born, and hope to pass the Remainder of my Life; not only my own Reason, but, what is of much greater Weight, even to my self, the Authority of the grates of Men of antiquity convinces me that a Government mixed like Those of Sparta, Rome and England, is, of all other, the easiest, the securest, and the happiest to live under. If any of us are insensible of the Blessings we enjoy, I must think it owing to our being accustomed to them; custom, I know, can both deaden the Sense of the greatest Misfortunes, and pall the Enjoyment of the greatest Blessings; and Custom may, possibly, make us view that State with Indifference, which all other Nations look upon with Envy. But this Indifference is far from being Epidemical; the Fears, the Jealousies of Innovations, all pardonable in a free Sate, however groundless, are to me a Proof, beyond Contradiction, that we love what we so much fear to lose. And how general must those Fears be, when it is popular only to pretend to fear? . . .
[Edward Spelman]

. . . What, therefore, are the Beginnings of Government, and from whence do they originally spring? When, either by a Deluge, a Pestilence, a Famine, or the like Calamity, such as we know have happened, and Reason teaches us will often happen again, the Race of Mankind is well night destroyed, and all their Institutions and Arts destroyed with them; from the few that are left, as from so many Seeds, a new Generation, in Process of Time, encreases [sic] to a Multitude; then it comes to pass, as in other Animals, so in Men, when they are got together (which it is reasonable to suppose they would be, as they are of the same Kind, by Reason of their natural weakness) that he, who excels in Strength of Body and Courage, must, of Necessity, gain the Command and Authority over the rest: And, as in Animals of other Kinds also, which are not influenced by Opinions, but by the Instinct of Nature alone, we observe the same Thing commonly falls out, This ought to be looked upon as the most genuine Work of Nature: Among these the strongest are, by common Consent, allowed to be the Masters; such as Bulls, wild Boars, Cocks, and Animals of the like Nature: In the same Manner, it is probable that Men also, when they first get together, like a Herd, are governed by those of the greatest Strength an Courage; the Measure of whose Power is Strength, and their Government, Monarchy. When the Individuals, thus assembled, by living together, become, through Time, habituated to one another, then is the Foundation laid for Kingly Government, and then do Mankind receive the first Tincture of Honour and Justice, and of their Opposites: the Notions of which are first formed in the following Manner. . . .
[Polybius]

Item of the Day: The Rights of the British Colonies (1764)

2006-09-21T13:25:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved by James Otis, Esq. Boston: Printed and Sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen-Street, 1764.

Introduction
Of the Origins of Government

The origin of government has in all ages no less perplexed the heads of lawyers and politicians, than the origin of evil has embarrassed divines and philosophers: And 'tis probable the world may receive a satisfactory solution on both those points of enquiry at the same time.

The various opinions on the origin of government have been reduced to four. 1. That dominion is founded in Grace. 2. On force or meer power. 3. On compact. 4. On property.

The first of these opinions is so absurd, and the world has paid so very dear for embracing it, especially under the administration of the roman pontiffs, that mankind seem at this day to be in a great measure cured of their madness in this particular; and the notion is pretty generally exploded, and his'd off the stage.

To those who lay the foundation of government in force and meer brutal power, it is objected; that, their system destroys all distinction between right and wrong; that it overturns all morality, and leaves it to every man to do what is right in his own eyes; that it leads directly to scepticism, and ends in atheism. When a man's will and pleasure is his only rule and guide, what safety can there be either for him or against him, but in the point of a sword?

On the other hand the gentlemen in favor of the original compact have been often told that their system is chimerical and unsupported by reason or experience. Questions like the following have been frequently asked them, and may be again.

"When and where was the original compact for introducing government into any society, or for creating a society, made? Who were present and parties to such compact? Who acted for infants and women, or who appointed guardians for them? Had these guardians power to bind both infants and women during life, and their posterity after them? Is it in nature or reason that a guardian should by his own act perpetuate his power over his ward, and bind him and his posterity in chains? Is not every man born as free by nature as his father? Has he not the same natural right to think and act and contract for himself? Is it possible for a man to have a natural right to make a slave of himself or of his posterity? Can a father supersede the laws of nature? What man is or ever was born free, if every man is not? What will there be to distinguish the next generation of men from their forefathers, that they should not have had the same right to make original compacts as their ancestors had? If every man and woman born or to be born has, and will have, a right to be consulted, and must accede to the original compact before they can with any kind of justice be said to be bound by it, will not the compact be every forming and never finished, ever making but never done? Can it with propriety be called a compact original or derivative, that is ever in treaty but never concluded?"

. . .

There are other questions which have been started, and a resolution of them demanded, which may perhaps be deemed indecent by those who hold the prerogatives of an earthly monarch, and even the power of a plantation government, so sacred as to think it little less than blasphemy to enquire into their origin and foundation: while the government of the supreme ruler of the universe is every day discussed with less ceremony and decency than the administration of a petty German prince. I hope the reader will consider that I am present only mentioning such questions as have been put by high-flyers & others in church and state, who would exclude all compact between a Sovereign and his people, without offering my own sentiments upon them; this however I presume I may be allowed hereafter to do without offence. Those who want a full answer to them may consult Mr. Locke's discourses on government, M. De Vattel's law of nature and nations, and their own consciences.

Item of the Day: Travels through Germany. Vol. I. (1768)

2006-09-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Travels through Germany. Containing observations on customs, manners, religion, government, commerce, arts and antiquities. With a particular account of the Courts of Mecklenburg. In a series of letters to a friend, by Thomas Nugent. Embellished with elegant cuts of the palaces and gardens of the Dukes of Mecklenburg. Vo. I. London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, 1768.

ADVERTISMENT.

The following letters were committed to the press, exactly in their native simplicity. This, perhaps, has occasioned a few repetitions, and a recital of particulars, which may appear uninteresting to some readers. The author, however, on submitting them to public view, did not chuse to make any alteration in their dress; this would have too much the appearance of art; and letters to a friend, such as these, should discover none. They are the effusions of a heart warmed with sentiments of affection. The taste of readers is various; and what appears minute and trifling to many, is to others, at least, a matter of entertainment. The author’s design in going abroad, was to improve his History of Vandalia, by investigating things at the fountain-head. This has induced him carefully to study the various scenes of life, and the humours and characters of men, from the prince to the cotager; agreeably to the words of a very ingenious female traveler*, Pour connoitre au vrai le moeurs des pais, nous examinons les cabanes. If we view things in a philosophical light, are not the occupations of the farmer, the gardener, and the artificer, as instructive and interesting a subject, as plays, operas, and other fashionable entertainments? These the author, however, has not omitted, when they came in his way, merely in compliance with the prevailing taste. A traveler generally makes himself the hero of his piece, by reciting his hardships and sufferings . . . the author has followed the example of his predecessors; and if this has sometimes rendered him too personal, he humbly hopes for the reader’s indulgence. Though no poet, he is an admirer of the Muses, and has been naturally led to intersperse these Letters with several passages from our best writers, which helped to sooth some toilsome scenes, and, perhaps, will contribute to enliven the narration. This is all he thinks proper to mention by way of apology; the necessity of any farther preface is superseded by the beginning of the first letter.

*Madam de Boccage.

Item of the Day: The Letters of Governor Hutchinson (1774)

2006-09-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Letters of Governor Hutchinson, and Lieut. Gover Oliver, &c., Printed at Boston, 1774.

Boston, August 1768

Sir,
. . .

It is very necessary other information should be had in England of the present state of the commissioners of the customs than what common same will bring to you, or what you will receive from most of the letters which go from hence, people in general being prejudiced by many false reports and misrepresentations concerning them. Seven eights of the people of the country suppose the board itself to be unconstitutional, and cannot be undeceived and brought to believe that a board has existed in England all this century, and that the board established here has no new powers given to it. Our incendiaries know it, but they industriously and very wickedly publish the contrary. As much pains have been taken to prejudice the country against the persons of the Commissioners, and their characters have been misrepresented and cruelly treated, especially since their confinement at the Castle, were they are not so likely to hear what is said of them, and are not so able to confute it.

It is now pretended they need not to have withdrawn, that Mr. Williams had stood his ground without any injury, although the mob beset his house, etc. There never was that spirit raised against the under officers as against the Commissioners, I mean four of them. They had a public affront offered them by the town of Boston, who refused to give the use of their hall for a public dinner, unless it was stipulated that the Commissioners should not be invited. An affront of the same nature at the motion of Mr. Hancock was offered by a company of cadets. Soon after a vessel of Mr. Hancock's being seized, the officers were mobb'd, and the Commissioners were informed they were threatened. I own I was in pain for them. I do not believe if the mob had seized them, there was any authority able and willing to have rescued them. After they had withdrawn, the town signified to the Governor by a message that it was pected or desired they should not return. It was then the general voice that it would not be safe for them to return. After all this, the sons of liberty say they deserted or abdicated.

The other officers of the customs in general either did not leave the town, or soon returned to it. Some of them seem to be discontented with the Commissioners. Great pains have been taken to increase the discontent. Their office by these means is rendered extremely burdensome. Everything they do is found fault with, and yet no particular illegality or even irregularity mentioned. Thee is too much hauteur, some of their officers say, in the treatment they receive. They say, they treat their officers as the Commissioners treat their officers in England, and require no greater deference. After all, it is not the persons, but the office of the Commissioners which has raised this spirit, and the distinction made between the commissioners, is because it has been given out that four of them were in favour of the new establishment, and the fifth was not. If Mr. Hallowell arrived safe, he can inform you many circumstances relative to this distinction, which I very willingly excuse myself from mentioning.

I know of no burden brought upon the fair trader by the new establishment. The illicit trader finds the risk greater than it used to be, especially in the port where the board is constantly held. Another circumstance which increases the prejudice is this; the new duties happen to take place just about the time the commissioners arrived. People have absurdly connected the duties and Board of Commissioners, and suppose we should have had no additional duties, if there had been no Board to have the charge of collecting them. With all the aid you can give to the officers of the crown, they will have enough to do to maintain the authority of government, and to carry the laws into execution. If they are discountenanced, neglected, or fail of support from you, they must submit to every thing the present opposers of government think fit to require of them.

There is no office under greater discouragements than that of the commissioners. Some of my friends recommended me to the ministry. I think myself very happy that I am not one. Indeed it would have been incompatible with my post as chief justice, and I must have declined it, and I should do it although no greater salary had been affixed to the chief justice's place, than the small pittance allowed by the province.

From my acquaintance with the Commissioners I have conceived a personal esteem for them, but my chief inducement to make this representation to you, is a regard to the public interest, which I am sure will suffer if the opposition carry their point against them.

I am, with very great esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
THO. HUTCHINSON.

August 10. Yesterday at a meeting of the merchants, it was agreed by all present to give no more orders for goods from England, not receive any on commission until the late acts are repealed. And it is said all except sixteen in the town have subscribed an engagement to that tenor. I hope the subscription will be printed, that I may transmit it to you.

Item of the Day: Carey’s Pennsylvania Evening Herald and The American Monitor (1785)

2006-09-15T09:09:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Pennsylvania Evening Herald, and the American Monitor. Vol. I. No. 47. [Philadelphia] 6 July 6 1785.

JOSEPH GOSS,
Regular bred Physician, having
had his tuition on Montpelier
for a considerable time,

Being a resident of the city of Philadelphia for upwards of five years, has had many opportunities of being employed in the way of his profession, and hopes, to those who were pleased to employ him, he has given such proofs of his abilities as will be an inducement to them, from the relief they may have experienced by the use of his medicines, to recommend him to their friends and the public in general; to whom he will ever be studious to give the greatest satisfaction, agreeable to their complaints.

He begs leave to inform the public, that, among many other diseases too tedious to enumerate in a method of this kind, he will infallibly (under God’s mercy) perform the following cures, viz. the venereal disease, if increased to the last degree; the cancer, king’s evil, the wen, all kinds of ulcers, the rheumatism, gout, any kind of tetter, the leprosy, and all the maladies which to some might appear incurable.

Likewise, said Doctor will restore the sight to any person unhappily afflicted by blindness caused from a cataract on the eye, performed by a delicate operation. –He has a most marvelous eye-water of his own composition, to cure or prevent cold in sore eyes. –He has compounded a balsam, which infallibly cures consumptive disorders from the first, second, third, and perhaps fourth degree, as several can affirm during his residence in this city; likewise a number of other compounds for different maladies, such as the elixir for curing the stomach-ach, or cholic, often so dangerous to numbers of people; hypochondriac and hysteric disorders attending either male or female, which is most excellent for.

Said Doctor likewise begs leave to inform the public, that he has been happily successful in curing the fever and ague, which numbers can testify from the benefit they have received by his prescription. –He thinks fit to insert prices according to the age of the patient, viz. from two to seven years old, 8s. from 7 to 15, 15s. from 15 upwards, 30s. He will give proper directions for taking all his medicines, according to the complaint of the patient. He destroys all kinds of worms in infants or grown people, and prepares a plaister that will infallibly cure children afflicted with a lax and pukeing, a disorder which has brought many children to the grave. –He will consult those who please to favour him with their confidence upon any kind of malady, three days in the week, viz. on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturday in the mornings from six to ten o’clock, and in the evenings from two to five.

Said Dr. Goss will have three convenient places for the reception of patients, and will give strict attention to all who shall favour him with their confidence.

Item of the Day: Miscellany Politicks. For the Farmer’s Weekly Museum. (1798)

2006-09-14T10:52:00.000-04:00

Full Title: “Miscellany Politicks. For the Farmer’s Weekly Museum.” The Farmer’s Weekly Museum: Newhampshire and Vermont Journal. Vol. V. No. 251. [Walpole, New Hampshire] 23 January 1798.

[The Farmer’s Weekly Museum was printed by David Carlisle, Jr. and edited by Joseph Dennie. This serial was continued under the title “The Farmers’ Museum, or. Lay Preacher’s Gazette." The following excerpt is signed “PLAIN TRUTH.”]

Miscellany.
POLITICKS.

For the FARMER’S WEEKLY MUSEUM.

In proportion as publick opinion is right or wrong, the sound principles of our constitution will be cherished, and the wise measures of our government supported by the citizens; or, on the contrary, false and erroneous principles will bring in bad men, and bad measures are sure to follow.

It is the undoubted and uniform tendency of every revolution to propagate, at least during the heat of contest, a violent democratick spirit, which is seldom friendly to rational liberty, while it lasts, and is almost always fatal to it., when it expires. For nothing is more likely first to discredit, and then ruin a good cause, than carrying its principles to extremes. The forlorn and almost desperate condition of French liberty is an example still reeking in blood, still smoking in ruins before the eyes of mankind. No statesmen ever talked fairer, no men ever acted worse. No theories were ever wrought with a smoother polish, or glittered more with the mock diamonds and tinsel of philosophy; and never did the servile maxims of despotism, and the rage of tyrants inflict a more diffusive and pestiferous curse upon a nation.

We are more astonished at the contrast between theories and measures, between prophecies and events, between the same men demagogues and tyrants, than we ought to be. We overlook, or want patience to apply the known laws of the human character and passions, and the unvaried testimony of history.

It has been hinted, and the writer has not the smallest hesitation in asserting, that the tendency of publick opinion has been often MUCH TOO DEMOCRATICK in the United States. The unexpended heat of our revolution and the scorching and blasting reflection from that of France have not permitted the American republick to enjoy that uninterrupted health, which many, were led to anticipate, from the soundness of its temperament, and the prudent exactness of its regimen. The publick pulse has been many times feverish, and the nervous system irritable to a degree, that indicates a morbid leaven of democracy in the blood. The Shays and whisky insurgents, successfully assumed democratick principles, as equally true and popular, and endeavoured, thank heaven in vain, to excite an enthusiastick zeal to sustain them. The decline of this fiery spirit will be lamented by those, who cannot conceive that the love of liberty exists, if it be not exalted to fury. With them it is not a right, a dictate of reason, but a passion, equally sanguinary and stupid; sanguinary, because it neither discerns, nor approves any, but violent means, and , stupid, because, if left to itself, is sure to destroy its object. Accordingly, we hear the Democrats affecting to lament the supposed extinction of the spirit of 1776, as if there were no reason for repose, when the struggle is over. When resistance ceases, the passions must subside, nor is it in nature for them to keep up. It would be well for us if the revolutionary fervour had actually passed off. However necessary it may be for the security of liberty, when it is endangered, it disturbs the tranquil possession when it is not. Every popular ferment bewilders the judgment of those, whom it affects, and is the fruitful sources of the most obstinate errours. A man in a passion is not the best reasoner; and why should the Democrats imagine that the nation cannot reason, unless it raves, or that we are all in a lethargy, because we are not in a frenzy; yet who cares less for 1776 than they, for they would yield independence, now it is won, to France, and Washington, John Adams, Jay, Hamilton, Knox, Pickering, the Pinckneys, and the chief patriots of that day, are their abhorrence.

Times of publick convulsion certainly give an energy to the national character. –They call forth heroes and martyrs; at present we have not occasion for either. All the passions, which it is the business of laws in quiet times to refrain, then taking the ascendant, become the virtues of the day, and clamorous for indulgence. When men are taught to hold their own lives cheap, and its pleasures are spurned, as bringing dishonour in their allurements; when they are in the habit of spilling blood, as if they spilt water; when they taste the sweetness of revenge, and enjoy the luxury of inflicting on their foes the pain, and want, and wounds, that they themselves suffer, are they then and then only, qualified to be Republicans? As well as a raging fever may be called health, or fanaticism be confounded with true devotion. . . .

PLAIN TRUTH.

Item of the Day: Hannah More's Tales for the Common People (1801)

2006-09-13T11:31:00.000-04:00

Full Title: The Works of Hannah More, in Eight Volumes; including several pieces never before published. Vol. V. “Tales for the Common People.” London: Printed by A. Strahan for T. Cadell Jun. and w. Davis, 1801.

ADVERTISMENT
TO THIS AND THE PRECEDING
VOLUME OF TALES.

To improve the habits, and raise the principles of the common people, at a time when their dangers and temptations, moral and political, were multiplied beyond the example of any former period, was the motive which impelled the Author of these volumes to devise and prosecute the institution of the Cheap Repository. This plan was established with an humble wish, not only to counteract vice and profligacy on the one hand, but error, discontent, and false religion on the other. And as an appetite for reading had, from a variety of causes, been increasing among the inferior ranks in this country, it was judged expedient, at this critical period, to supply such wholesome aliment as might give a new direction to their taste, and abate their relish for those corrupt and inflammatory publications which the consequences of the French Revolution have been so fatally pouring in upon us.

The success of the plan exceeded the most sanguine expectation of its projector. Above two millions of the Tracts were sold within the first year, besides very large numbers in Ireland; and they continue to be very extensively circulated, in their original form of single Tracts, by Evans, in Long-lane, West Smithfield, Hatchard in Piccadilly, and Hazard in Bath, as well as in three bound volumes sold by Rivington, Hatchard, and all other booksellers.

As these stories, though principally, are not calculated exclusively for the middle and lower classes of society, the Author had, at the desire of her friends, selected those which were written by herself, and presented them to the public in this collection of her works, in an enlarged and improved form.

CONTENTS
OF
THE FIFTH VOLUME.

The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain: In Two Parts.
The Two Shoemakers: In Six Parts.
The History of Tom White the Postboy: In Two Parts.
The History of Hester Wilmot: In Two Parts; being the Sequel to the Sunday School.
The Grand Assize, or General Goal Delivery: An Allegory.
The Servant Man turned Soldier: An Allegory.
The History of Betty Brown the St. Giles Orange Girl, with some Account of Mrs. Sponge the Money-Lender.
Black Giles the Poacher: In Two Parts. Containing some Account of a Family who had rather live by their Wits than their Work.
Tawney Rachel; or, The Fortune-teller; with some Account of Dreams, Omens, and Conjurers.

Item of the Day: Geographia Antiqua Delineata (1775)

2006-09-08T11:55:00.000-04:00

Full Title: Geographia Antiqua Delineata; or, Antient Geography, Exhibited in a Set of Thirty-one Maps: Comprehending all the Several States of Greece, and the Numerous Parts of the Roman Empire, contained in the Greek and Latin Classicks, viz. Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, Eutropius, Corn. Nepos, Justin, Quin. Curtius, Sallust, Livy, Caesar, Plutarch, Xenophon, Herodotus, and Others. To which is added, A Map of the Places Mentioned in the Old and New Testament. The Whole Containing Several Hundred Places not laid down in Former Publications, with their Numerous Errors rectified. Designed for use of Schools. By Sol. Bolton; and engraved by the late Mr. Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to the King. London: Printed for R. Sayer, and J. Bennett, map and print sellers, 1775.

PREFACE.

The utility of the following collection of Maps, is too obvious to need any apology for their appearance, as the great omissions and considerable errors in all former collections for the use of Students, render it absolutely necessary to have a complete and correct set published; which was in great forwardness before the death of the Editor, since when it has been finished with as great care and exactness as their size will admit of. They are designed chiefly for the Students of Universities, and gentlemen of learned academies, to whom, their time being employed in literature with Greek and Latin authors, a correct set of Antient Maps cannot but be entertaining, useful, and improving.

All gentlemen who make their studies regular, will endeavour to be masters of the ancient geography, at the same time they study the modern; because the present system of maps and charts can be imperfectly useful without a collection of Antient ones to explain, not only what we read in the Jewish history, and Bible geopgaphy, but the multitude of places, and remarkable events, that we observe in perusing the celebrated works of Greek and Roman authors; and consequently Justin, Nepos, Sallust, Caesar, and Livy, have been, in our schools, taught with as much success as Terence, Virgil, Horace, and Cicero. And notwithstanding care has been taken to explain, by notes, in school-books, the names of hills, rivers, and cities; pointing out what kingdom or province they are situated in, yet for want of draughts to describe these kingdoms, and their divisions into provinces, neither the distance nor the respective situations of the places want of which distinction great confusion must necessarily arise in the mind. For which reason, to all the valuable editions of such schools-book as have wanted them, maps have been added; but as these editions have been necessarily held at so great a price, as not to be easily obtained for the youth at schools, for whom it was needful to print editions of a cheaper sort, so consequently in them these helps were omitted; to supply which this collection of Maps of the Antient World, and of such parts of it chiefly as are mentioned in the Classic Authors, is designed; wherein are described the chief citi4es, towns, rivers, and mountains, in as perfect a manner as so confined a size will admit; whereby the scholar will be able, by inspection, to see their situations, and, observing that each degree in the scale on the sides of the maps, contains about 60 miles, he may, in some tolerable manner, judge of their distance from each other.

LIST OF MAPS.

A Map of the World, as known to the Antients.
The World, with Greece and Italy, according to Justin.
Ancient Greece, in its whole Extent.
Hellas, or Greece, with the Kingdom of Croefus, according to Herodotus.
The Roman Empire, at its Beginning, according to Florus.
The Roman Empire in its growing State, according to Florus.
The Roman Empire, according to the Commentaries of Caesar.
The Roman Empire, according to Lucan.
The Roman Empire at its highest State, in the Reign of Trajan.
The conquests made my Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, according to Plutarch, ante Christum 280.
The Expedition of Hannibal into Italy, ante Christum 216.
A View of the Civil War between Pompey and Caesar.
The African War, according to Julius Caesar.
Syria, and Assyria, according to Ptolemy and others.
The Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
The Persian Empire, divided by Darius Hystaspis into 20 Provinces.
The Return of so many of the 10,000 Greeks as survived the Battle of Cunaxa, according to Xenophon, ante Christum 400.
The several Expeditions of Alexander the Great, according to Q. Curtius, Arrian, and others, ante Christum 330.
The Dominions that were subdued by Demetrius Poliorcester, whose father, Antigonus, was killed at the Battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia.
The Compass of the Trojan war, according to Dirtys and Dares, ante Christum 1184.
The Navigation of Ulysses, according to Homer, from his Birthplace Ithaca, to the Siege of Troy.
The Navigation of Aeneas from Troy to Rome, according to Dionysius.
The Navigation of Aeneas, according to Virgil.
The Expeditions of Agesilaus, King of Sparta, according to Xenophon.
Antient Gaul, according to Caesar.
Boeetica, or the South Part of Spain, as described by Caesar, in the Spanish War.
Places mentioned in the Church History of Eusebius.
Lybia, according to Herodotus.
Egypt, according to Herodotus.
The Journeyings of the Israelites mentioned in the Mosaick History. Also the Land of Canaan, shewing the Divisions of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the most remarkable Places in Joshua and Judges.
The Extent of St. Paul’s Travels, mentioned in the New Testaments.