1 HOPE. THO', Celia, the clouds of adversity frown, Thus pleas'd by those beauties which taught me to sigh, And faithlefsly brighten the source of my tears. Yet tell me, my fair, is thy nature at ease, When thy smiles have deserted their charming domain;- And kindling the bosom by which they are own'd, And thus fhall my love with its wishes be crown'd. While gooders and friendship fhall rivet the chain; Nor e'er can my quiet its tortures annoy, May nature and art then aisist me to please, And gain for my bosom the raptures of love! To be blefs'd, is to blefs, to be happy, be kind, And the morn of my blifs fhall apprize thee of thine. AMYNTOR. TO THE VIOLET. AND shall the muse to thee her praise deny, Let grandeur keep its own!-this fragrant flow'r Where all his comfort, all his pleasure's lodg'd, The thought that these from him their good derive, 'Tis this that cools the sun's meridian blaze, P. H. LITERARY OLLA. No. VIII. For the Bee. On the causes of universal and perpetual reputation in writing and in eloquence. AUTHORS and orators! I beg of you not to sneer or to shudder at the title of this little paper. Do not be afraid that I am about to mention your names, your books, or your speeches. A frosty winter, my dear little friends, is at hand to finish our buzzing and stinging; but some of us will fall into amber, and be looked at with admiration for ever. The causes of universal and perpetual reputation in writing and in eloquence are to be looked for, in good sense, in adoption to the inexterminable principles of man's nature, in the grandeur or utility of their ultimate objects, and in the arrangement and ornaments of language and style. If on this platform ye examine the works of Thucydides, Shakespeare, Adam Smith, and Homer, ye will understand at once what I mean, if our understandings are formed upon the same Calibre; if not, my paper will be extremely fhort, and ye will soon get quit of my babbling. I do not write for the admirers of meditations upon broomsticks, but for men of plain ordinary good sense, unfascinated by sublimity and beauty. Great beauty of style, with curious arrangement, and ardent words applied to the imagination, will preserve books and orations in general esteem no longer than the languages in which they were delivered are living and perspicuous; and I have no doubt that much of the beauty and effect of Cicero's orations are lost, not only from this circumstance, but from the variety of sound, and accent, and intonation, and affecting pauses in the pronunciation, with which we are unacquainted. of But Cicero owes the universality and the permanency his fame so much to the greatnefs of the theatre upon which he exhibited, that I do not consider his fame as a proper subject for the exhibition of the principles upon which I proceed. Were it not for this peculiarity in the situation of Cicero, the universality and permanency of his fame would go far to prove, that tinsel is better than gold, and that arrangement of words, and ornament of style, are sufficient to produce the grand effect, without the other requisites of my position. For in the writings of Cicero, exclusive of his essays on moral duties, there is little of high merit in respect of strong good sense, adoption to the perpetual circumstances of human nature, or to the production of a great and ultimate design. Yet there is so much of this lightly dispersed over his writings, as, with the co-operating enchantment of style, and the great situation and misfortunes of the man, give no leisure to the imagination and the pafsions for sober reflection on the intrinsic value of his genius, and the solidity of his argument. His efsays, however, on moral duties, and his charming letters on friendship and old age, will be dear to men of virtue and genius to the latest posterity. With respect to his other remains, the immense scope that has been given in France and in England for similar exertions, will gradually throw them into the fhade, especially if the writers and orators of France and of England fhall guard against that prose run mad, that eternity of metaphor, that point and antithesis, and, what is worst of all, that ridiculous change of argument, upon the same topic, and that political lubricity which has disgraced some of our modern orators, and will render them illustriously infamous as long as the Americans fhall be able to understand the English language. . Of the application of these principles to modern historians, poets, philosophers, and politicians, I fhall leave it with those to whom this little paper is addressed. GENEROSITY REWARDED. A FRENCH gentleman of high rank who had lived for many years beyond his income, found it necefsary to retire to the country to save his credit for a little longer time. In his neighbourhood he formed an acquaintance with the magistrate of a small town, whose merit, talents, and integrity, had procured the public favour, and commanded the particular esteem of the lord, who one day condescended to demand his daughter in marriage for his son. The magistrate remonstrated against it, on account of the disproportion between them, because of her low birth The young lady was amiable in every respect; the education, fhe had received rendered her very accomplished. The father when he returned home mentioned it to his son; who exprefsed his surprise. "My son, (said the father to him,) you probably expect that you have a good deal of money to inherit from me, it is my duty to undeceive you; here, says he, presenting a paper,) is the account of my fortune and my debts; read it, reflect on it, and then judge whether the proposal I make be a reasonable one or not. I wish to ally you to a virtuous and honest family; you will there find money enough to main |