hurt fo much as the fcratch of a brass pin. An extended acquaintance of thefe and numbers of other animals of our country, would have at leaft the advantage of curing us of ufelefs fears and flavish antipathies, and thus give

us freedom to contemplate the beauties of nature; thereby to promote fentiments of benevolence to all. Such is the wifh of

C. W. PEALE. Mufeum, June 18, 1800.

PHILOSOPHERD and

HILOSOPHERS and revolutionists, as well as periodical writers, are continually complaining,and fometimes with tears in their eyes, of an inveterate adherence to received opinions, and of the unconquerable power of prejudice. So fully am I convinced of its force, I can fcarcely perfuade myfelf to publifh an effay in defence of lying, notwithstanding the beneficial effects of this polite practice must be obviously ap. parent to every unprejudiced mind; and I fhould probably, at this moment fhrink from the task, if I did not feel myfelf authorized to practife on my own theory, and abfolutely disclaim every fentiment, which this effay contains

In treating of this fubject, I fhall not content myself with a juftification of that fpecies of falfehood merely, ufually denominated white lies; an extravagant representation, not intended to be credited. No one certainly of the leaft degree of liberality can cenfure a practice fo innocent, and, at the fame time, fo amufing. I will go farther. I will maintain, there are a thousand other lies, told every day, with a ferious in

tention to be believed, equally juftifiable.

When a good natured landlady, at a country tavern, tells me fhe is very forry fhe can give me no fresh meat for dinner: that ten half starved teamsters called at her house for a breakfast, ate up two quarters of lamb, a fhoulder of veal, and the last pair of chickens fhe had in the house; that there has not been the time for fix months, when she has been without fresh meat; though I cannot believe three words of this statement, I feel no inclination to cenfure, because the good lady feems fenfible that fuch articles ought to be at her command.

When I hear a young lady, a bout fifteen minutes after I have entered a house, come down the chamber ftairs, fee her fmooth down the long fleeves of a clean loofe gown, as fhe enters the room; and then hear her say she did not know any body was there, or fhe would not have been looking quite fo bad; though I eafily dif cern her intention to deceive, I cannot but applaud it, because she difcovers, by this artifice, a degree of laudable ambition.

When I afk a man for a debt of five dollars, and he tells me, he has just had to pay fifty pounds, where he was bound for an abfconded neighbour; though, I very well know, he never had two pounds, at one time, in his life, I readily pardon the falfehood, because, I find, my debtor knows humanity is a virtue, and has a very proper abhorrence of a jail.

When a friend folicits the loan of a dollar to pay his club at a pleasure party, and informs me he left his loofe cafh at his lodgings, when he changed his apparel; though I am confident he has not changed an article of his dress for a fortnight, I more readily lend him the money, becaufe I perceive my friend very well knows, a man ought to change his dress, when he goes into com

tioned, we are indebted to the ingenuity of those agreeable gentlemen, ufually denominated men of the world. What fhould we think of the anecdotes of these pleafing gentlemen, if they were confined to a dry detail of fact? I allude more particularly to the narrations of thofe occurrences, in which these gentlemen themfelves were immediately concerned. Are we not indebted for the "wonderful, the ftrange, the paf fing ftrange," in thefe narratives to a profaic fiction and license rarely furpaffed by poetic frenzy ? Would any man, in his senses, be fo ftupid as to curtail his own amufement, by abridging the fancy and the powers of his entertainer? We are pleased with their anecdotes and reprefentations ; not because we believe them, but because, like poetry, they difcover invention; and, if any one is fo fuperftitious as to condemn, because they are lies, I hope he will be condemned to hear nothing but dull plain truth as long as he lives.

M.

HE following generous

middle part on which was the

extremely; there is fomewhat even of fublime in it.

A great inundation having taken place in the north of Italy, owing to an exceffive fall of fnow in the Alps, followed by a speedy thaw, the river Adige carried off a bridge near Verona, except the

ter, I forget which; and who, with his whole family, thus remained imprisoned by the waves, and in momentary danger of deftruction. They were discovered from the banks, ftretching forth their hands, fcreaming, and imploring fuccour, while fragments

of this remaining arch were continua ly dropping into the water. In this extreme danger, a nobleman, who was prefent, a count of Pulverini, I think, held out a purfe of one hundred fequins, as a reward to any adventurer who would take boat, and deliver his unhappy family. But the risk was fo great of being borne down by the rapidity of the ftream, of being dalhed against the fragments of the bridge, or of being cruihed by the falling ftones, that not one, in the vast number of fpectators, had courage enough to attempt.fuch an exploit.

A peafant, paffing along, was informed of the propo ed reward. Immediately jumping into a boat, he, by ftrength of cars, gained

WH

HEN Appelles was about to execute a picture of Venus, the goddess of love and of beauty, his object was to concentrate every delicacy of expreffion, and every grace of contour, of which the human form is fufceptible; but whom fhould he choofe for a model? He had called a thousand beautecus females each a Venus in her turn: but that was the language of love now he must examine the fulnefs of their form, and the accuracy of their proportions, with the rigour of a critic, and the eye of an artift. In each was difcovered fome partial imperfection; from affembling the beauties of them all, at last he

completed his Venus. The dam fels, to whom the painter had been indebted, flocked with overflowing impatience to behold themfelves in the picture, which had fpread the renown of Appelles through every city of Greece. "Yes," faid Galatea, cafting a carlefs glance at the canvas, “he has really hit my complexion,"and went away fatisfied that fhe was Venus. Sapphira cameand blufhed-and fmiled. "Poor creatures!" faid Afpafia; "they will burft with envy, for he has copied me to the very fhape of my fingers." Appelles had indeed copied the fingers of Afpafia, but that was all.

The moral is, that many per

fons poffeffing a fingle feature, or limb, or talent, or di pofition, worthy of praise or attention, in an evil hour, confcious of their

endowment, fhall extend it to the whole of their figure and character, and fo believe themfelves very perfect.

S

AGACITY, promptitude, and energy, were the predominating traits of lord Chat ham's character. His ruling paffion was an ambitious love of glo ry, but it was of an honourable and virtuous kind; he practifed no meanness to obtain it, and his private life was unfullied by any vice. He was confcious of his virtues and talents, and therefore appeared impatient of contradiction in public affairs; but in fociety he could unbend to all companies, and poffèffed fuch a fund of intelligence and verfatility of wit, that he could adapt himself to all circumftances and occafions.

In the higher parts of oratory he had no competitor, and stood alone the rival of antiquity. His eloquence was of every kind, and he excelled in the argumentative as well as the declamatory fpecies. But his invectives were ter rible, and uttered with fuch energy of diction, and fuch dignity of action and countenance, that he intimidated thofe who were the most willing and the beft able to encounter him. Their arms fell from their hands, and they fhrunk under the afcendant which his genius had gained over theirs. The fluent Murray has faultered,

and Fox, lord Holland, fhrunk back appalled, from an adversary "fraught with fire unquenchable," if the expreflion may be permitted.

"He could adapt himself to every topic, but dignity was the character of his oratory, and his perfonal greatnefs gave weight to the ftyle he affumed. His affertions rofe into procf, his forefight became prophecy. No clue was neceffary to the labyrinth illumined by his genius. Truth came forth at his bidding, and realized the wifh of the philofopher; the was feen and beloved."

When the important queftion of general warrants was difcuffed, his love of rational liberty broke forth in ftrains to which a Tully or a Demofthenes would have liftened with eager fatisfaction. He declared them repugnant to every principle of freedom. Were they tolerated, the most innocent could not be fecure." By the British conftitution," continued he, "every man's houfe is his cafle: not that it is furrounded by walls and battlements ;-it may be a ftrawbuilt fhed; ry wind of heaven may whittle round it ;- all the elements of heaven may enter it ;- but the king cannot-the king dare not.”

eve