Indiana Gazette, Volume 1, Number 2, Vincennes, Knox County, 7 August 1804 — Page 4

POETICAL ASYLUM. To a Glass of Wine. THOU who canst make the heart of man rejoice, Make blind men fancy they can all

things see, To taciturnity canst give a voice; And cause e'en infidels to bend the knee; Tis pleasant to behold thee, tempting juice, More pleasant still thy flavour to en- joy; But much I fear thou smilest to seduce, And I suspect thou charmest to destroy : A painted sepulchre thou sometimes art, Disease and death may lurk beneath that guise. Or like a Basilisk, thy look may dart Death to the morals;—yet the good and wise Say thou hast virtues too; then let me try Since they have proved thy virtues so will I. -:o: ANECDOTE. A certain deacon belonging to a church

A certain deacon belonging to a church in this state having had the misfortune to lose his wife, attempted immediately after his spouse's exit, to "strike up a match" with his maid whose name was Patience. The priest of the village coming in a short time after, to console the bereaved husband, told him that he must have patience to support him in his troubles; Ah (says the deacon) I have been trying her, but she seems ra-

ther off. B. W. Mag.

MISCELLANY. From Goldsmith's Essays.

WHEN I reflect on the un ambitious retirement in which

I past the early part of my life in the country, I cannot avoid feeling some pain in thinking that those happy days are never to return. In that retreat, all nature seemed capable of affording pleasure. I then made no refinements on happiness, but could be pleased with the most awkward efforts of rustic mirth; thought cross purposes the highest stretch of human wit, and questions and commands the most rational way of spending the evening. Happy, could so charming an illusion still continue! I find that age and knowledge only contribute to sour our dispositions. My present enjoyments may be more refined, but they are infinitely less pleasing. The

pleasure the best actor gives, can in no way compare to that I have received from a country wag, who imitated a quaker's sermon. The music of the finest singer is dissonance, to what I have

felt when our old dairy maid sung me into tears with Johnny Armstrong's Last Good Night, or the cruelty of Barbara Allen. Writers of every age have endeavored to show, that pleasure is in us, and not in the objects offered for our amusement. If the soul be happily disposed, every thing becomes capable of affording entertainment, and distress will almost want a name.--Every occurrence passes in review like the figures in a procession ; some may be awkward, others ill-dressed ; but none but a fool is for this enraged with the master of the ceremonies. I remember to have once seen a slave in a fortification in Flanders, who appeared no way touched with his situ-

ation. He was maimed, de-

formed and chained; obliged to toil from the appearance of day till nightfall, and condemned to this for life : yet with all these circumstances of apparent wretchedness, he sung, would have danced, but that he wanted a leg, and appeared the merriest happiest man of all the garrison.--What a practical philosopher was here! an happy constitution supplied philosophy ; and

though seemingly destitute of wisdom he was really wise.--No reading or study had contributed to disenchant the fairy land around hirn. Every thing furnished him with an opportunity of mirth; and though some tho't him, from

his insensibility, a fool, he was such an ideot as philosophers should wish to imitate; for all philosophy is only forcing the trade of happiness, when nature seems to have denied the means. They who, like our slave, can place themselves on that side of the world in which every thing appears in a pleasing light, will find some thing in every occurrence to excite their good humor. The most calamitous events, either to themselves, or others, can bring no other affliction; the whole world is to them a theatre, on which comedies only are acted. All the bustle of heroism, or rants of ambition serve only to heighten the absurdity of the scene, and make the humor more

poignant. They feel in short

as little anguish at their own distress, or the complaints of others, as the undertaker, though dressed in black, feels sorrow at a funeral. Of all the men I ever read of, the famous Cardinal de

Retz possessed this happiness of temper in the highest degree. As he was a man of gallantry, and despised all that wore the pedantic appearance of philosophy, where-ever pleasure was to be sold he was generally foremost to raise the auction.--Being an universal admirer of the fair sex, when he found one lady cruel, he generally fell in love with another, from whom he expected a more favorable reception. If she too rejected his addresses he never thought of retiring into deserts, or pining in hopeless distress. He persuaded himself that instead of loving the lady, he only fancied that he had loved her ; and so all was well again.--When fortune wore her angriest look, and he at last fell into the power of the most deadly enemy, Cardinal Mazarine, ( being confined a close prisoner in the castle of Valenciennes) he never attempted to support his distress by wisdom or philosophy, for he pretended to neither; he only laughed at himself and his prosecutor, and seemed infinitely pleased at his new situation. In this mansion of distress, though secluded from his friends, though denied all the amusements, and even the conveniences of life, he still retained his good humor; laughed at all the little spite of his enemies; and carried the jest so far as to be revenged by writing the life of his jailer. All that the wisdom of the proud can teach, is, to be stubborn or sullen under misfortunes. The Cardinal's example will instruct us to be merry in circumstances of the highest affliction. It matters not whether our good humor be construed by others into insensibility or even idiotism; it is happiness to ourselves; and none but a fool would measure his own satisfaction by what the world thinks of it. For my own part, I never pass by one of our prisons for debt, that I do not envy that felicity which is still going forward among those people who forget the cares of the world, by being shut out from its ambition. The happiest fellow I ever knew, was of the number of those good natured creatures that are said to do no harm to any but themselves. Whenever he fell into any misery he usually called it seeing life. If his head was broke by a chairman, or his pocdet picked by a sharper, he comforted

himself by imitating the Hibernian dialect of the one, or the more fashonable cant of the other. Nothing came amiss to him. His inattention to money matters had incensed his father to such a degrees that all the intercession of his frlends in his favour was fruitless. The old gentleman was on his death bed. The whole family, and Dick among the number, gathered around him "I leave my second son, Andrew, (said the expiring miser,) my whole estate, and desire him to be frugal." Andrew, in a sorrowful tone, as is usual on these occasions, prayed heaven to prolong his life and health to enjoy it himself. "I recommend Simon, my third son, to the care of his eldest brother, and leave him, beside, four thousand pounds." "Ah! father, cried Simon, (in great affliction to be sure) may heaven give you life & health to enjoy it yourself." At last, turning to poor Dick, "for you, you have always been a sad dog ; you'll never come to good ; you'll never be rich; I'll leave you a shilling to buy a halter." "Ah! father, (cries Dick, without any emotion,) may heaven give you life & health to enjoy it yourself." This was all the trouble the loss of fortune gave this thoughtless imprudent creature. However, the tenderness of an uncle recompensed the neglect of a father ; and my friend is now not only excessively good humoured but competently rich. Yes, let the world cry out at a bankrupt who appears at a ball ; at an author who laughs at the public which pronounces him a dunce; at a general who smiles at the reproach of the vulgar ; or at a lady who keeps her good humor in spite of scandal; but such is the wisest behavior that any of us can possibly assume; it is certainly a better way to oppose calamity by dissipation, than to take up the arms of reason or resolution to oppose it. By the first method, we forget our miseries; by the last, we only conceal them from others, By struggling with misfortunes, we are sure to receive some wounds in the conflict; but a sure method to come off victorious, is by running away.

Select Sentence. A man's fortune is more frequently made by his tongue than by his virtues ; and more frequently crushed by it, than by his vices.