Public Leger, Volume 2, Number 59, Richmond, Wayne County, 7 May 1825 — Page 4

THE FOOL'S-CAP, BY SIMON QUILL.

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NO. I. "Thabcd dcbrrim bcheshcch lula eaur athe thenethenini merehepeth bcm." Sotongo, ch. 1. - "Thoughts shut up, want air, And spoil, like bales unopened to the sun." Young . I have been so wonderfully enraptured with the literary works of celebrated characters, that I have endeavored to follow the same path which led them to the temple of Fame. This inlet to renown appeared so decorated with pleasing prospects, that anticipation fell to erecting lofty towers, placed herself upon a pinnacle, and pointing said, Here are verdant bowers for thy delight, and there are laurels for thy crown. I was so charmed with the view," that it was a long time procrastination held my pen. But when 1 snatched it from its dilatory hand, excessive disappointment seized the quill, anticipation iled, and all my flattering visions of celebrity, became buried in unsucccssfulness, and I almost determined to essay to write no more. I almost made these two lines of Beattie original: "Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar.1' But my former passion again arose, tho' with less vigor; again glowed within my bosom, though with less warmth. Inured to disappointment I feared not its return; and I concluded to ascend the tiresome acclivity with slowness, if I could not accomplish it with the wings of an eagle. I called upon patience to assist me. Thus I have related to vou an anecdote of my existence, and you see I am now on my passage to "Fame's proud temple." May Simon Quill be recorded on the page of fame, and transmitted down the stream of time, to generations yet to rise. Think not that because I have placed the Fool's-Cap at my head, that it is an idiot who writes beneath it. It is only the name of the paper upon which I scribble. Had I chosen a title elegant and more promising, I might not have been able to oifer thoughts equivalent to your expectations. I am confined to no particular subject matter, and consequently it would be difficult to prefer an appellation to bespeak the object of every essay. The name matters but little to those who read the whole beneath it. A Frenchman entitles a religious work, 44 A snuff-box to make the soul sneeze with devotion. And I have read of a ph) sician who published a paper, whieh he called 44 Hy p-Doctor,M for no other reauiun his being hailed by those words. Neither have I a peculiar sh le. Addison, Goldsmith, Steele, Sterne, M'Kei zie, and others, were remarkable for their individually particular manners of writing, I will be remarkable for having none. 1 shall not tell vou the thousand disadvantages under which I have labored to gain my present height. I shall not tell you in the reign of what star I was born, nor what that stellar bod predicted. Any farther relation of my past years, 1 shall, at present, leave to sleep securely in obscuritv. If I cannot boast of having worked

i wonders myself, I can tell you the aston- J ishirtg feats of my progenitors. All the mighty folios, and the quartos, octavos, duodecimos, and pamphlets, that make the thousands and tens of thousands of library shelves groan under the proud burden, are their production save a few that have been written with pens of steel, of iron, of brass, or with reeds. How greedily do the myriad eyes of all generations devour their works ! It is from them you gain half your knowledge, and one of them assures you "knowledge is power." Warner Quill, a distant relation of mine, once could glory in having produced three volumes folio, the first and revised copies: he began, too, in his old age, and with no assistance gloriously accomplished the whole. But it would employ me my life's time to relate nil the renowned actions of my forefathers. 1 my self am under the dominion of a cruel master. How often does he abridge my stature, and be tells me not why! how often does he sowce me into the blackest of liquid, and he tells me not wherefore! When he forced me from among my breth

ren, without a ray of mercy, he struck off

my tail, then away went my head, and, alas! not yet engorged with torturing me,

lie ripped the embellishment from one of

my sides, and tore out my heart. In this State I labor for renown. And if I should not attain it, how easily could I console myself with "All fame forripn Plays round tho head, but comes net to the heart," if it was not that my heart and head arc gone. If I should not have the honor of being enshrined in gold, like my friend Warner, for the services I shall have rendered my

stone-hearted master, I will comfort myself

with the reflection, that

One self-approving hour whole 3 cars outweighs

OJstnpki starcrs and of loGu tuas."

.oruar FOR THE rU.jj LECER. tiTlio hpt rfnv to come to truth is to examine

tiling as they really are, and not to conclude they are, as vre fancy of ourselves, or have been taught by others to imagine." Locke. In the last Leger I observed a piece signed IF, the writer of which has endeavored to prove the existence of Innate ideas I confess it seems to me rather a bold step, but he appears not to have suffered the influence of a great name to deter him from the expression of his own thoughts. I must give him credit for considerable perspicuity of language and independence of thought. He appears to have imbibed the spirit of his motto, and to 44 tin nk and know for himself." I might, first of all, endeavor to show that his definition of innate ideas is not entirely proper; but to meet him fairly, I must admit his definition, and then the only question will be, whether there are any ideas received by other means than 'thro' the medium of the senses or of which they are not pristinely the cause?' If there is but a single idea received in any other way, it must be an innate idea. But he has not convinced me that the idea mentioned in his first conclusion is itinate, even according to his definition of that term. That idea, he says, is received by revelation, for 44it is by revelation that we come to know an Almighty Power and Goodness, and by no other means can we know, in truth, there is a God." 1 shall not now enter into an examination of the authenticity of revelation. I clearly believe in it. But I must not be understood as admitting it to the extent that he insists upon. What I understand by revelation is the scriptures, and many of the truths therein 1 believe to have been revealed. Nor shall I attempt to determine whether God does or does not reveal himself, or any particular truths, to certain persons, in a peculiar manner. It may be that he does. I know not, and it is impossible to determine un less I had myself experienced such a revelation. But this much is plain to me, that he does not reveal himself to all. This writer supposes, by his first conclusion, that G3d does reveal an idea of himself to all for he says, "Every perfect human creature has an impression upon his soul of a Supreme Being, which impression was made by that Supreme Being himself." Here then we are at issue; and it is my province to adduce reasons for believing contrary to him. I cannot conceive it possible for a man who has the idea of God impressed upn nismind, by that God himself, to be so very ignornntof him as "countless thousands" are. If be has impressed this idea upon the minds of all men, all men must necessarily have someJaiowledge of him ; and, indeed, must have a perfect knowledge of him, for what God teaches must be perfectly taught. Have all men this perfect knowledge of him? Alas! no this if so far from being the fact,

that even among professed christians, there

are such contradictory ard debasing ideas

entertained of him, as to tall far short of

proving them to be derived from God. e

need not take into the account the nations who worship beings inferior to themselves as God, and who multiply these objects of

worship as caprice or superstition shall di

rect. Can those have the idea 01 God im

pressed upon their minds, by the same Being who made the Universe and pronounced it good, who sacrifice their friends,

their children, their companions, yea their very selves, to that horrid object of wortdiip, the Car of Jugemaut? Nor need we refer to those nations who seen) not to have the least idea of any Supreme Being. If there is but one such person in the world, it destroys the conclusions of II: But there are whole nations: Ergo, the idea of God

is not innate.

But it is not necessary to resort to revelation to find the origin of the Idea of a God reason alone teaches us that there is a God. We must inevitably come to this conclusion from the observations we make upon the thousand objects with which we are surrounded. There are so many phenomenas in nature which it would be impossible to account for only by the idea of an intelligent cause, that we are compelled, if wc earnestly seek for truth, to come to this conclusion. Galen may have been, by his own experience, induced to think as he wrote. I could cite many who have maintained the sufficiency of reason to demonstrate a God many who have denied any revelation; I do not. But it matters not who has supported this or that side of the question ; my business is to 44think for myself." A Grecian writer puts the following excellent sentence into the mouth of Epicurus "The first &

last thing I would say to man is, think for yourself. It is a bad sentence of the Pythagoreans, The master said $o." Whatever others may say, my aim is to piovc that

some ideaotGod may be received fromob

serving his works, and clear reasoning upon them. Who, without this idea, can tell what gives impulse to, and at tho

same time confines within her proper or-

bit, this earth? Who can expiam me enigma of his own system Who can tell the origin of the minutest atom? The fact is, our reason, if exerted as it should be, must discover some footsteps of the Deity. In contemplating ourselves, we must exclaim with the Poet, 'I am, O God, and surely Thou must be." And accordingly, almost every nation believes in some Superior Power; but the mistaken and inconsistent notions many of them have upon this subject, prove, if they prove any thing, that they did not receive those notions from God. They could not so far have been mistaken, if he had taught them, as to suppose the crocodile or the ape to be the governor of the world, and the arbiter of their fate. Their reason is suilicient to give them some idea of God; but it does not enable them, uncultivated as it is, to "see him as he is." This is left for the Snirit of the "Prince of Peace" to

! accomplish, and to be accomplished only

in Heaven, borne hcatnens, wno nave sedulously cultivated their reason, have attained to very clear views of God, if we take the scriptures as the standard; but I have not room to cite examples. There is another reason why I think the idea of God is not innate. If he reveals himself to the soul, when does he do it? When it first receives its being? If so, the

'infant m ventre sn mere must have as clear

conceptions of God, as man in the vigor of his faculties. We know that children have very imperfect ideas of God. They generally receive some idea of him by education and it is this alone that so universal-

;ly spreads the idea of a God. Else why the great variety of opinions on this subject, which obtain in the different nation?? And whv that uniformity of opinion which

j prevails in particular countries? If it is not by the influence of education, how is it that a rising generation imbibes the senti-

'ments of that which preceded; thus continuing, as in China, the same religious principles for ages? I could pursue this 'part of the subject to a great length, but I must forbear. The idea advanced by TT, that the sen,ses are sources of temptation, and that the jsoul is continually resisting those temptaitions, is, perhaps, correct enough but I ! do net think lie was exactly right in makjing the addition, "y et it is not the soul itself, but God within it." If it is God who iis at war with the senses, they must be I vanquished for what can oppose, with success, the Almighty? If God dwells in 1 the hearts of men if they are the "tem- ! pies of the living God," one would think ! that they would be holy, perfect and undeI filed. Can you believe that man to be the

temple of God, who is the prey ol every passion, and whose heart i the seat of every vice? But again God is omnipresent; and therefore it cannot be that he makes the erring heart of man his peculiar temple. j He has endowed the soul with certain powers, and it is these which enable it to resist the temptations from without he has given it certain faculties which teach it that it should resist them, and it is these faculties which teach it God himself. Quantum sujjicit xcrborum. A. B. C.

From the European Mnenzine. A Quaker's Advice to his J7phczvjOn tlic subject of Marriage. concluded. Whatever be her circumstances take care, if it lies in thy power, that her ideas on matters connected with money be propeily liberal. Let it be thy chief aim to steer clear from that narrowess of conduct and sentiment which is too frequently to be found in women. Whence it arises, I know not, but I think that they are more inclined to the feeling than the men, who labor for gold. In this, of course, as in the practice of all other virtues, thou must set her the example; for thou wilt have no reason to complain of her, ff thou hast shown thyself deficient in the same points. As for thy wife's person (of which I have not been impatient to speak, as I would not have thee make it a primary object) I would rather she should be distinguished

by mediocrity only in beauty ; and this is not only for the reason for which I dissuaded excess of money, but because it is desirable, that she should not have attractions for men so powerful, that those who see her revert their gaze upon her; gazes which will hurt her if she have much difiidence and if she have not, will tend to corrupt her mind, and make her as culpable as the men themselves are. The style of features in many women, which the world calls uninteresting, would deserve the name of good looks if accompanied by worth and purity; therefore, when 1 see a woman rmt much distinguished by personal attractions, I exclaim, she is beautiful enough, if she is good. Let her, however, if possible, be such as will do thee credit in company, and in

j tho eyes of other people. Certain it U

that a man must marrv to plea,. , himself if he wish to live in tho .ctW

of tranquility. Let me be rightly r,t stood ; she must have becoming a ling features, a portly figure and H

and a superior air and r:irr;a IJIleM

Let her mental qualifications h,. . .

virtuous ladies usually possess, LetY mistress of every accomplishment u'Im does not carry mischief with it. jr " quirements which are calculated ? strengthen and mature the judgement i

c.uc in.ii mii; uc noi waritiiijr. fr-r judgement be strikingly .hclieath own, there will be danger of it sompl;'u'c

excitincr contemnt: and nil

contempt should be as carefully aw

i3i7i ikiiicu, im ijuiiiiues 01 an hateful

nnrt ari not mnrn curoK- .,1 i . .

terrupt connubial happiness. Ic' Of the volatile parts, which arc er.eri ly comprehended under the nameof w-t" it is different; for these should he alw in mediocrity, and not at the height' f acuteness. Too sparkling, and too fivf-Jv will attract observations and nttertior which may interfere with your mutual I ' piness; and if her wit be so visibly ful' rior to thine own, she will be apt to eier" cise her talent at thy expense, and to thy uneasiness. For it is to be lamented rarely it is marked by forbearance ar,4 good-nature in its possessors. I would rather that thy wife were marked by modesty, if at the expct.se of her vT for modesty is an indispensable qu?iiii(a. tion, and a jewel which never tires the eP

There is a principle of modeMy iinplar.ted in our being by the same which in,, planted our passions, aid marked mcrt strongly in the female sex than in the male, which it requires the grossest violation of nature, and the utmost blackness rf. pravity, in, to subdue or expel. Tl i;k not thyself the happier if thy wife h.s shown the a preference, in regard of w hi h modesty was overlooked; for if it be overlooked towards thyself, there i alwavs great danger that it w ill be forgotten towards others. The character whichseems the most natural for women to he dres-tl in, in the relation which they hear totl.eir husband, is that ot lovely depei.derrc. I mean that the woman of thy choice should have the kindness and delicacy of a female, that she should raise her ees to thee, and place upon thee her whole reliai ce for protection and kindness. This should be accompanied with a cheerful fraiikr.e?, the parent of confidence, ard that ur, retrained communication of thought arl felip which indentifies the souls ol maa and wife as one. I will not omit to ruction that thy nature John, beii.g peiive and thoughful,it will best uit thee to mo t a cheerful lively temper in thy wife. 1 affirm not that everv one should l.ck for temper opposite to his own in these ei-gage ments; but I maintain that too tUnUful a frame of mind is liable to heeet un happiness when unrelieved by cI.htIijIksS and vivacitv. She should be mistress of pre

possessing manners ar d a c: th aildi , calculated not to strike but to lease: "i ll should be well tutored in the perfoin.fiifc of those inferior civilities and attt-iticis, which are scarcely less anih.Me tl an a habit of general benevolence. The qualities which I have prescribed in'ph an absence of all testifies and irritable leelne w hich under the best disposition. may trnbitter every kind of social life; olallcclaness, which is the grave of love, ai d r:u rally, incompatible with the conjugal character, and of the unfortunate faili:2'l'rininine loquacity, an exemption from whira will be meritorious in proportion as t I f instances of it are uncommon. TestiPt'S? M

wife is calculated to irritate a man,

cold

ness to alienate him, and loquacity toniau' den him. Last, but not least in importance, Irt jr.c advise thee first carefulh to assure itself of the state of thy heioved's xti rri as towards thvselfand to ascntain bu',-( the reach of doubt that she is welldj'j' towards thee. For it is observable tt.. the greatest goodness mav exist, ai d tr1 both parties may be equa'lly uiniable ai still be wanting in this basis of their 1" towards each other. Young pecpU' arf ten deceived by warm feeing ' arc flights and eccentric notions ' 1 imitate love, as there are meteors shooting lights w hich represents s-tarr: they are equally fallacious, equal') phantoms of heat, and eqnall) lugiU I have written fully to thee, and not that I have anv thing to add, but si'j I find any thing more to mention. 1 w'U, it in the form of a postscript. rl at thec every good that falls within the 1'" of humanity thou canst not dout'l, wishing thou inayst well succeed present search, and that God nia) thee to a wife, amiable and virtupossessing all the qualities 1 ,,a. JcnlCi described, I subscribe mysciij c& kinsman John, thy friend. Jacob