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' * ?*. . ' ? - * ? ,?('! Oj,v? ' ?' a! ' * - * ? VJ roiuMM ?V TIIOMA9 W. I*OniiAIN, TWO BOOM WWW ill ?***, AUBIIMTAOOTIcaimV * on nicw/iM^rww**. Tfrmt if Sub*trif>{(t*.?Thine Dollars per umutn, p#y in advance....No paper to bo illtcontitturd, but at tlwoptionot'thoKditoi*iuntil aUamaraJttt i ' ,1/lmrNtfmnti wit exceeding fourteen iin^c historical. INTERESTING DOCUMENTS. Tho following arc extract* from letter* tendf ing to prove that tlio American declaration of In* dependence wok the cfleet of ministerial op* prewion* ami not tlie result of a preconcerted plan. Though intended for the bosom of pri vate friendship, these letters may legitimately be considered at conveying the sentimenta of the whole American people at that time. They evince the reluctanco with which a ntparation from Groat-llfitain was contemplated.; and do tfiat they availed themselves of (he obnoxious acta of tho British government for its assertion." .Thomas Jefferson, inoletter to Dr. William Small, formerly one of the professors of Wil liam and Mary College, but then at Birming ham, England, where he successfully applied his extensivo scientific knowledge to practical improvements, in various manufactures, &c. dat ed May 7,1773, writes as follows M' Within this week, wo have received the unhappy nows of an action of considerable magnitude between the King's troops and our brethren of Boston, in which it is said 500 of the former, with the Earl of Percy, were slain. That such ati ac tion has happened is undoubted, though, per haps, the circumstances may not <get have reach ed us with truth. This accident has cut olf ?fir last hopes of reconciliation, and a nhrenzy of revenge Seem* to have seized all ranKs of peo ple. ? It is a lamentable circumstance that the only mediatory power acknowledged by both parties, instead of leading to a reconciliation this divided people, should pursue t)ie incendiary guiiioso of Still blowing up tho flames, as we nil Wm constantly doing in every speech, and jMtblic declaration. This mSy? perhaps, be in fthded to intimidate Into acquiescence, but the effect has been most unfortunately otherwise. A little knowledge of human nature* and at tention to its ordinary workings, might have foreseen that the spirits of the people were in a state, in which they were morefikely to be pro voked than frightened by haughty deportment) and to fill up the measure of irritation, proscrip tion of,^,^^ been ' jople wSfe . Ion whose sole crime has been develop ing and asserting their right* ?Hadthe par liament poaaeSsed the liberty of reflection, they would have Avoided a measure ss impotent as it was inflammatory. When I saw 1/ord Chat ham's bill, I entertained high hopes that a recon ciliation could have been broeght about*? The difference between his terms and those of fered by our congress, might havo been accom modated, if entered on both parties with a dis position to sccommodate % but the dignity of parliament it seems, can brook no opposition to its power. Strang? that a set of men who have made sale of their virtue to the ministry, should yet talk of retaining dignity!" Another letter from the samo gentleman to John Randolph, the former Attorney-General, dated August 25, 1775, contains the annexed passage i?" I am sorry the situation of our country should render it not eligible to you to remain longer in it. I hope the returning wis dom of Great-Britain will ere long put an end to the unnatural contest. There may be peo ple to whose tempers nnd dispositions conten tion may he pleasing, and who may therefore wish continuance of confusion t hut to me it is of all states Int one, tho most horrid. My first wish is a restoration of our just right* j?? my second, n return of the iuippv period when, consistently with duty, I may withdraw myself totally from tho public eve, and pass the rest of my days in domestic ease and tranquility, ba nishing every desire of afterwards even (rearing what passes in tho world. Perhaps, ardor for the lotter adds considerably to the warmth of the former wish. Looking with fondness to ward* a reconciliation with Great-Britain, 1 can not help hoping you may bo able to contribute towards expediting (his good work. I think it ?>nust be evident to yourself that tho ministry ).nv?? I?een deceived by their offtccra on this slrfe the water, who, for wliat purposes I cannot tell, have constantly representee! tjio American op K?i(iou as that of ? small faction, in which the dy of the people look a little part. 'lids you can inform (hem of your own Knowledge to Ik* untrue. They have taken it into (heir heads, too, that we are coward", and shall surrender at discretion to an armed force. The pant and fu (ure operations of (he war mus( confirm or un deceive (hem on that head. I wish they were thoroughly and minutely acquainted with every circumstance relative to America, as it exists in tru(h. I am persuaded they would go far to wards disposing them (o reconciliation. Even those in Parliament who are called friends to America, seem to know nothing of our real de terminations. 1 observe they pronounced.in thp last ^parliament that the congress of 1774 did not intend to insist rigorously on the terms they held out, but kept something in the reserve to give up, and in fact, that they would give up every thing but the right of taxation. Now the truth is far from thjs. as I can affirm, and put uiy honor to the assertion. Their continuing in this error, may, perhaps, have very ill conic coiivinco the world tliojr were not M( Thoy gave up the monopoly and I trade, ami all ecte pasted prior to 1 to British generoaityto render the*, J* ture timo, as cany to America as the I of Great*DrHalii o6*M Admit* I'fWifc* sense of honor, no iirnorance of oar reel tions, no vain hope that partial conce right will bo accepted, may Induce the to trifle with accommodation, till itthall even out of our own power to accommodate*? If, indeed, 0reat*Britain, disjoined from her co lonies, be a match for the most potent nation^ of Europe with the colonies thrown intothelrfccalc thoy may so on securely} buf if they #re not assured or this, it would be certainly unwlfce, by trjing tlie event of enother campaign, to riik our accepting a foreign aid, which, perhaps, tniur not be obtainsblo but on a condition of ever fating avulsion from England. This woulaDe tnought a hard condition to those who wish ft're-i union with the parent country. I am sinoerely one of those, it would rather bo in dependance on Great-Britain, properly limited, than on any nation on earth, or than on no nation j but I am one of those too who rather than submit to the right of legislating for us, assumed by tho 'Bri* tish parliament, and which late experience has shewn they will so ctuelly overdue, would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean." LITBlliAltY. ? THOMSON" AS'l) CO OONPAMBO. No poetical .artist can well venture to draw with minuter strokes than Thomson ha* done in the delineations of rural scenery and occupa tions which constitute the proper matter or sta ple of hie poeiu, and which ore ^cueraliy both pleasing to contemplate and happily selected for the purpose of characterizing the Seasons. It would l>o difficult to determine whether the ?;rand or the agreeable objects presented by na? ure ^-.-re most congenial to Ms disposition. If his imagination was captivated by the former, his heart inclined him to the latter, especially to such as called forth kind and benevolent emoti ons i and as thole offered themselves most co piously to his observation, thby occur most fre quently ill his poem. His scenes of sublimity are chiefly token from tht polar and tropical re gions, in depicting which, he only transcribes (With a poetical pen and fancy indeed,) the des criptions of travellers. Ins home scenery seems to have been almost entirely suggested by his own remarks, first made when In banks of the Tweed, and lest season he was describing. ho appears t<> hav<i thought it incumbent upon him, in order to support the dignity of verse, to in* tcrmix the figures and phraseology of the high er kinds of poetry; and to this ho was particu had acquired, in the practice of several eminent writers, an artificial staieliness of diction, more remoto from common speech than tho usual he roic thyme couplet. This mixture of high wrought language with-a humble topic is one of the peculiar features of Thomson's style in des criptive poetry. A few examples will illustrate the manner of this combination. In summer a picture is given of hay making, in which the vanous operations of that pleasing rural labor are minutely represented. The fol owing lines are part of die description I B'en atoonmg age it here, and infant hand* Trail the long fake, or With the fragrant load (VorchalrgM, arokl the Kindopprtttlon roll, all in a row Advancing hrttitl, or wheeling round the Held, They spread the breaihing A<irvttt to the sun. In tlie autumnal scene of the hare hunt, when the poor animal is put up? the spring* amaat'd and all The tirvtijff tout of gome It up, al onet, The stag, in similar circumstances, Gives all hit tvift aerial toul to flight. When a herd of cattle has taken alarm from the attack of a swarm of gad-flies? . . . touting the foam, They tcorn the Keeper'* voice, aixl scour the plain, Thro' all M?; bright tevrrity of noon. All these quotations afford examples of that abstraction or generalir.ation which is one of the distinctions of poetical language, and which when in unison with tho subject and ordinary strain of tho diction, often produces a very hap py effect. How far it docs so in the preceding passages, the reader may determine according tohia own feelings. To me, while the two last appear not only excusable, but worthy of admi ration, tho former give the perception of tnrgi dity and illrapjdieu effort. Tho following linen in tho description of the vintage, afford a singu lar mixture of vulgar and lofty phraseology :? Then come* the crushing swam, the country floj?t* And foam* tinlmundcd with the m:?r*hy tW.I, Th|t by degree* fermented nnd refined, Uound the mis'd nation* pours the cup of joy. There are few pages of the Seasons which do not present some what of this combination of ele vated language with common matter, which, whatever critical judgment ho passed upon it, mutit l>e regarded as characteristic of the author's manner. Another artifice which he employs to give dig nity to a liumblo topic, is to annex to it moral sentiment, ami, as it were, humanize the ani mal natures concerned in the scene. Thus, where he has perhaps descended the lowest?in1 of 4 spider catching'fliea in a curmlnr und fierce, [iitture *bhbcr?i1 :Ilo is afterward* called >the ruffian* and (he victim fly, tHty'rijrtadleM wanderer i an\l the w^ale action isminu tcly told in a tragical style tliat^SOuld wit the ihurder of a Duncan or a nner, the bear, seeking hii wed with a hitman soul ?? ?M&tfctfcaCe, ?coming wc*k compUint, ? assailing Want. Whatever be thought of tlicso particular ex* ample*, it is presumed thit rto deader of sensi bility will otyett to the pleasing details of tiie passion of tho groves, though in some instanced the writer may have assigned to his feathered pairs feeling* which only belong to human lo vers. The use of compound .epithets is another cir cumstance by which Thomson's diction is strongly marked. These are elliptical modes of expression, by means of which, qualities or at tributes are annexed to a subject in the most concise form possible. The effect of this com Kression is often truly poetical, a striking Idea Ding excited by a single wonl, which it woOld take a line to convey Tu detail. It is, however, ?a license in language, and when Arbitrarily fra med, with no regard to grammatical propriety, is apt to give offence to a correct taste. This Is the case when the two parts of the compound have no natural connexion,or Stand Mho relati on to each other of substantivo'ari}l Attribute, or of cause and effect. Tlius/liy ihe Seasons, blood-happy, meaning happy In the taste of blood ; thick-nibbling, standing close and nib blingj pale-quivering, pale and quivering t fair exposed, fair and exposed j seem examples of harsh and vicious formation. In many instan ces the compounding is effected merely by using mi'aty%ctive adverbially, as, wild-throbbing, for Wildly throbbing j louse-floating, for loosely floating f where too little ap|>ears to be gained to justify the licenso. (Tpon the whole, Thom son's employment of this device to render lan guage poetical, may justly be termed excessive ; |and it is so characteristic of his style, that ! Drown, in his " Pipe of Tobacco," has person ated tills poet chiefly by his compound epithets : ! ... forth itiuc cloud*, Thought-thrilling, tliir?t.inciting cloiuU aronn<1, And nuny-mining fires. To apeak of Thompson generally as a des criptive poet, it may then bo said, that in choice of subjects, he rejects none that can be render ed pWosingand impressive, and that lie paints jwitn a*circuinstantial minuteness that uives the ~*~*ects clear and distinct to the imagination; t With respect to diction, ho is usually ex sive and energetic, with frequent touches *0 imagery, but occasionally vcrg nvgto and cumbrous, particularly en he is desirous of elevating a humble topic by a pomp of phrase. It may & added, that no poet before him ever viewed nature either so extensively or so accurately ; and that a bene volent heart, and a soul tutored by philosophy, and impressed by the sentiments of a puro and eiilarg&l theology, continually animate his pic tures o? rural life. Of the merit of his versification, different earn havejudged very differently. That his lines sometimes move heavily beneath an over weight of matter, and that they are occasionally harsh and unmelodtoul, is sufficiently percepti ble f but, considering tho length or his poem, such defects may be excused j and the general flow of his strain appears to me equal in harmo ny to that of most composer, of blank verse, though rarely attaining excellence. As he is said to have Veen a Very uncouth reader of his own lines* ills probable that his musical percep tions wer* not remarkably nice. *l*homs6n atilt bore the palm of descriptive poetry* and lib manner was the nrinr.inal <ifili?e? of imitation* whenC'owper, who had failed of cxciting atttentiM'by a volume of poems (IIh playing abundant genius, but in a repulsive Karl), burst on the public with Ills4 Task.* litis work, without professed subject or plan, eon* Hinti* of a mixture of description, chiefly rural, and of moral and religious sentiment, each in* troduced as it seems to have suggested itself to the. mind of the author, with rto other connexion than casual association* Educated at a public school, and afterwardi initiated in the school of the world t of a temper frank and undisguised ; naturally inclined to hilarity, but with great in equality of spirits, which at length plunged him into a morbid melancholy, and rendered nim the victim of a gloomy and appalling system of reli gion i kind and benevolent in lus feelings, but converted by principle to a keen and caustic censor of life and manners } long consigned to a retirement in which his chief employment and solace was the contemplation of nature } Cow per brought a very extraordinary assemblage of qualities, moral and intellectual, to give direc tion to a genius of the first order. A free con verge with men of the world, and an abhorrence of every thing like affectation, in languago as well an in manners, had formed him to a style purely KiikI'isIi, not disdaining a mixture of com* inon words, and rendered poetical, not by a loftv* cant, but by expressions warmed with the vivid imagery that played before his fancy. K* qtially minute and circumstantial with Thotnp* son in his mode of description, and by no means fastidious in his choice of Hubjects, in which he was partly influenced by a strong relish for hu mour, as well a<4 a taste for the beautiful and su blime. lift sometimes pa nts in a manner renem* bling the Dutch or flemish school, but always with touches of the true picturesque. When Ids subject in low, he is content to leave, it so> without any eflbi t to raise H by the ambitious ornaments of artificial diction, secure of interest-, ing his render by the truth and liveliness of his delineation, 'llius in his picture of the Wood* man, which hat been happily transferred tu can vaa, not4. word la employed that riaea above th* matter, yet the language could present no other term* equally expressive j Sluggy, and lean, and tiirewd. with pointed cm. And tail ciopt iliort, half lurcher and half cur, lib dog attend* him. Clo*e behind Ilia heel Now crccp* he alow, and now with many a fritk Wkletcampering, anatchr* up the drifted ?uow With ivory teeth, or plough* U Witfi hi* anout, Tlien nhiUM his powderM coat, and bprks for Joy. Jfccdlc** of all hit prank*, the aturdy churl Move* right towards the mark, nor it op* for aught Hut now ht<1 then, with prea*ureol'hi* thumb, T* adjutt the fragrant charge ot'a ?hort tube That fume* beneath hi* nose. The trail ng cloud Stream* far behind li.m, scenting all the air. The Carrier, in a enow storm, With h*lf-*lmtejre*, and puckerM cheek*, and teeth Profited bare bgaintt the atom), ia a draft, of the same kind, somothing more bordering on the Dutch style, but perfect an a copy of reality. In both these passages, word* aro found which could nut have suggested them selves to Thomaon ) or if they had, would scarce ly have been admitted | vet what reader uf truo taste would reject them ?"This masculine vigor of vernacular diction, which is the characteristic of Cowper's style, and in which lie resembles Dry den, by no means precludes (any more than it it did in that poet) the highest degree of graco and elcgauce, when those qualities arc conge nial with tlio subject. What can surpass in gracefultics of hnguage, as well as in beauty of imagery, his enumeration of plants in the (tow ering shrubbery ? The tall guelder-rose throwing up into the darketl gloom Of neighboring ryprt**, or more table yew, Ilcr niTvcr glnbe.i, light a* the foamy turf That the wind acvcr* from the broken wave. *. luxuriant above all Theja-k'mine, throwing wide Iter elegnnt nwect*. The deep dark green of whote unviimith'd leaf MnWct inoro cnnxpicjious, and illumine* more, The bright proftition of Iter tcailcr'd star*. If the passage in which these lines are con tained be compared with a resembling one in Thompson, describing the flowors that blow from early 8'pring to Summer, it will appear that whikt the latter poet attempts little more than to annex to each some mark of distinction pro perly belonging to it, the former associates with | the subject of liis description some idea of thu imagination which euhances its effect* by parol j lclism. Nothing denotes the mind of a poet so much aa this operation of the fancy when object* arc presented to the external senses. Inat Thomson was in general an exact aa well as a minute, observer of nature, is evinced in almost every page of.the Seasons \ yet thero are some instances in which Cowper, touching upon the same circumstances with him, has dis played superior correctness. Thus where Thom son, with a truly picturesque selection of inci dents, represents the effects of a hard front, ho augment* the real wonders of the scene by paint ing a cascade aa if it were congealed into ice at the instant of fulling : . . . The dumb catcado, Whose idle torrent n only ?ccm to roir. Hut this is an impossibility, and is regarded ait uticli by Cowper, who has formed a beautiful frost pictu 10 from the opposite appearances.-? Speaking of a stream stealing atvay beneath its frozen surface* he Hays,?? Not *n, where *rornful of a check, it leapt The milUlnm, dxthes on tl*e restlci* wheel, And wanton* in tin pebbly gulf below. So .roitcan bind it there i its utmost t'orco Can but arrest the light And itnoky mist Tliat in its fall the liquid sheet throws wide. In this pusage, too. Cowper is more accurato in the silent,* stealthy flow of the frost-bound stream, win Thomson, who, probably for the sake'of poetical ofleet, represents it as indig nantly murmuring at its chains *? Tlio whole ImprisonM river growls below. Cowper's exactness was probably owing to his having been from his situation, an observer of nature at an advanced period of life, when tho novelty of common objects being exhausted, the rural solitary U reduced to pry more closely in to surrounding scenes, in order to excite a new interest in then). Hence, his observations aro commonly of a more curious and recondite kind than those of Thomson, who usually takes what lies obvious upon the surfaco of things. Every reader of the Seasons has admired the pleasing description of the red<breast, 14 paying to trust ed man his annual visit j" it is recognised for perfect nature, becauso every one has witnes sed the reality t but few in their winter unlkn have made those remarks on the same bird which dictated to Cowper the following lines - The redbreast warble* still, but i* content With slender note* and more thnn half sunpreis'd, Pleaa'd with his solitude, and flitting light From spray to spray, where'er lie rests lie shake* Prom many a twig the pendant drops of ice, Tluit tinkle in the withered leaves below. This picture Is ennally natural w ith the for mer, and has the auditlonu merit of furnishing new images to the fancy. It was from such a mature arid deliberate study of nature that Mr. White, of fthelborne, derived that store of cu rious observations, which life has prosented in the most entertainlg miscellany of natural his tory that wa? ever composed. Both of these poets occasionally employ per sonification, which is a kind of abstract and com prehensive description. To the poet of the Wessons it was an obvious pitre of mechanism that each should make its entrance as a living 0 sure f distinguished by some characterises ?f Uiat portion of the year of which it was tho har binger ? but it cannot lie said thut iu the** drafts ho has diMilnved much fancy. The epithet of" ethereal Mildness,** which lie ^ives to HpHtig presents no visual linage , and it lins bfcen justly oMected by Miss Howard, that the ** shqwer of shading rotes*" In which she des ceftds, is an usurpation upon ths property of Summer* To Bumtrier is assigned nothing moro '* refulgent vouth," and an " ardent look."****