panfion, by practising gracious airs at the mirror or elfewhere, this fingular flower closed itfelf immediately. It' opened again when the thought nothing about it. It had only three leaves; but these were so beautiful and fo enchanting, that I know not by what charm their luftre communicated itfelf to the other flowers, and gave them an inineffable sweetness they could not have had without it. You will easily imagine, that Elmina poffeffing the flower that never fades, and cultivating it so carefully, became the most perfect princess of her time. The report of her fine qualities spread around; for you know that there is a kind of a fairy called Fame, who does nothing else than run up and down in the world, and recount all that she knows of every person, whether good or bad, especially of young princesses. Fame therefore did not cease to publish the virtues and the graces of Elmina; and the people of every nation wished to have a princess so accomplished for their queen. The son of the king of the Roxalans, heir of the greatest empire in the universe, undertook a long journey to fee her, and demanded her in marriage of Lindorine. Lindorine agreed to bestow Elmina upon him, not because he was the heir of the greatest empire, but because this amiable prince had also cultivated the flower that never fades : for there is also one for men, which is in fome respects different from that of which we have spoken. The princefs would not quit a place so dear to her, withcut going to visit once more the bower where the precious gift had been made to her, which had occafioned her happiness. She hoped there to find Verdurine, and to thank her once more: it was just three years from the time of her first appearance. Elmina then put the flower which never fades into her bofom, and went thither; but in arriving at the bower, what was her surprise, to find, instead of Verdurine, Lindorine, whom the had left in the house. " I am, said the fairy to her, the whom you seek. It was me who gave you the flower, under the figure of Verdurine; and it is me who have aided you to cultivate it under that of Lindorine. My task is happily accomplished; the flower shall continue always fresh, and Elmina shall June 1 be always lovely and ever beloved: for the virtues of the heart, and the graces of a cultivated mind, confer a charm which nothing can efface." The princess threw herself at the feet of her benefactress, and the fairy tenderly embraced her dear princess, and then took an aerian form, and disappeared. Elmina melted in tenderness and distress, held out her hands, and called her back. The prince ran to console her, and carried her into his empire, where they lived together many years in great happiness.. Journal Encyclopedique. Intelligence respecting Arts, c. Panopticon. The editor has just received, by the favour of an obliging friend, sketches of the plan and elevation of the panopticon or new penitentiary house, announced in the eleventh number of the Bee_which promises to be a most important discovery, and will doubtless be very generally adopted. It is fortunate that it will he published before the new erection of that fort in this country shall be begun. The work is not yet completed, otherwise the editor would have published the plan in this performance directly. This he will do, as foon as he shall be in poffeffion of the whole, fo as to be able to give a complete view of all the. parts. What he has got at present, can only give a general idea of the plan; which he will readily communicate, if defired, to the magistrates of this city, or any other person interested in this great national work. THE BEE, OR LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER, SIR, 1 I OBSERVE that you have made confiderable extracts from the miscellanies in prose and verse, lately printed here. The following article, as well as feveral others by the same hand, was intended for a place in that volume, but arrived too late. If you think the present proper for your publication, I shall perhaps tranfmit you some other articles of a fimilar nature. Lo Garotensiome AMICUS. Remarks on Dr. Young's Night Thoughts. THIS vifionary poet.: " Makes sweet religion "A rhapsody of words." SHAKESPEARE. -I wonder not that his fon Lorenzo was an infidel. In this age, we have two authors prodigiously great in the outre style; one in verse, and one in prose; one ferious, the other comical. They are both much admired by the multitude of readers, com • None of the human faculties are longer of attaining pertection than those which serve as a basis for a correct taste in composition. Hence it happens, that young perfons, in general, admire as excellent, unnatural VOL. III. U I monly titled by modern authors, " the respectable pub"lic." There is a wonderful similarity in their talents, in quaint expression, wild conceit, and studied fetches of metaphyfical reverie. The poet is Young: The Profequixote is Sterne. In my opinion, our celebrated enthusiast of this country, the Reverend Mr. Ralph Erskine, in his Riddles, is less extravagant. I am sure, that he should at least be more amusing and tolerable, either to believers or infidels, than Dr. Young in his horrid Night Thoughts. I know no rule of criticism so just, so material, and so general, as one laid down by old Horace, importing, that good sense is the only true principle and fountain of good writing and taste. " Scribendi recte, SAPERE est et principium et fons." I shall examine the Night Thoughts by this rule, after first inserting a few specimens of Ralph's Riddles. "I'm here and there, and every where! conceits, and extravagant flights in poetry, which, to men of tafte, who have viewed the works of nature with attention, are intok rably disgusting. Many readers, therefore, who, in their youth, have admired the works of Dr. Young, come gradually to lose a relish for his manner of writing, as they advance in life, though it may sometimes happen, that on account of the respect they bear for the subject on which he writes, they are difposed to criticise with tenderness. Men view matters of this fort, in very different lights: Some, who could freely forgive extravagance of composition on any other subject, have their indignation excited, when they see that extravagance employed on religious subjects, while others think they feel the fervour of their devotion excited by those incomprehensible images, which the ardour of their imagination makes them think they understand. The critique that follows! feems to be dictated by the first of these confiderations, and may therefore prove unpleasing to those of the second class, who, if they defire not to have their judgment informed, will do well to pass over this essay. Edit. ..: I could quote from the Night Thoughts many fimi lar passages of fubtile and fantastical antithesis; but I am afraid, that the bulk of readers would take them for charming poetry. Those who can diftinguish quaintness and affectation from true fublimity, will find such passages in every page, nay, almost in every line. However, I shall hazard some specimens which seem to resemble Ralph's Riddles very much. "All knowing! all unknown, and yet well-known! " Know this Lorenzo, (seem it ne'er so strange), Nothing can fatisfy, but what confounds; " Nothing but what affonisbes, is true t. Speaking of man, he says: "An heir of glory! a frail child of dust! " Helpless! immortal! infect infinite! "A Worm! a God." 66 The " Devil" and the " Saint" are hardly such exaggerated oppofites as the worm" and the " God." The following extracts I leave, without illustration, to the common sense of the reader. I have sometimes quoted, and sometimes omitted to quote the particular Night and line at which the specimen may be found; but the Doctor's stile is sufficiently marked. " Procrastination is the thief of time! " What can awake thee, unawak'd by this, " Expended Deity on human weal? "Oh love of gold! Thou meanest of amours! "Are paffions, then, the pagans of the foul? Night 4th, 1. 195. Night 4th, 1. 349. † One of the venerable ancient fathers held a very fimilar maxim, Credo quia eft impoffibile. The name of this logician was Tertullian. A great part of his works is exactly in the same style. In particular, the reft of the very paragraph now quoted, is so grossly indecent, that I dare not shock the pious ear, by attempting to infert it. Yet our divines, of all descriptions, are incessantly appealing to the authority of this man, who was, in every respect, an hundred and fifty degrees below Whiston or Whitefield. |