infallible, was perpetually inculcated on them, that without labor, there is no human excellence." Hence the vacant ease of the voluptuous couch, and the brilliant festivity of the drawing room or the convivial board had no charms for them. They claimed no participation in the fame either of the race-horse or the game-cock. They sought no renown by discussing the rules of racing in a jockey club, or the laws of war in a council of the main. Leaving these poor and futile pursuits to inferior minds, they soared to objects far beyond them. Their youth was spent in exploring the treasures of recorded wisdom; in making those treasures their own; and increasing their quantity and value by superadding the fruits of their own discoveries. Their Herculean enterprize embraced the whole circle of science. They entered on the career with that sublime enthusiasm without which, glory of the highest order was never yet attained. And not content with giving up their days to the generous pursuit, they were seen to trim the midnight lamp and court the converse of. the great dead. "Illustrious men! Immortal patriots! Where are ye now and who are your successors!!—It is true, indeed, that a few, alas! a very few, of our revolutionary planets still、 hang above the western horizon! Ah! how does their magnitude and steady splendor show in strong and mournful contrast the poor and feeble specks of light that dimly and faintly twinkle in the gloom of the zenith. Alas! when the glory of those planets shall have set, in what a state of darkness will our hemisphere be left! For now the holy vigils of study and meditation are over; now no generous youth is seen to trim the midnight lamp and court the converse of the illustrious dead. The age of sublime enthusiasm is gone; and the age of great men will soon have passed away. Ah! my son; at this awful moment when darkness and despair threaten to cover our land, could we but see the eastern horizon relumined with the streams of glory from some new ascending orb, what pure and sacred joy would fill our bosoms! Bowing to the earth with more than Persian adoration, how should we bless the beams that gladdened our land!-Marcellus! you are yet below the eastern horizon!"-The little fellow started back at the suggestion; and the ruffle on his bosom which had all along responded to the strong agitation of his heart, began now to bound with encreased violence and rapidity. His mother proceeded" say now, my boy, is there no prophetic throb in that heart which tells you, that you may be that orb of glory? This was R.. : too much for him the tears gushed from his eyes and he darted out of the room.-His mother's angel smile and blessing followed him. This animated harangue was rendered doubly affecting by the known motive of the speaker, as well as by the dignity and force of her manner. Rosalie, as much overpowered as Marcellus, took refuge at a window. As for me-I thought of my boys; and fell into a reverie on the present and past state of the country, in reference to its intellectual character, which shall form the subject of some future number. For the present I take my leave, Number XX. SIR, Est modus in rebus; sunt certi denique fines Hor. Lib. I. Sat. 1. v. 106. Some certain mean in all things may be found, TO DOCTOR ROBERT CECIL. Francig. In laying my grievances before you, I rather indulge the disposition to complain, so natural to all in distress, than hope to be benefitted by your advice in a case in which an Old Bachelor is probably so little qualified to give it. After telling you that I have drawn a prize in the lottery of life, that my wife is comely, good humored, sensible, affectionate and a model of discretion, you will think it strange that her conduct should be the chief source of my unhappiness. But do not mistake me, Sir, it is not from her faults that I suffer, but from the mere excess of her virtues. Having married for love and being both of social tempers, the first years of our union were spent in mirth and gaiety, with very little attention in either of us to the management of our affairs. At the end of nine years we were waked from the pleasing dream by discovering that my fortune was greatly impaired, and from the gradual accumulation of debt, that my credit was nearly gone. My wife seemed still more shocked than myself on learning the dangers of our situation, and readily joined with me in a resolution to adopt a new course of life. We took a small house a few miles out of town, and determined to retrench our expences in every possible way until my estate was unincumbered and I out of debt. Economy was now the order of the day. My wife laid aside her silks and muslins, and provided the plainest attire for herself and our two daughters. We set about raising our own meats and vegetables. We bought spinning wheels, and for a time wore nothing but homespun, and made all we wore. All this vent on mighty well for nearly a twelve month, so well that in less than three years more, I think I should again have found myself a free man. But my wife who has something of enthusiasm in her composition, and is very steady in her purposes, has managed so as to thwart our designs by an over-eager pursuit of them. The first winter after our new establishment, my wife not liking to see so much money expended in providing for our annual supply of bacon, insisted that we should raise our own hogs. It was to no purpose that I represented to her it would be better for us to buy pork made where corn was cheap, than to raise it by purchasing corn at the highest price. I was assured that by means of the mast in the neighboring woods, the offal of the kitchen, potatoes and a number of et ceteras, little or no corn would be required. I yielded as I generally do on such occasions. Not that I would have you suppose, that I am under petticoat government. No, Sir, my wife always endeavors to convince me of my error by fair argument, which she coolly persists in, until I admit she is right. It has now been three years since we tried this scheme of raising our bacon within ourselves. At one time our hogs were killed by our neighbors, or worried by their curs; at another they died partly by eating mush-rooms and partly by eating nothing, and now it is discovered that the breed is bad and must be changed. The result is, that my bacon has cost me twice as much as we ever gave for venison, besides involving me in a quarrel with one neighbor and an unsuccessful lawsuit with another. Another favorite scheme of my wife has been to aid in supplying the Richmond market with butter and milk. To effect this we had many difficulties to encounter.-Our land was poor and covered with broom-sedge-We had but one cow, and that an indifferent one; and our dairymaid was also our cook. I made opposition to the expence of clover lots, buying three more cows and of hir ing an additional servant, but as usual, my wife got the better of me in argument. She did not, in this case, go upgn mere theory. Her friend, Mrs. Skimmer, had made up wards of twenty pounds last year from a single cow, be. sides furnishing her family with milk and butter; we might then count upen making at least an hundred pounds from four. It was impossible, you know, sir, to resist an argument founded upon plain fact and calculation. This butter-making scheme, was accordingly commenced. A lot was enclosed at considerable expence; was enriched' by manure purchased and waggoned from town; and a dairy was built upon a new plan-but our hopes, or rather let me say, my wife's hopes, have not been realised. Several of our cows have died by the distemper'; and sometimes when they have been turned out to forage for themselves, they have been so long missing as to make us buyers, rather than sellers, of milk. Our best cow has been' more than a week on one of the little Islands in the river, and cannot be got off until we have a long spell of dry weather; in addition to all which, three of our chief customers broke last year considerably in cur debt: So that by means of these various mishaps, and my great and continual expence in advertisements, rewards, provender, churns, milk-pans and the like, I doubt whether every draught of milk we take, (for butter we have learnt to do without,) does not stand us in as much as the pearl beverage, with which a queen of Egypt, is said to have treated her gallant. Whenever I venture to express a doubt of the advantage of this scheme, my wife tells me, that it has never yet had a fair chance; that if we are always changing our plans, we shall be the laughing stocks of our neighbors; that a rolling stone gathers no moss; that the world was not made in a day, and many other such arguments that I don't well know how to answer. But the thing above all others on which she most prides herself, is her knack at a bargain. Neither myself nor one of our servants is permitted to buy the smallest article, even a skein of silk or a pound of tea. She knows the difference between whole-sale and retail, and whenever a yard of ribbon is wanted, or a pair of gloves, she prefers buying by the piece. She has, besides, established such a reputation among her friends for buying bargains, that there is seldom a post but brings her some commission from the country, to exercise her favorite talent.-These friendly agencies, added to her own wants, take up so much of her time, that one horse does little else than carry her to town; and our spinners have relaxed in their industry, on finding that their mistress can buy goods on her own terms. I have generally observed that in hunting after one bargain, she has the good fortune to catch a great many more. She is indeed a great favorite with the shop-keepers, who give her the refusal of their best bargains, which I have sometimes thought strange as she never makes a purchase without a liberal abatement of the price. This talent of my wife at cheapening goods would stand us in very good stead, if it did not often lead her to buy things she does not want. Her systematic economy has created a passion for cheap purchases which is habitually gratified; and she now never returns from Richmond without loading the chaise with goods bought at less than first cost. If the articles are not immediately wanted, it is always answered that they will be of use by and bye, when we might have to give three times as much-and should this supposition fail, her friends Mrs. Slopay and Mrs. Alltick will be sure to take them off her hands. Besides being largely in advance to these last mentioned ladies and a half a dozen cousins in the country, we have now by us, silks and dimities, cambrics and muslins, sufficient to furnish both of our daughters bridal wardrobes, though the eldest is not ten years old; ticking and blankets and sheeting to furnish our house in town when we again return to it; more tea, chocolate and spices, than we ought to use in 5years; and more medicine than I trust we shall use all our lives. Nor would it be quite so bad if the dear soul would confine her purchases to those articles which might be useful, but what, my dear Doctor, are we to do with two dozen pair of bellows, six groce of sleeve buttons, a' case of stone pitchers, or fifty oil jugs? Such has been the effect of these unnecessary purchases, that I am farther from being relieved from my difficulties than ever. Every year since our retrenching system began, I have been obliged to sell or mortgage one of my town houses for the purposes of paying off my store-accounts, and if we go on in the same way, I shall be obliged to remove to ⚫ some remote part of the country, where we shall meet with no other than hard bargains, and of course be tempted to buy nothing but what we actually want. It does seem to me as a matter of calculation, to be better to give a little more for an article four or five years hence, than by buying it somewhat lower at present to lose the use of one's money in the intermediate time, and that when we' purchase more than would serve our present occasions, because we can buy it cheaper, the surplus is often wast-' ed or turns to little account. I confess it has sometimes occurred to me that as my wife was once fond of spending money and now aims at saving it, the dear creature has insensibly fallen into this habit of cheap bargains by which she gratifies both tastes at once. But be this as it may, it is a serious fact that I find myself going as fast to ruin, by |