THE TABLE T.—No. LI. To the AUTHOR of the TABLET, SIR. If theenclofedobfervationsarenot novel, they are at leall founded on expc ricnce :—lf you think they may be ufeful, allow them a place in your miscellany, and oblige C. '' Ufefid and important acquisitions in learning arc more to be prized t than thofc that are specious, and may nevet turn to any iolid account." ALTHO an easy elocution, and graceful manlier of speaking are acquirements of acknow ledged utility, yet improvements in oratory do not appear to have kept pace wiih many other branches of the bell e lettres. Some have fnppofed that there are certain obltacles in the way, which will forever, pyevent the moderns from rivalling or even equalling the ancients in this particular attainment. It is said, that the refinements of ci vilization counteract, and check those animated exertions of the human faculties, from which the imprelfive eloquence of the ancients derives its su perior reputation. However true this may be, it mull" be allowed that 110 one accompliihmentis more admired, or is found of greater advantage to the pofleflor, even in modern times, than an easy, graceful mode of speaking : And it is presumed the observation is founded on experi ence, that in all free governments the perfualive powers of eloquence are paramount to every dif ficulty in the road to fame and fortune. America furnilhes many striking examples in point. In Britain they are numberless : Her Pulteneys, her Pitts, her Burkes, have not only aftoniih ed the world by the thunders of their declama tions ; but have roused the sleeping genius of their country and turned the crisis of its fate, when 011 the verge of deftrudtion. Honours and emoluments have rewarded their eloquence and patriotism. The old observation, that "Poets are born, but " orators are made," is fofarjuft, that every man may be encouraged to exej-tion, from a con fidence that he will be rewarded, at lealt so far, as amply to recompence his labor. Perhaps it is . hardly ever too late to aim at some improvement. Within a few years public speaking has become an objeift of attention in schools, academies, and colleges. It is a queition of some importance, how far the present practice of attempting to teach young children oratory, will conduce eventually to encreafing the number of good public speakers ? It mult be acknowledged that there are not a great many able in (trustors in this branch of learning; and for children to commence upon bad or indif ferent models, is worse than having none. Na ture is spoiled under such tuition. An indiscri minate and injudicious aflignment of the partsto be performed, which is always the cafe when the pupils are too young to feel the sentiment, is pro ductive of the worst conlequences : Grimace and inhnickry must be substituted ; the child acquires a disgusting confidence, to the deftrudtion of that modelty which is the belt medium of true wisdom to the mind. I have seen children afl'ume a daunt less front in speaking before a numerous audience, while they were deficient in every article of solid and ufeful improvement. I have known others ca relled and applauded at seven or eight years of age, who when they became men, entirely disap pointed every plealing anticipation that their pa rents had formed. The reason is obvious, Chil dren have memories which receive, and retain fi»r a time, the llighteft imprefliotis—they are as imitative as monkeys: Injudicious applaulb poi foils their imaginations and inflates their vanity. Tliefe combined causes allure them into the love of a praCticefrom which they derive the grateful incense of praise, to the liegleft of more important objects. Their improvement in speak ing, not being founded in principle, and fenti rtient, turns out in the end, worse than nothing ; for it appears that their time has been facrificed in pursuit of a tifelefi acquilition. However desirable a manly confidence in chil dren may be, it is much to be feared that when inspired at too early a period, it lays the founda tion of conceit, arrogance and ignorance. And if it were other wife, experience deirtonftrates that an infeniible, unfeeling orator never pleases. Perhaps no univerfol rule can be de termined on. Observation and experience will afford the belt guide. In general it may be ob served, that the memories of children often be come the repository of many things, before they begin to reason, or accurately compare ideas; that as this faculty is thus ealily susceptible of im prcfiious, their senses are equally affected by ex ternal objects, so as to induce an irrefutable imi tation of every species of adtion that comes in contact with them. Hence we are apt to be de ceived, by mistaking tliefe appearances for real improvements. The molt that can be derived from tliefe sources, before realon begins to alliime its Iway, si to form, and fix certain rules in the memory, and to give those rules a lading influence, by the force of habit. When the judg ment begins to ripen, tliefe rules may be applied ; and then, but not before, the business of public declamation may be commenced. Itis generally found that lads make but indifferent progress in tliofe parts of education whici require much re flection, before they are eleven or twelve year s old. Perhaps this will apply with as great iorce to the fubjetft under consideration, as to any what ever. It is of much greater importance to teach children to read well, than to teach them to de claim early.— The former is an introduction to the latter, and depends merely 011 rules ; the el fentials of the latter are abftra<ft in their nature, and entirely above the comprehension of children. N. B. 11l Tab let No. L. third line. Kill paragraph, for oieycd read dii'obeycd. extract from an oration, Pronounccd at Marietta on the 4th of July, 1789, by Return J. M eics, Esq. Attorney at Law. v ENOUGH of tributary praise is paid, To virtue living, or to merit dead. To happier themes, the rUral Muse invites, To calmcft pleasures, and serene delights ; To us, glad fancy, biighteft profpe£ls (hows, Rcjoicing nature, all around you glows; Here late the Savage hW in ambu(h lay, Or roam'd the uncultur'd vallies lor his prey ; Here frown'd the sorest with terrific shade, No cultur'd fields exgos'd the opening glade ; How chang'd the scene! See nature cloth'd in fmilei With jby repays the lab'ror for l his toils. Hct hardy gifts, rough industry extends, The groves bow down, the lofty sorest bends ; On every fide, the cleaving axes found, The oak, and tall beach thunder to the ground. And fee the spires of Marietta rife, And domes, and temples swell into the (kies : Ylere Justice reign, and foul diffention cease, Her walks be pleasant—and her paths be peace. Here fwift Mufkingum rolls his rapid waves ; There furmenous vallies, fair Ohio laves ; On its smooth furface, gentle zephyrs play, The fun beams tremble with a placid ray; What future harvests on his bosom glide, And loads of Commerce swell the 44 downward tide,'* Where Miflifippi joins in length'ning sweep, And rolls majestic to the atlantic deep. Along our banks, fee distant villas spread— Here waves the corn—and there extends the mead — Here found the murmurs of the gurgling rills ; There bleat the flocks upon a thousand rills. Fair opes the lawn—the fertile fields extend, The kindly (howcr-from smiling Heavendefcends, The {kies drop fatnefs, on the blooming vale, From spicy (hrubs ambrosial sweets exhale, Frefti fragrance rises from the fiowrets bloom, And ripening vineyards breathe a 44 glad perfume." Here fwtlls the music of the warbling grove, And all around is melody and love. Here may religion fix her blest abode— Blight emanation of creative God ; Here Charity extend her liberal hand, And mild benevolence o'er-fpread the land, In harmony the social virtues blend— J rt y. without measure—rapture, without end. B 10G RAP HICAL. DIED in Petty France, London, aged 80, John Cleland, Esq. He was the foil of Col. C. that cele brated fuftitious member of the Spe<slator's Club, whom Steele describes under the name of Will Honeycomb. A portrait of him hung up in the foil's library till his death, which indicates all the manners and d' abord of the fafhionable town rake in the beginning of this century. The son, with the scatterings of the father's fortune, and some share of his diflipations, after parting through the forms of a good education in Westminster College, where he was admitted in 1 7Z2, at the age of 13, and was contemporary with Lord Mans field, went as Consul to Smyrna, where perhaps, he firft imbibed tliofe loose principles which, in a subsequent publication, too infamous to be par ticularized, tarnifliedhis reputation as an author. On his return from Smyrna he went to the East Indies ; but quarrelling with some of the Mem bers of the Presidency of Bombay he made a pre cipitate retreat from the East, with little or no benefit to his fortune. Being without profeffion, or any fettled means of fubfiftance, he soon fell into difficulty ; a prison, and its miseries, were the consequences. In this situation one of tliofe booksellers who disgrace the profeffion offered him a temporary relief for writing the work above alluded to, * which brought a stigma on his name which time has not obliterated, and which will be consigned to his memory whilst its poisonous contents are 111 circulation. For this publication he was called before the Privy Council, and the circumftancesof his distress being known, as well as his being a man of some parts, Jolin Ear] Granville, the then President, nobly ref'cued him from the like temptation, by getting him a pen flon of tool, per year, which he enjoyed to his death, and which had so much the dcfired t.Tedt that,that except " TlieMemoirs ofaCoxcomb" which has lomefmack of diflipated manners and " The Man of Honor," written as an amende htm orable for his former exceptionable book, Mr. C mostly dedicated his time to political and philo logical publications, and was the author of the long letters given in the public prints, from time to time, signed A Briton, Modejlus, &c.&c. and of some curious tra<fts on the Celtic language. He lived within the income of his pension for many years, in a retired lituation in Petty France, sur rounded by a good library, and the occasional visits of some literary friends, to whom he was a very agreeable companion,and died at the advanc ed age of 80. In converlation he was very plea sant and anecdotical, underltanding 1110 ft of the living languages, and speaking them all very fluently. As a writer, he shewed himfelf best in novels, long-writing, and the lighter species of authorship ; but when he touched politicks he touched it like a torpedo, he was cold, benumb ing, and foporifick. NOT E. * The sum given for the copy of this work was 20 guineas. The sum received for the sale could not be less than io,oool. RE-PUBLISHED BY PARTICULAR DESIRE. FROM THE PROVIDENCE GAZETTE. To BRUTUS*. IN a paper printed without the Union, and for that and other reasons very properly called The United States Chronicle, you have publilhed " Cofi fiderations on the Order of Cincinnatus," and dared to attack the character of " a Wajhington." Think not that lam about to defend it. My pea cannot add toitslullre, nor your efforts call there on the Ihadow of a shade. Proceed in abusing the meritorious officers of the late American army, and diltinguiih them, if you please, by every opprobrious epithet that malice, ingratitude or antifederalifm can suggest; but permit me to recommend, that you fparethe President-General. It may be that youwrite for a name. Erollratus, for perpetuating his name, or rather his infamy, burnt the celebrated temple of Diana at Ephefus—and Brutus has attempted tofullythe virtuesofa Washington ! SENEX. NOT *. * A writer against the Cincinnati in the United States Chroni cle. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATtS. Begun and held at the City of AVu/- York, on Wcdnefday the Fourth of March, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Nioc. An ACT to suspend part of an Ad, entitled "An AH to regulate the colleCtien of the Duties ivipojtdh Law on the Tonnage of Ships or Veflels, ui(» Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes, mforttiklt the United Stater," and for other purpofei. BE/J enabled by the Senate and Hotife ofßtpri fentatives of tf)e United States of America in Corigrifs afembled, That so much of the A eft, entitled "An Act to regulate the collection of the duties im posed by law, on the tonnage of Ships or Veflels, and on Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes, import ed into the United States," as obliges (hips or veflels bound up the river Potowmac, to come to, and deposit inanifefts of their cargoes, with the officers at Saint Mary's and Yeocomico, before they proceed to their port of delivery, shall be ana is hereby suspended until the firft day of May next. Be it further enalled, That all the privileges and advantages to which ftiips or veflels owned by citizens ofthe United States, are by law entitled, shall be, until the fifteenth day of January next, extended to ships and veflels wholly owned bv citizens of the States of North-Carolina, an Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantations.— vided, That the niafter of every such ship or ve fel last mentioned, shall produce a regiftet for the fame, conformable to the laws of the state in which it shall have been obtained, 'hewingt ® the said ship or veflel is, and before the nut a ? of Septemberinftant, was owned as aforefaid, an make oath or affirmation, before the collector o the port in which the benefit of this act is c aiw ed, that the ship or veflel for which such teg l is produced, is the fame therein nientione , a that he believes it is ft ill wholly owned y person or persons named in said register, an t he or they are citizens of one of the states a o said. „ , ,f And be it further naCled, That all rum, WJ sugar, and chocolate, manufactured or nia the State of North-Carolina, or Rhode-Man , Providence Plantations, and imported or r S into the United States, ihall be deemed an to be, fubjedt to the like dt .-' s , as S"° s °,- n2 . like kinds, imported from an foreign Itate, dom or country, are made it bjeCtto- . And be it further enabled, That Rehoboth,« theftate of MafFachufetts, fhrl! be aport o and delivery, until the fifteenth day o J _ next, and that a Colletftor >e appoints FREDERICK AUGUSTUS Speaker oft' r Houjc of p JOHN ADAMSi VUfB, ej tk St* Ar;F OR ('a?. S W ASH INGTO n! P. Wiflied b, TOHN FENNO, No. 9> La a' e, near llie tfccroo-Markclj N£ w 0H K *
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