[No. LXVll.j
rHE TABLE T. No. LXVII.
/
«* Triflers not e'en in triflei can excell;"
THERE is no better way to eltimate the un
derftandlng of a man, than by hearing
him converse on what lie has discovered in his
travels. Many men, who adventure abroad, ne
ver get rid of their prejudices ; and whatever
falls within their notice, i 9 viewed under such an
eye of prepofl'eSlidn, that it eludes a fair exami
nation. A traveller of this call may add to the
number of his ideas, but he does not diminish his
errors, nor really add to his flock of truth. It
had been better for him, upon the whole, to have
tarried at home ; for he would then have spent
left money, and acquired fewer habits of vexing
his friends by his pertneft, or deluding them by
hismiftakes. If he attempts ro relate any inci
dent, he generally forgets the most material cir
cuwftances, and always gives it a falfe coloring,
or draws from it wrong inferences. We can,
however, bear with the mere errors that are im
posed on us by a traveller ; because, as we have
not the power of detecting the fallacy, we feel
no dilpofition to complain of the deception.
But there is a description of travellers whofc
conversation soon becomes irksome, if not intol
erable. I allude to tliofe frivolous characters,
whose minds are only occupied upon trifles ; and
who, wherever They go, or whatever they fee, car
never acquire or communicate theleaft degree oi
ufeful information. The habitual levity of de
portment, these triflers discover, soon renders
their mirth insipid, and their observations iiuinte
refting. There is no force of talents to invigorate
their remarks. If they afFed: tofhewwit, noper
fon perceives the edge of it ; and if they relate
anecdotes, it is impofiible to find the pith of theii
Story. In Short, a man of this trifling turn mufl
continue of that character, whether he travels 01
Stays at home. He can never arrive at excellence
even in tliofe habits, which peculiarly belong ta
him. Thetruth is, the more expert any one js,
in displaying frivolous aecomplilhments, thelefs
excellent does he appear. We can never aflo
ciate ahy idfcas of merit with qualifications that
produce no advantage, and indicate no capacity.
However ostentatious a man maybe, if he has not
folic! attainments, he is soon penetrated, and his
companions determine at once, that he does not
trifieforthe fake of being pleasant, but because
he does not know how to be serious, and can ne
ver be wife. Men of good sense and gravity some
times relax their uluai tone of demeanor, andean
ainufe themselves with trifles without being con
temptible. It can be perceived that the part they
have taken, is aflumed only for thcmoiiient. But
noted triflers so flagrantly deviate from dignity
of manners, that 110 person will mistrust, they act
from a character they have taken up, but from
one, they cannot lay aside.
My young acquaintance Garrulus has late
ly returned from his education and his travels.
His friends imagine he has made great improve
ments ; but he is much more indebted to their
partiality than ro his own acquirements, for the
eftiir>ation in which he is viewed. It was easily
supposed that so pert a boy mutt, if well-educated,
make a smart man. He early discovered Symptoms
of vanity, and these were mistaken for indica
tions of genius. Full offlattering hopes, his par
ents conceived the idea, that he mult be sent tc
Europe for an education. He has completed it
and once more resides in his native country, i
'wiil not pretend to fay, what he would havebeen
3iad he coMinucd at home ; but he has, by 110
means, loft his pertnefs or his vanity, by going
abroad. Garßulus well remembers the tium
hers of years be has confiuned atfchools andtfni
■verfities, and has not yet forgot the names ofthe
authors he was compelled to read. It diverts
children and servants to hear him recount the tricks
and frolics of li*s academical life ; aYid 1 believe
thisisthe only am n feme lit, his education is cal
culated to aflrbrd. The reader w ill expert to be
entertained with ail account oft Tie travels of this
afpiringyouth. But here I find myfelf at a loi's
how to gratify such an expectation. Though I
am frequently in company with him; I have yet to
learn, whether he has gained one uses ul idea,from
traveling two years throngh the most celebrated
countries in Europe. He has often boasted to 111 c,
tha£ ' ,e dined with fixyonngnoblemen, at an ho
tel in France ; complained that he found bad inns
in Italy ; and declared that he eat failed cabbage
111 Germany. But he fee 111s to dwell with peculiar
delight in relating how rapidly the stages drive
through England, and howcomplaifantly he was
treated athoufes of entertainment. He mentions
fucli cireumftances witlian air of triumph,becaufe
he alledges that in these respeCts, the English are,
beyond companion, superior to his own country
men. Nothingfills liim with more rapture, than
to bobble to point out any particular, in which
WEDNESDAY, December. 2, 1739.
the Americans have not arrived at equal perfec
tion with the Europeans. It happens fortunately
for us, that Cj.arrui.us has extended his obser
vations to nothing, of so much importance in it
felf, as to render it a point worth contending,
in which country it holds a pre-eminence.
These trifling characters, however, find easy
admillion into the belt circles of company, the
world affords. This may seem the more extraor
dinary, as a person of thisftamp so soon becomes
tedious in private conversation, where only a so
cial interview is intended; We can easily find a
folutiom to this diiliculty. A talkative, imperti
nent bo dy way be called a bon companion by all
men, th ough iio man views him with any refpedt
or friend/hip. There is a convenience in having
iuch an aflbciate. We feel free, and unembar
rafled in his presence, can learn front him the
news and fafhions of'the day, and fend meflages
by him to any part of the town. B«t there is yet
a greater advantage, one findsin.fuch an acquain
tance : It is well known, that in mixed compan
ies, few people have a turn for general conversa
tion ; and uulefs some person is present, who has
agood {hare of impudent pra,ttle, there will be
too much dullness and reserve. Every modest
man of the party feels relieved, when any of his
companions will take his {hare of the conversa
tion. In this way, men of bold, afluming man
ners, how ever ignorant they may be,endear them
-I'clves, as companions, to all denominations of
society. I have observed that in rnoft clubs or
parties, fenfiblc men are fond of admitting fonie
persons 'of levity,merely tomakediverfion for the
reft oftlie company.
It is tobe regretted that some worthy youth are
beguile d into an opinion that impudence is de-
Arable, because it meets with attention. They
draw this conclufion.from the notice thatis taken
of fnch characters as I have been describing.—
Could ;it bedifcerned, from what motives, men of
a forward, ostentatious deportment are received
info company ; or cotild it be known in what light
they are generally estimated, they would no lon
ger be regarded as objedls of envy, or as patterns
for imitation. Every young manfhould conclude
with refpecft to liimfelf ; that, if his talents and
accomplifhinents are not so coufpicuous as to at
tract esteem and admiration tinfolicited, he can
never acquire any real influence of character by
pertnefs and felf importance. It is true he may
gain a uumerous acquaintance, but he will find
few friends : People wijl entertain him kindly ;
but they will place in him no confidence ; they
will trust him with no property. Upon the whole,
his life will be neither honorable to liimfelf, 1101
lerviceable to society. x
THE OBSERVER. No. VII.
The fiufltiating value of Paper in circulation oppres
sive to the poor.
E' VERY public measure, wliich fubjccls needy
i citizens to the imposition of the rich, is repug
nant tojuftice. Great numbers of the rich are alio
generous tothepoor, but it is not the character of
all to whom a wife Providence hath distributed
wealth. One rtutn of great opulence and a hard
heart h'ath power to oppress a whole vicinity of
needy people. Among the present means of oppref
fronin the United StateS, none is greater tliana cir
culating paper of unsteady and deceitful value;
and yet there are thole who with a confident face
will nflerr,' that the measures which lead to this
aredefigned as an easement to the necessitous mem
bers of society. Those who are poor and in back
ward circtini fiances unwarily are taken by the fait
pretences--they are told and believe that it is sot
their benefit, and bless the measures which sap the
vigor of their industry. The wealthy can make
their choice between several mediums in circula
tion, and if there be a bad kind of money, we
{hall always find it in the hands of those who have
least policy and riches : thus the indigent lie un
der a double disadvantage, the quantity of their
money is small, and it is of the Worst kind, not
being in demand to procure the neceflaries of
life. It is a maxim forever true that the worst
kind of circulating rttoney will in the end fall in
to the hands of those who are least able to bear
a loss. Those States which have partially funded
their debts pay the inrereft in paper certificates
or indents, which pnfs into circulation for the pay
ment of taxes—these certificates are ifl'ued as an
equivalent for gold and silver coin, and in every
riew or the fadl they are a depreciated paper mo
ney, of very different value at several times of
the year and in different diftritfis—they may be
purchased in large sums through uioft of the States
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty per
cent, discount. Taxes iflne by authority on the
fnppofition that it it is their real value, and it is
their real value to those who can purchase at the
right time of sale-; it is also their value to a greater
rFubliflied on JVedntfday and Saturday .j
part of the public creditors, whose diftrefled situ
ation obliges tliem to fell on any terms, the firll
moment they can obtain the interelfc from the pub
lic. Still it is fact that one half the taxable inha
bitants purchase them nearly at par with gold and
silver. The poor man and those of little enter
prife,l>ut industrious, delay purchasing untilfhejr
are driven by the hour of payment, and then make
the belt bargain they can, either with some neigh
bor, or public officer, prepared for the btnev'o/:nl
purpose of accommodating all such as could not
purchase in time for themielves. In this way pro
vision is made for this poor, and those whose cir
cumltances are decaying ; some of tliefe make pay
ment in hard labor, and some by promifory bonds,
induced by a snort credit they fall into the snare
and are effectually ruined.
Take the following fart as proof of my afTertion.
In Marcii, I 787, one hundred pounds fperfe was
lent to B jfton to purchase State paper, then re
ceivable 111 taxes, which paper was put into the
hands of a person in one of the weflern counties
of Maftachufetts, who returned the principal in
November of the fame year, with a net profit to
the owner of the hundred pounds, offixty pounds
fix /hillings and one penny. It is to be remember
ed this agent charged very high for his service and
expence3, so that it is certain, those who paid the
taxes, paid atleaft forty shillings for every twenty
which the State received. These were the very
people, who a little before had been scourged into
obedience by a'military force. For infurgertcy
they wfere criminal, and government was right to
check their phrenzy by the molt coercive means ;
but to palliate dieir conduct which we wish to bury
in oblivion let it be remembered that oppression
will sometimes make wife men mad. It is but a
few articles the pool planter has for sale, and
these perhaps not in demand at the rime neceflity
objiges him to fell, so that he can exchange them
only for the worst kind of circulating money, and
thAt at its highest price. The fame neceflity obliges
him to fell at the lowest price, and between buy
ing and felling, he makes a loss of one third. I
could mention athoufand wayx & depre
ciated circulating medium is opprefiive to man
kind, but especially to such as have small proper
ty ; and nature admits not of a poflibility of reme
dying the evil,but by wholly removing the cause.
No fac r ts can be more fully proved than those I
have mentioned, but there is foftrongapropenfity
in some people to have n cheap kind of money,
that tliev will think die writer hath mischievous
schemes in his brains, and that everything is en
dangered, until the parish Priest, or town peda
gogue, or the incendiary of the neighborhood,
foine of whom may chance to remember a phrafc
of school Latin, lliall have founded the alarm.
With wasps and flics the Observer promises great
patience, and will only drive them gently, 110 c
aiming at their life, for it is the nature of those
infects to buzz round the scent of liojiey, though
they can make none thcmfelves ; but ftiould any of
the higher da's of peculators, who have grown rich
on spoil, under the appearance of much honesty
and concern, unwisely throw themselves in his
way, he pledges himfelf to disclose things concer
ning thein, which the heart of the public hath not
conceivcd. The old man honest, he
made payment in the current money of the mer
chant, it is the money of the merchant which the
poor ought to receive, and 110 other kind of circu
lating medium will do justice in the community.
Whether this money be gold, silver or paper, it is
a matter of littleconfequence, for a fixed value and
general demand constitutes its worth. At present
11 is not poffiblefor the State governments to give
this ralueto their certificates or indents ,- but the
United States, if the whole debt could be brought
into one fund might easily effedl it by a connexion,
with the great mercantile banks within the Em
pire. Bank money is the money of the
and the whole commercial influence of the coun
try will preserve its value. Suppose the sums of a
rich and poor man's taxes to be apportioned accor
ding to their real wealth and ability ; the rich man
by purchasing the depreciated medium in proper
time and a small price, makes art easy payment;
the poor man purchasing at almost double price,
finds the demand intolerable ; and if to this there
be added fees for travel, and others which have no
legal name, he finks in ruin, These, ye poor and
embarrailed citizens, are the blessing of a cheap
paper money, for which too many of yoil have
been advocates. [,American Mercury.]
HERALDRY.
A SANGUINE frenchman had so high an o
pinion of the pleasures to be enjoyed in the
study of Heraldry, that be used to lament, as we
are informed by Men age, the hard cafe of our
forefather Adam, who could not polfibly ajnnfe
himfelf by investigating that fcietice, nor that of
genealogy.