Page images
PDF
EPUB

Morceaus, and Bon-Mots of every kind, to a very considerable amount, well worthy the attention of the public. I have Epigrams that want nothing but the sting; Conundrums, that need nothing but an explanation; Rebusses and Acrostics, that will be complete with the addition of the name only. These being in great request, may be had at an hour's warning. Impromptus will be got ready at a week's notice. For common and vernacular use, I have a long list of the most palpable Puns in the language, digested in alphabetical order; for these, I expect good sale at both the universities. Jokes of all kinds, ready cut and dry.

N. B. Proper allowance made to gentlemen of the law going on circuit; and to all second-hand venders of wit and retailers of repartee, who take large quantities.

N. B. Attic Salt in any quantities.

N. B. Most money for old Jokes.

No 8. MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 1787.

Majorum primus quisquis fuit ille tuorum
Aut pastor fuit, aut illud quod dicere nolo.-JUVENAL.
-Your honour's ancient source

Was a poor shepherd's boy, or something worse.

DRYDEN.

TURNING Over the other day some manuscripts belonging to the Griffin family, I accidentally cast my eyes on a parchment roll, carefully sealed, and inscribed The Pedigree. Not having before considered that I was entitled to any ancestry, I began to feel an increased consequence, as I opened this sacred testimony of my being a son of Adam; and

was elated or depressed, according to the titles or occupations of my grandfathers from time immemorial.

I will not, courteous reader, detain thee with the honourable mention made of my family by bards of old; how, for instance, one of them being inspector of the gardens to a foreign potentate, was overdosed by one Hercules, who in the mean while robbed an orchard of certain golden-pippins; how, afterward, upon my ancestor's waking, he claimed them by right of discovery, and in farther proof of such right, most valiantly did beat his brains about his ears. How, another being appointed guardian of a woollen manufactory, was lulled to sleep by a certain adventurer from across the seas, who by that means stole his golden fleece (no impeachment on the sagacity or vigilance of my ancestor); the same spark having previously imposed on a wild and fiery bull who kept a mighty coil, and by putting a yoke on his neck subjected him to his own convenience. These, reader, I say, I will not detain thee with; but as I propose to make my after reflections on this parchment, the subject of this paper, shall proceed to them without farther preamble.

Pride, says the old Castilian, is that principle, which from a consciousness of inborn superiority, sets a man above the weaknesses of human nature; in prosperity enables him to preserve that dignity which his situation demands; and prevents him in adversity from consenting to any thing which might be derogatory to the principles of a man of honour. These, probably, or nearly these, are the ideas not of a patriotic but provincial bigot: but this is far from being a true definition of pride and not only theoretical supposition, but practical observation, will daily enable us in some measure to controvert this reasoning. In order to reduce our inquiry as near the truth as possible, let us, by placing the ar

guments of opposite prejudice in equal balances, suppose, as is generally the case, that a fair and candid decision will lay in the midway between them.

Pride, says the more polished, and of consequence less prejudiced man of the world, who has not had the honour to have been born on the other side of the Pyrenees, is a false principle of honour, seeking its gratification in the abject submission of others, and refining to extravagant punctilio and constrained resentment, that, which should only proceed from the genuine and lively emotions of the soul. It is a deformity of the mind, which subjects its possessor not only to the ridicule of all around him, but to infinite mortifications on the failure of that respect which he considers as due to his superior merit; a mortification, which, as few others view him in the same light, he must be frequently subjected to.

Though these principles are in all respects diametrically opposite, each of them have a specious appearance of truth. By tempering therefore each with the other, are we most likely to prove, whether pride is a principle to be cherished in the human heart or no. That pride, for instance, which when moderately indulged, fires a man with a just and noble sentiment for wrongs received, when carried farther, degenerates into punctilio. That which prevents a man from condescending to any thing unworthy himself, is a laudable principle; but when any thing a degree below his expectation or wishes is interpreted into an unworthy occupation, it becomes a folly. As to the mortification a man draws on himself, by an intemperate indulgence of this failing, it must be allowed, that the poison is in that respect its own antidote; and a mind so impregnated, is at least equal to supporting the ridicule which is levelled against it. Pride in short is of two kinds, defensive and offensive. While only defensive, it is far from being offensive, and serves as a sword in

the scabbard, which though harmless at the moment, protects the wearer from insult; when offensive, it is an attack on the rest of mankind, which calls for every one's exertion to repel it.

But I seem to be straying from my motto, which, as I am more particularly on the subject of family pride, calls on me to prove the descent of all our noble houses from shepherds, or what, as the poet sings, 'I am ashamed to say.' As in a former paper I invited my readers to a melancholy prospect in the terra incognita of probabilities; so will I now present them with a full as unflattering a retrospect in the terra firma of history.

Mankind are obliged to the so much talked of Golden age, in no other respect than for the quantity of harmonious ditties it has produced; and the pretty allusions concerning hanging woods, purling streams, the social intercourse of man and sheep, the great conveniency which swains of those days used to experience in their extraordinary powers of abstinence, &c. &c. which it has from time immemorial, and still continues to furnish to Arcadian garreteers. So far indeed was any age from being pre-existent to the iron, that the first crime committed by man, was a violation of the express law of God; the second of that of God and nature. From that time forward, particular facts, which prove the Antediluvian is no word to be applied to any thing over religious, are too numerous to dwell on. Suffice it to say, that the history of our right worshipful grandsires, both before and since the flood, does not at all tend to strengthen the opinion of the poet;

Ætas parentum pejor avis tulit
Nos nequiores, mox daturos
Progeniem vitiosiorem.-HOR.

More vicious than their father's age
Our sires begot the present race,
Of actions impious, bold, and base;

And yet with crimes to us unknown,

Our sons shall make the coming age their own.

FRANCIS.

[ocr errors]

The conquest, wealth, luxury, and from thence the decline, of commonwealths, have in all ages been the theme as well of the moralist as the historian; these therefore let us pass by, and by looking back so far only as to the first population of this island, consider, whether the motto is not as applicable to the family pride of a true-born Briton, as that of a Roman citizen.

Notwithstanding the comfortable assertions of those ingenious gentlemen who wish to derive us from the illustrious race of Troy, our vicinity to the continent pleads hard for our being neither more or less than the descendants of a few shipwrecked fishermen ; or what is worse, some light-footed heroes, who preferred the chance of escaping by sea, to the certainty of hanging on shore. Nor has this stock been much mended by the exotic shoots which have from time to time been ingrafted on it: such as the Romans, our first invaders, from whom, I believe, many genealogists of the present day pretend to derive their origin; though it scarce seems probable, that a people who had more pride of birth than any other, would have consented to forego their country and friends, in order to settle among a race of barbarians; unless perhaps some few who were not in the censor's list, and therefore in fact, nó Romans, or some chance deserters, who took refuge among the natives to avoid military discipline. The Danes, a wretched band of adventurers, whose ferocity was their only distinguishing characteristic; whose only motive for forsaking their own country was poverty, and whose only view in invading Britain was plunder. The Saxons, in themselves a brave and ancient nation, but happily at that time delivered of their own ruffians in the persons of our conquerors. Last of all the Normans, under the

« PreviousContinue »