The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
savage delight in the pain and suffering of human sacrifice and human
woe.
[Footnote 8: "It is easier for an artful man who is not in love, (says
Addison) to persuade his mistress he has a passion for her, and to
succeed in his pursuit, than for one who loves with the greatest
violence. True love has ten thousand griefs, impatiences and
resentments, that render a man unamiable in the eyes of the person
whose affection he solicits: besides that, it sinks his figure, gives
him fears, apprehensions and poorness of spirit, and often makes him
appear ridiculous, where he has a mind to recommend himself."]
[Footnote 9: A lively French writer, says Mary Wolstoncraft, asks what
business women turned of forty can have in this world.]
Before leaving this topic, I beg leave to add one word of advice to
the gay and fascinating belle, who is moving forward in her victorious
career,--conquering all hearts before her,--until, like the Juan of
Moliere, she may wish for other worlds, not for purposes of conquest,
like Alexander, but to win the hearts of those that inhabit them. A
lady in this situation ought always to be mindful of the great
influence which she is exerting on those around her. Her lightest
words are treasured up with the fondest zeal, her very defects are
sometimes considered as surpassing beauties. A principle advocated by
her, no matter how erroneous,--a doctrine advanced, no matter how
false, is apt to make an impression, sometimes deep and indelible, on
the susceptible hearts of her admirers. She should ever recollect that
the cause of virtue and of piety is peculiarly hers; and when she is
walking the golden round of her pleasures, shedding her influence on
all who approach her, let her be conscious to herself of no word or
deed which can injure the sacred cause of morality and religion. We
all know the irresistible influence of association. A writer of
antiquity said he would rather believe drunkenness no vice, than that
Plato could have one. The stuttering of Aristotle and the wry neck of
Alexander were admired on the same principle: and Des Cartes, the
great philosopher, declared he had a partiality for persons who
squinted; and he says that in his endeavor to trace the cause of a
taste so whimsical, he at last recollected, that, when a boy, he had
been fond of a girl who had that blemish. I have rarely known a very
devoted lover who did not love all the peculiarities and even oddities
of his mistress. We are all like the Frenchman, whose mistress had a
_twisted nose_, of which the lover used to say, "C'est au moins la
plus belle irregularité du monde." Hence, for the very same reason
that Dr. Johnson remarks, "if there is any writer whose genius can
embellish impropriety, or whose authority can make error venerable,
_his_ works are the proper object of criticism,"--would I say, that if
there be any being whose opinions and actions form the
"Glass
Wherein the noble youths do dress themselves,"
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