The New Hampshire Gazette Newspaper, September 16, 1757, Page 1

'*‘.,t;;,;FRIDAY, SepTEMBER 16, 1757. ‘:. THE - Nuwms. 5o, \ NEW-HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE, ; Containing the Frefbeft Ha’vi?&: Foreign and - Domellick. \ -fl@#%%%%%'&"&"&'%%&'*%%**#fk**%%%%@***%%%%?&kb%*&*%%%%fk%%@fio%%f&%f&%%%%%'&’:fi'%%%fi'%# Some Account of an Efiimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times, by the Author of Eflays on the Charatter- iftics, HE principal view of this work is to fhew, that the fource of our public mifcarriages is not the accidental mifconduét of individuals, but the depraved principles and manners of the times; and the danger and importance of the prefent crifis has induced the author to publifh - feparately what is part of a much more extenfive work on the fubjedt of manners in_general. T'o mzke a juft eRimate of our principles and manners, it is neceflary to confider as well our virtaes as our vices. Of our virtues, the firft and moftimportant is the _/pirit of liberty ; this fpirit fill fubfifts, tho’ not in its genuine vi- gour ; it fill animates our converfation and addrefles, tho’ it does not influence our condu&. Itis now ftruggling . with our manners and principles, which have gradually re- duced it from an aQive {pirit by which our freedom might be fecured, to a mere witfh,that it may not be taken away. Bat there are fome effe@ls of a fpirit of liberty which oppofite principles and manners have not deftroyed. The fistt is, the /pirit of Humanity,* pity for diftrefs, and mo- deration in punifiment.”” This appears in the linity of our laws in capital punifhments ; the general compaffion for convifted criminals ; and the behaviour even of our highwaymen and robbers, among whom cruelty is much more rare than among thofe of other countries. It is alfo manifeft from the many foundations for the relief of the wretched and the friendlefs, and the frequent and gene- rous affitance given to thofe whe cannot be admitted into thefe foundations. The pure adminiftration of juftice, with refpe& to private groperty, is a virtue that ftill continues amongft ' ws. The fpirit of liberty and humanity begat a_{pirit of equity, where no contrary paflion interferes. The fpirit o# commerce, which is now predominant, begets a kind of regulated felfithnefs, which tends at once to the increafe and prelervation of property. The ruling manners of the times are now to be con- fidered, not asthey relate to the immediate happinefs or mifery of individuals, but as they affe@ the publick ftate. The manners and principles of the common people there- forewill fearce find a place ia the accnunt 5 for the mars ners of thofe who govern will determine the continuance or diflolution of fate. @ he charaters of the manner of this age and nation is ;,,Kiflxfmeans that of abandoned wickednefs and profiigacy ; for as the {pirit of liberty, humanity, and equity, in a cer- tain degree, are ftill found among us, fome of thofe vices, which are effencial to abandoned wickednefs and profli- gacy, are neccflarily excluded, wiz. fervility, cruelty, and oppreflion. Whoever fhall eftimate the times of abandoned awickednc/s and profiigacy, will find himfelf under the fame circamftance with the great hiftorian of Rome, who, in the profligate period of that empire, tells us, he had no- thang to relate but bloody profcriptions, treacherous friend- fhips and the deftrution of the innocent. The charaQer of the manners of the prefent times are fuppofed to be that of “ a wain, luxurious, and /[clfi/s Er- FEMINACY, and the following falls are enumerated to prove it. The infantof quality and fortune, whom the luxury of his parents has rendered puany, is farther enervated by un- wholefome warmth of a nurfery, and when he is {uffered to venture out of the nurfery, he isfo wrapped up by miftaken Rindnefs, from the wholefome keennefs of the air, that he becomes unable to endure the natural rigour of his native climate. After he has thus {uffered irreparable injury in his bo- dily conftitution, and been rendered liable to contra&t dif- eafes, againft which he would otherwife have been forti- fied, he is perhaps fent to a publick fchool, where he may probably gaina coofiderable knowledge of awords, and here his educarion generally ftops, without carrying him on to the knowledge of things. The univerfities, where the principles of knowledge ihould be imbibed, are daily growing thinner of young quten of quality and fortune, who, inftead of being made acquainted with books, which are the great repofitories of wi{dem, are fent untutored into the world, where the ru- ling objscls that catch the imagination, are the fallies of folly or of vice. Thas effeminate and ignorant, and tainted with the fol- lies and vices of his native country, he is fent abroad in- to others. Truth, difcernment and found knowledge ~ill indeed gain confiderable advantages from enlarging their fphere of obfervation ; but a youth, whofe manners ire puerile, and whofe judgment is weak, will imbibe on- 'y what is confentaneous to his habits, and inftead of gai- ning either virtue or wifdom by #rawve/, he will only bring home foreign follies, effeminacies, and vices. He is, however, at all events, whether he’has travelled or not travelled initiated in the pleafures of the metropo- lis. Every young| gentlemen, who now pretends to keep good company, n.uit\employ the greateft part of his morn- , ings in drels, for if heé is not dreffed, no degree of virtue, wifdom, or politef:fs, can fecure him from being avoided ~ a3 a low twpaies @lvhom n0 budy Anogs, and with whom _ Qne 18 4/pamg y When he is drefled he cannotcrofs the ftreet to dinner without the effeminate covering of a chair. When he is thus conveyedto his company, h#finds warm carpets {pread under his feet, warm hangings f@rrounding him, and doors and windows nicely jointed to grevent the leaft encroach. ments of &xternal air. Fanity jupplies {plendid furniture, a fumptuous fide board, and a fong train of attendants ; and /uxury furnifhes high foupsfnd fauces, and every art of foreign cookery is exhauftedfto ftimulate that appetite which intemperance has made ‘#anguid. And as the end of modern eating is not to allay natural hunger, but to gratify artificial tafte, thofe food# which irritate are pre- ferred to thofe that mouri/b. "W Inthefe meetingsthe fupreagffelegance is to trific agree- ably ; to {peak of any fubject of importance is an offence againft good breeding ; but as thif converfation which ex- cludes thinking cannot be long garried on, and as intem- perance in wine is not the charaiter of refined luxury, re- courfe muft be had to fome expedient that may prevent the ftagnation of folly, and engage the attention of the company. Thus ignorance, lu<ary, and effeminacy, na- turally, and almoft neceflarily, introduced gaming as an amufement. / Bat as the mode of life which produced gaming as an smufement, was extreamly expénfive, rapacity foon be- came the effe¢t of profufion, a defire of gain grew an u- niverfal paffion, and gaming was purfued as a trade. Other incidental amufements, however, there are ; a- mong thefe we say reckon reading. But as reading is at prefent confidered merely as a morning amufenient, fuch books only are chofen as preven: the infupportabie toil of thinking, and may ferve as a preparatory wbet of indolence to the qpproaching pleafures of tie day,anc fuch,with very few exceptions, are the prefent produions of the prefs. A writer however there is, whofe force of genius and extent of knowledge might alm¢® redeem the character of the times, but tho’ he attralls the reverence of the feaw, he excites the envy and hatred of the zany; and whilft his works are tranflated and admire abroad, and patronized at home by thofe who are moft diftinguithed in genius, tafte and learning, himfelf is abifed, and his friends in- fulted for hisfake, by thofe who never read his writings, or, if they did, could neither 7a/i2 nor comprebend them.” This excels of cfferinate delcacy hes-anfluenced every other entertainment ; it has produced a low and unmanly tafte. in mufic. We do not go to concerts or operas to admire the compofition, but the tricks of the performer, who is always moft applauded when he runs through the compafs of the throat, or traverfes the finger board with the {wifteft dexterity. : Painting is confidered merely as a matter of curiofity, and not of influence ; the natural and beautiful have given way to the fantaftic and grotefque. Every houfe of fathion is crowded with porcelain trees, and birds, porce- lain men and beafts, crofs-legged Mandarines and Bram- mins, perpendicular lines, and {tiff right angles. Every gaudy Chinefe crudity, either in colour, form, attitude, or grouping, is adopted into fafhionable ule, and become the ftandard of grace and elegance. Tho® a gredt genius has rendered the ftage the laft re- fuge of manly tafte, ‘“ and with a variety of powers be- yond example, eftablithed nature, Shakelpear, and bimlelf,” yet it is to be feared, the crowd of fpeltators is drawn by fecondary circumftances, a5 the fathionable part of it fit with the {ame face of admiration at Lear, an opera, or a pantomime. > Our {ammer amufements are, if poflible, yet lighter and more trifling. ~ When the feafon is grown {o miid as that the man of fathion can ftir 2broad, he is feen, not on horfeback, but lolling in his poft chariot about the purlieus of the town. Soon after, he getsinto the country, where, as a vain and empty mind can give no entertainment to itfelf, the fame effeminacies are afted over again under new appearances, and there is fcarce a corner in the king- dom where a fummer fcene of public diffipation is not now eftablifhed. Such are the ruling manners of the times, thofe of the women being effentially the {ame with the men, the (excs having little apparent diftin@ion, / except in perfon and drefs, the women having advanced into boldoefs, as the men have funk into effeminacy. ) As to the ruling PriNcipLEs of the times, the author remarks, that as fome have fuppofed manners to be uani- verfally derived from principle ; others baving obferved that this theory did not agree with experience, feil into the contrary extream, and fuppofed that as manners were not derived from principle, neither were they influenced by it. * But neither of thefe is true ; principle cannot be the fountain of manners, becaufe manners precedes prin. ciple ; habits of alling being prior to habits of thinking ; but principles early engrafted in the mind, may grow up with manners, may oppofe them, and either yield to them, - or controul and deftroy them. : The principles to be confidered in this eftimate, are fuch only as tend to counterwork the felfith paffions : religion, bonour and pubiick jpérit. As to religion, the pofitive inftitutions of chriftianity are contemptuoufly negle&ed, but the prefent age is by no means deep in fpeculative infidelityl, being well content b o with the conclufions without the premifes. For this rea- fon, no books of infidelity higher than ¢/ays have a quick fale, the few readers of regular arguments that are left among us being on the other fide of the queftion. The principle of honour, confidered as the defire of ap- plaufe direéled to the produétion of public happinefs, is totally {ubverted by the pride of equipage, title, forture, and drefs ; and 2 man who fhould leave the common road in the purfuit of glory, and ferve the public at the expenge of his eafe, his fortune, or his pleafure, would be ftared at, or laughed at, as a filly fellow, who meddled with things that did not belong to him. If we are thus corrupt in manners, and thus deftitute of stligion aud honour, we ¢an have no degree of public fpi- rit ; requires the united force of upright manners, gene- rous religion, and unfeigned honour. We are indeed fo little accuftomed to quit the beaten track of felf-interefl, even in fpeculation, that he who merely does his duty in a confpicuous rank, is regarded as a prodigy of public virtue. 8888883&838&88383838888888&6% L. O N eB R G N 3 Fune 16. We learn by a private Letter from Drefden, dated June the 4th, that an Exprefs was juft arrived from the Army before Prague with an Account, that the Be- fiegers themfelves were firuck with Compaffion for the deplorable State of that Capital, and of thofe within it ; that in Confequence of the Bombardment, 700Houfes and three large Churches have been reduced to Afhes ; that the principal Streets are, in a Manner, choaked with the dead Bodies of Men and Horfes ; that the Jews being plundered of every Thing, are daily dying for Want ; and that it is looked upon as a Thing impoffible the Place fhould hold outa Week more, efpecially as they are now undeceived, in Refpeét to the Notion that had prevailed amongft them, that the French had entered Bohemia with an Army of 100,000 Men for their Relief. ’ Fune 23. The French Privateer taken by the Lan- cafter and Dunkirk, had taken, during her Cruize, fix Prizes, which fhe had fent to France, one of whici was the Dryden, Cramp, from Virginia for London. Both Houfes of Parliament met this Day, according t‘?VA%ioumment, and it is believed will break up next eek. Admiral Bofcawen will, it is expe&led, fail To day o, To morrow, with the Fleet for the Bay. An Account has been received that the Duke of Cum- berland has fent his Baggage over the Weler, and was in hourly Expectation of being attacked by the French, who were diftrefled for Want of Provifions 3 and as there are Letters from Cologn of the 16th, which mention a Battle being fought on the 14th, and no Account of it had paffed through that City for France, it is reafonably conjetured, that (if there has been an Engagement) it turn'd out in favour of his Royal Highnefs. But we are informed that our Court has received an Account of an Action ; that by the laft Exprefs, all Things looked well, and that his Royal Highnefs was not removed from his Camp. Fune 24. We are credibly informed, that, notwith= ftanding what has been faid to the Contrary, the Ruffan Troops are not as yet marched out of their own Country to aflit the Queen of Hungary, and that they have no Defign to moleft the King of Pruffia in any Shape, either by Sea or Land. Letters by the Holland Mail advife, that the City of Prague is almoft reduced to Afhes, and that a Pound of Bread fells there for Ten Pence, and a Pound of' Horfe Fleth for Two' Pence Seven Companies of Marines are ordered round to Plymouth, for Embarkation. We hear that the new Miniftry will kifs his Majefty’s Hand this Day. June 25. The Fanny, Gardner, from. Newry for Philadelphia, is taken by a Bayone Privateer, and ran- fomed. * Extral? of a Letter from Portfmouth, Fune 24. ¢ This Day failed from Spithead the undermentioned Men of War, (which are to cruize off Cape St. Vincent) viz. The Royal George, Admiral Bofcawen, who ran foul of the Ramillies, but has done ng other Damage than carrying away her Jibb-Boom, and beating off fome of her carv’d Work, Royal Sovereign, Namar, Torbay, Chichefter and Medway.” Admiralty Office, Fune zi. His Majefty’s Ships the Lancafter and Dunkirk, arrived at Plymounth the 13:h Inftant ; and by a Letter from Captain Edgcumbe, it ap- pears that they have taken in their Craize the undermer.- tioned Privateers, &c. viz. Le Comte de Gramont, of 36 Guns, and 370 Men ; Guns, and 150 Men ; and a Schooner from Bourde- aux, bound to Quebeck, with Wine and Brandy: Captain Duff, of the Rochefter, at Sea,. alfo gives an Account of kis having taken the Jean Baptifte Privatece of St. Maloes, of 8 Guns, and 41 Men. - Dusriy, May3i. A few Days ago Mr. William Raybourne, of Enniflten, in the County of Cavan, aged 28, was married to the widow Marlow of the fame Place,’ aged 1q7, being her eighth hufband. ! Birminbam, June 6, We are informed, that at ani 2 _— Le Nouveau Saxon, of 16 ~ ' entertainment |