him trivial in comparison with what he considerd the obligations of conscience. He never tasted the bread of idleness; nor would he have touched the emoluments of office, if unable to perform its duties. But he sunk under this too zealous attention to rigid duty, at an age not greatly advanced; and when by a little indulgence and self denial (most surely justifiable) he might yet have been spared to his afflicted family.

The expressions of his features were apparently austere : his outward manners were not marked with grace or softness. In conversation, his sentiments were delivered with blunt sincerity: and were sometimes supposed, by those who knew him not, to designate the character of harshness; but his heart was replete with the finest qualities which could dorn it: humane, benevolent, and just; in his friendships ardent and sincere; and his acts of friendship executed with peculiar delicacy and grace. In all his dealings he was scrupulously exact, and there exists no man who can truly say, he has received from him an injury. Those who knew him well will not hesitate to acknowledge the correctness of this brief eulogium on departed worth.

To his family his loss is irreparable—as a husband and a father, he was affectionate, mild, indulgent. The happiness of his family was the great object of his life-Domestic harmony reigned in his household. His mansion was the abode of hospitality-long, very long will his loss be mourned-the me mory of his virtues will remain as their sweetest consolation; but the deepfelt sorrows of his afflicted widow and children cannot recall the husband, father, friend.

DIED on the 11th of May last, after a short but painful illness, in the 46th year of his age, Mr. JAMES SIMMONS of this city.

Scarcely have we recorded an instance of death more fully calculated to impress the mind with the uncertainty of human life, than the present. Enjoying every happiness which a state of the most perfect health, supported by a constitution uncommonly vigorous, could afford, the deceased saw himself in the meridian of life, surrounded by a young family who had just attained an age, at which they more particularly required the attentions and guidance of parental affection and authority. But, from this scene of temporal interests and felicity, he was hurried in the short space of three days, to a state,

"Where momentary ages are no more!

* Where Time, and Pain, and Chance, and Death expire."

By an extensive circle of relatives and friends, the deceased was well known and beloved: as a parent, he was to an unusual degree kind and tender, as a husband he was affectionate, as a Son dutiful; to the poor he was. charitable, to the world polite; and his manners possessed all that pleasing unbanity, which obtain, for a gentleman, the esteem of society.

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

WITH the request of "JUVENIS" we cannot comply with a better grace, than by citing the classical canons of an OXFORD SCHOLAR, who exemplified all his correct rules by his splendid example; and, who, when but a boy, wrote with all the purity of CowPER and GOLDSMITH. The rules of Composition are, in fact, very simple and very few. If we have a mature acquaintance with our subject, there is little fear of our expressing it as we ought, provided we have had some little experience in writing. The first thing to be aimed at is Perspicuity. That is the great point, which, once attained, will make all other obstacles smooth to us. In order to write perspicuously, we should have a perfect knowledge of the topic, on which we are about to treat, in all its bearings, and dependences. We should think well, beforehand, what will be the clearest method of conveying the drift of our design. This is similar to what Painters call the massing, or getting the effect of the more prominent lights and shades by broad dashes of the pencil. When our thesis is well arranged in our mind, and we have predisposed our arguments, reasonings, and illustrations, so as they shall all conduce to the object in view, in regular sequence and gradation, we may sit down and express our ideas in as clear a manner as we can, always using such words, as are most suited to our purpose; and when two modes of expression, equally luminous, present themselves, selecting that which is the most harmonious and elegant.

It sometimes happens that writers, in aiming at perspicuity, overreach themselves, by employing too many words, and perplex the mind, by a multiplicity of illustrations. This is a very fatal error. Circum-, locution seldom conduces to plainness; and you may take it as a maxim that, when once an idea is clearly expressed, every additional stroke will only confuse the mind and diminish the effect.

When we have once learned to express ourselves with clearness and propriety, we shall soon arrive at elegance. Every thing else, in fact, will follow as of course. But let not the order of things be inverted, nor let the graces be courted when we should be studying perspicuity. Young writers, in general, are too solicitous to round off their periods, and regulate the cadences of their style. Hence, the feeble pleonasms and idle repetitions, which deform their pages. If we would have our compositions vigorous and masculine in their tone, let EVERY WORD TELL, and when we detect ourselves polishing off a sentence with expletives, we should compare ourselves with a minor poet, eking out the measure of his verses, with all a ballad maker's tautology.

Voh. II.

The little book of Songs and Sonnets, is certainly worthy of the genius of Master Slender. It is incredible how much bad Poetry we are doomed to peruse, with a frowning brow, and an aching head; with all our limited Powers of Judgment most sorely wounded, and disconsolate Taste in utter despair.

Hourly we see some raw pin-feather'd thing
Attempt to mount, and wars and heroes sing,
Who for false quantities was whipt at school,
But t'other day, and breaking grammar rule,
Whose trivial art was never try'd above
The dull description of his native grove.

The class of writers, to whom our critical correspondent refers, are essentially different:

Why name you VIRGIL with such fops as these?

He's truly great, and must forever please,

Not fierce, but awful in his manly page,

Bold in his strength, but sober in his rage.

We have no sort of objection to the publications of satires after the pattern of JUVENAL, HORACE, and POPE. But the furious invectives display more of rude rage, than of captivating Poetry.

of

Your Satires, let me tell you, are too fierce,

The wits will never bear so blunt a verse;
Their doors are barr'd against a bitter flout,

Snarl, if you please, but you must snarl without.

Our friend, Charles, is a perfect pattern of victorious industry, in tracing all the paths of Literature. We are exceedingly obliged by his persevering punctuality. Capable of intense Application, he is competent to the faithful accomplishment of every task, that his versatile Genius may impose upon his obedient Mind:

strung with nerves of wire,

Tough to the last, and whom no toil can tire.

pen

The ardor of Summer skies causes the mind to droop and the to loiter. In fact, a July essay, however ingenious, is only nodded over. Readers, as well as authors, are languid and lazy:

The glaring sun

Breaks in at every chink: the cattle run
To shades and noon tide rays of Summer shun;
All plung'd in Sloth men lie, and snore supine,
As fill'd with fumes of undigested wine.

1

We are exceedingly benefited by the liberal Criticisms of an old and classical friend, whose principles are as noble, as those of BURKE, and whose style is ad unguem factus, finished to a nicety, and polished to perfection.

Tell me, dear G, whence hast thou the skill
So nicely to distinguish good from ill?

And by the sound to judge of gold and brass,
What piece is Tinker's metal, wHAT WILL PASS,
And what thou art to follow, what to fly,
This to condemn, and that to ratify?
When to be bountiful, and when to spare,
But never craving, or oppress'd with care?
The baits of gifts, and money to despise,

And look on wealth, with undesiring eyes.

We cannot imagine a wretch in a state of more abject servitude than the sort of Popularity seeker, whom "Pictor" has contemptuously described:

Yes, write him down a slave, who humbly proud,

With flattery begs preferment from the crowd.

We plainly perceive that the cherub Contemplation is often invoked by our friend C. and that to the Genius of Musing he exclaims in a poetical rapture:

Come, pensive Sage, who lovest to dwell

In some retir'd Lapponian cell,

Where far from noise and tumult rude,

Resides sequestered Solitude.

Come, and o'er my longing soul,
Throw thy dark and russet stole,

And open to my duteous eyes,
The volume of thy mysteries.

"The vagaries of a coquette" must remind her admirer of a passage in Marmion, where an exceedingly wise and shrewd Scotchman thus judiciously comments upon the freaks of his fair Partner:

The Editor despairs of ever acquiring the enviable power which has been indicated for his emulation by a favourite friend:

From me, wild nurtur'd, dost thou ask
The classic poet's well conn'd task?
Nay Gr, nay-on the wild hill,
Let the wild heathbell flourish still,
Cherish the Tulip, prune the Vine,
But freely let the Woodbine twine,
And leave untrimm'd the Eglantine.

We are by no means insensible of the various merits of our domestic and poetical friend Asmodeo. We regret that any engagement should cause a suspension of his tuneful powers:

Our advice to a rational disciple of Epicurus may be briefly expressed in the words of WHITE:

"Let him laugh with the gay, and meditate with the sober, drink deeply at the pure well-spring of unpolluted Pleasure, and taste all the fountains of Wisdom and Philosophy.'

وو

Under this discipline, which comprehends both duty and delight, he may nobly exclaim in DRYDEN's noble phrase:

We

Secure and free from business of the state,
And more secure of what the vulgar prate,

Here I enjoy my private thoughts; nor care

What rots for sheep the southern winds prepare;
Survey the neighbouring fields, and not repine,

When I behold a larger crop than mine.,`

To see a beggar's brat in riches flow

Adds not a wrinkle to my even brow;

Nor envious at the sight, will I forbear,

My ruddy bowl, nor bate my bounteous cheer.

are not insensible of the Rhetorical pretensions of C-;

Soft Elocution does his style renown,

And the sweet accents of the peaceful gown?