The New-York Weekly Magazine, or Miscellaneous Repository Part 97

I could not sleep; the cold was extremely intense; the snow fell in great abundance; at break of day I looked around, and found all the ground covered with it. From that moment I formed the most horrible and the most sinister presages: the stones which might have pointed out the path I was to have taken, were all buried, and it appeared impossible I should ever be able to discover my father-in-law and my wife.

(_To be continued._)

FRIENDSHIP.

There are few subjects which have been more written upon, and less understood, than that of Friendship. To follow the dictates of some, this virtue, instead of being the a.s.suager of pain, becomes the source of every inconvenience. Such speculatists, by expecting too much from friendship, dissolve the connexion; and, by drawing the bands too closely, at length break them. Almost all our romance and novel-writers are of this kind; they persuade us to friendships, which we find impossible to sustain to the last; so that this sweetener of life, under proper regulations, is, by their means, rendered inaccessible or uneasy.

Friendship is like a debt of honour: the moment it is talked of, it loses its real name, and a.s.sumes the more ungrateful form of obligation.

From hence we find, that those who regularly undertake to cultivate friendship, find ingrat.i.tude generally repays their endeavours. That circle of beings, which dependence gathers round us, is almost ever unfriendly; they secretly wish the term of their connexions more nearly equal; and, where they even have the most virtue, are prepared to reserve all their affections for their patron, only in the hour of his decline. Increasing the obligations which are laid upon such minds, only increases their burthen; they feel themselves unable to repay the immensity of their debt, and their bankrupt hearts are taught a latent resentment at the hand that is stretched out with offers of service and relief.

Plautinus was a man who thought that every good was bought from riches; and as he was possessed of great wealth, and had a mind naturally formed for virtue, he resolved to gather a circle of the best men round him.

Among the number of his dependents was Musidorus, with a mind just as fond of virtue, yet not less proud than his patron. His circ.u.mstances, however, were such as forced him to stoop to the good offices of his superior, and he saw himself daily among a number of others loaded with benefits and protections of friendship. These, in the usual course of the world, he thought it prudent to accept; but, while he gave his esteem, he could not give his heart. A want of affection breaks out in the most trifling instances, and Plautinus had skill enough so observe the minutest actions of the man he wished to make his friend. In these he ever found his aim disappointed; for Musidorus claimed an exchange of hearts, which Plautinus, solicited by a variety of claims, could never think of bestowing.

It may be easily supposed, that the reserve of our poor proud man, was soon construed into ingrat.i.tude; and such, indeed, in the common acceptation of the world it was. Wherever Musidorus appeared, he was remarked as the ungrateful man; he had accepted favours, it was said, and had still the insolence to pretend to independence. The event, however, justified his conduct. Plautinus, by misplaced liberality, at length became poor; and it was then that Musidorus first thought of making a friend of him. He flew to the man of fallen fortune with an offer of all he had; wrought under his direction with a.s.siduity; and by uniting their talents, both were at length placed in that state of life from which one of them had formerly fallen.

NATURE.

An happy sensibility to the beauties of Nature should be cherished in young persons. It engages them to contemplate the Creator in his wonderful works; it purifies and harmonizes the soul, and prepares it for moral and intellectual discipline; it supplies an endless source of amus.e.m.e.nt; it contributes even to bodily health; and as a strict a.n.a.logy subsists between material and mortal beauty, it leads the heart by an easy transition from the one to the other; and thus recommends virtue for its transcendent loveliness and makes vice appear the object of contempt and abomination.

AFFECTION.

From the impa.s.sioned feelings of the mother, to him who stands joyless on the verge of apathy, the tide of affection flows in a long and devious course. Clear, full and vehement, it descends into the vale of life, where, after a short time, becoming tranquil and serene, it separates into many branches; and these, again dividing, wander in a thousand streams, dispensing, as they move along, the sweets of health and happiness. That no felicity exists independent of a susceptibility for these emotions is a certain fact; for to the heart of him who hath been cold to filial or fraternal duty, the soothing charm of friendship and of love will ever be unknown. It is therefore evident, that to be happy, man must invariably consult the well being of others; to his fellow-creatures he must attribute the bliss which he enjoys; it is a reward proportional to the exertion of his philanthropy. Abstract the man of virtue and benevolence from society, and you cut off the prime source of his happiness; he has no proper object on which to place his affection, or exercise his humanity; the sudden rapture of the grateful heart, the tender tones of friendship, and the melting sweetness of expressive love, no longer thrill upon his ear, or swell his softened soul; all is an aching void, a cheerless and almost unproductive waste: yet even in this situation, barren as it is, where none are found to pour the balm of pity, or listen to the plaint of sorrow, even here some enjoyment is derived from letting loose our affections upon inanimate nature. "Where in a desert (says Sterne) I could not do better, I would fasten them on some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy cypress to connect myself to. I would court their shade, and greet them kindly for their protection. I would cut my name upon them, and swear they were the loveliest trees throughout the desert. If their leaves withered, I would teach myself to mourn, and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice with them."

NEW-YORK.

MARRIED,

On Monday the 28th ult. at Smith Town (L.I.) by the Rev. Mr. Hart, Mr.

ELKANAH SMITH, merchant, of this city, to Miss MARY ARTHUR, of that place.

On Tuesday evening last, by the Rev. Dr. Moore, Mr. JAMES PARKIN, to Mrs. REBECCA CLARKSON, both of this city.

At Boston, on the 11th inst. by the Rev. Dr. Thacher, EZEKIEL BRUSH, Esq. merchant of New-York, to Miss SALLY SHATTUCK, daughter of Wm.

Shattuck, Esq. of that place.

_METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS._ _From the 20th ult. to the 10th inst._

_Thermometor observed at 6, A.M. 3, P.M._ _Prevailing winds._ _OBSERVATIONS on the WEATHER._

deg. deg. 6. 3. 6. 3.

100 100 Nov. 20 54 75 55 ne. do. cloudy high wind rain 21 48 50 52 25 e. do. foggy light wind do. do.

22 46 50 45 ne. do. cloudy rain do.

23 36 36 50 nw. do. clear lt. wind do. high wd.

24 30 50 35 50 nw. do. clear lt. wind do. do.

25 28 50 32 w. do. clear lt. wind do. do.

26 22 50 29 w. do. clear lt. wind do. do.

27 21 50 27 w. nw. clear high wind do. do.

28 25 33 75 w. sw. clear lt. wind cloudy do.

29 27 50 37 n. nw. clear lt. wind do. high do.

30 33 40 50 sw. nw. clear high wind do. do.

Dec. 1 29 75 29 50 sw. nw. cloudy light wind do. do.

2 22 50 32 50 n. do. cloudy light wind do. do.

3 30 75 37 n. w. clear light wind clear do.

4 32 37 50 sw. w. cr. h. wd. cloudy lt. wind 5 36 44 w. do. clear high wd. do. do.

6 36 45 75 w. do. rain light wind do. do.

7 35 50 34 nw. se. snow 3 inches deep 8 28 50 31 nw. do. clear light wind do. do.

9 26 50 33 nw. do. clear light wind do. do.

10 29 34 w. do. cloudy light wind do. do.

RESULTS OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

FOR NOVEMBER 1796.

Mean temperature of the thermometer at sun-rise 38 74 Do. do. of the do. at 3 P.M. 45 60 Do. do. for the whole month 42 34 Greatest monthly range between the 19th and 27th 35 25 Do. do. in 24 hours the 17 21 50 Warmest day the 19 56 75 Coldest do. the 27 21 5

It rained a little, or rather misted four days.

14 Days it was clear at sun-rise, and 3 o'clock 8 Do. it was cloudy at do. do.

Two days it was foggy 16 Do. the wind was light at do do.

4 Do. the do. was high at do. do.

23 Do. the wind was to the Westward of north and south.

7 Do. the do. was to the Eastward of do. do.

The 9th, 10th, and 11th, the Atmosphere was darkened, with apparently thick smoke, which for most of the time, obscured almost the sun, and caused the sky to be very dark, a very uncommon phenomenon, and 8 days the Mercury at sunrise, was below the freezing point.