TO THE CENSOR.

I Do not hesitate to state to you, Mr. Censor, that I am a married man! I always thought matrisory the summit of earthly felicity, and I think so still! I appeal to your conscience for an honest reply to the following interrogation: Are you serious in your defence of mother Wormwood or not? If you are, I can easily conceive that some unfortunate connection may have embittered the moments which you had vainly devoted to enjoyment and pleasure. Nay, I will even attribute your defence of celibacy to cruel disappointment. As my dutiful and affectionate spouse, Tabitha Crump, has been satirically and unwarrantably mentioned by Mrs. Wormwood, in her last whimsical letter, it is incumbent upon me to correct the mistake of that ancient lady.— "Benjamin," said Mrs. Crump, the other evening, patting my cheek, and looking steadfastly in my face, yes, and with such a soft delicious accent, that my old blood shot through my veins with additional celerity, "Benjamin," said she "surely we must be happy! Before I knew you, Benjamin, my life was a burthen. When a virgin, I sighed and lamented, and frowned and wept. Now" here she threw her arms around my neck, but did not utter another syllable. It was easy to find out the meaning of all this. She brought me a pen, and put it into my hand, with an earnestness that signified, "there Benjamin, bespatter the old maid with ridicule and our just reproaches. Prove to her that we can furnish a glorious instance of conjugal felicity!" This is strange, and yet it is as true as the gospel. Though I am verging on my sixtieth year, and Tabitha is only seventeen, she is delicate, unassuming, meek, and affectionate.

Of what use are all the invidious and contumelious reflections which have been cast on the marriage state? Men and women will marry; they couple together as by instinct. A platonic affection is foolish and unproductive, and ought to be for ever banished from society. It is an insidious coldblooded feeling, as disgraceful as it is absurd. What is life

without a partner? Tabitha is an example of virtue, love, and obedience! I never harbor a sentiment not directed to the promotion of her happiness, and she is blessed with a disposition equally tender and obliging.—

« Even thought meets thought, e'er from the lips it part,
“And each warm wish springs mutual from the heart;
"This sure is bliss (if bliss on earth there be)
"And now the lot of Tabitha and me!!"

When I was a widower, misery followed every footstep. In whom could I repose the secrets of my soul? Jane Wormwood, if she speaks conscientiously, can assure you, that she enjoys no real comfort. Her life has been a tissue of disappointments.

But to return to my adorable Tabitha. Patient and lovely as an angel, she warms the flannels to wrap about my gouty joints, prepares my night draught, and amuses the lingering moments of pain with reading the Arabian Nights, or the laughable Adventures of Don Quixote. Divine essence of all that is amiable, of all that is beautiful, how much am I indebted to thy unremitting attention? We have no offspring! Alas! this is the only consideration which clouds the serenity of Tabitha's mind! Was there ever any remedy invented for the removal of this grievance? You, Mr. Censor, possessing a considerable versatility of talent and investigation, may have heard of such a remedy. But I am all resignation to the will of Providence!

In Tabitha Crump, the best qualities of human nature are combined! Disparity of years is no obstacle to an affectionate intercourse, for we can boast that happy reciprocity of feeling which is really known to so very few. The philippics of Mrs. Wormwood, then, against matrimony, are ill-natured and unjust. Our life proves it to a demonstration.

Your's, with due reverence,

BENJAMIN CRUMP.

FOR THE POLYANTHOS.

THE FREEBOOTER.

"The good humor is to steal at a minute's rest-Convey, the wise it call; steal! a fico for the phrase." Shakspeare.

Trial of Patience.

PETTY torments, incessantly repeated, exhaust the most determined patience. It is said, that the continual falling of a single drop of water upon the head, is the most violent torture, that human cruelty has yet invented.

Prejudice of Education.

Those, who will not make allowances for national prejudice, and who do not consider how much all our tastes are influenced by early education, example, and the accidental association of ideas, may dispute forever without coming to any conclusion; especially, if they avoid stating any distinct proposition; if each of the combatants set up a standard of his own, as the universal standard of taste; and if, instead of arguments, both parties have recourse to wit and ridicule.

Obligations.

Obligations may command gratitude, but can never ensure love. If the benefit be of a pecuniary nature, it is necessarily attended with a certain sense of humiliation, which destroys the equality of friendship. Of whatever description the favor may be, it becomes burdensome, if gratitude be expected as a tribute, instead of being accepted as the free-will offering of the heart Still paying, still to owe,' is irksome, even to those who have nothing satanic in their natures. A person, who has received a favor, is in a defenceless state, with respect to a benefactor; and the benefactor, who makes an improper use of the power, which gratitude gives, becomes an

oppressor.

Domestic Quarrels.

Those, who have not traced the causes of family quarrels, would not readily guess from what slight circumstances they

often originate; they arise more frequently from small defects in temper, than from material faults of character-People, who would perhaps sacrifice their fortunes or lives for each other, cannot, at certain moments, give up their will, or command their humor, in the slightest degree.

I know not the author of the following trifle, nor is it of much consequence to be known. The thoughts are pretty, and will please the mind of sensibility.

To a sleeping Infant.
Art thou a thing of mortal birth,

Whose happy home is on the earth?
Does human blood with life embue
Those wandering veins of heavenly blue,
That stray along thy forehead fair,
Lost mid a gleam of golden hair?
O! can that light and airy breath
Steal from a being doom'd to death;
Those features to the grave be sent,
In sleep thus mutely eloquent ?
Or, art thou, what thy form would seem,
The phantom of a blessed dream?

O that my spirit's eye could see
Whence burst those dreams of extacy!
That light of dreaming soul appears
To play from thoughts above thy years.
Thou smil'st as if thy soul were soaring
To heaven, and heaven's GoD adoring!
And who can tell what visions high
May bless an infant's sleeping eye!
What brighter throne can brightness find
To reign on, than an infant's mind,
Ere sin destroy, or error dim,
The glory of the seraphim!

Force of Female Attachment.

Whoever possesses the heart of a woman, who has common powers of intellect, may improve her understanding in twelve

months, more than could all the masters, and lectures, and courses of philosophy, and abridgements, and documenting in the universe.

The Death of the Righteous.
Sweet is the scene when virtue dies,

When sinks a righteous soul to rest;
How mildly beam the closing eyes!

How gently heaves the expiring breast!
So fades a summer cloud away;

So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ;
So gently shuts the eye of day,

So dies a wave along the shore.
Triumphant smiles the victor brow,

Fan'd by some angel's purple wing:
O grave! where is thy victory?

Invidious Death! where is thy sting?
A holy quiet reigns around;

A calm, which nothing can destroy;
Nought can disturb that peace profound,
Which their unfetter'd souls enjoy.
Farewell, conflicting joys and fears,

Where light and shade alternate dwell;
How bright th' unchanging morn appears,
Farewell! inconstant world, farewell!
Its duty done, as sinks the clay,

Light, from its load, the spirit flies,
While heaven and earth combine to say,
"Sweet is the scene when virtue dies."

There are people, who would rather that their best friends should miss a piece of good fortune, than that they should obtain it without their intervention.

Delicacy necessary in conferring Favors.

Those who receive and those who confer great favors are both in difficult stations: but the part of the benefactor is the