THE NOR WALK GAZETTE. “it r . .. .. ,.I_,._...._,_.._.__ . _.. .,.. -. _-, N E IVSP.-S‘. PE .33. C HAT. 'CuN.\'iNG Sit‘.u'i-:it.——.\Ir Nollekcns, on enterinr._z his barber’s shop, was always glad to find another shaver under the suds, as it afforded him an opportunity of looking at his favourite paper the Dctily Adverliwi‘ ; when his turn arrived, and he was sealed for the operation, he placed one of Mrs Nollekens’s curling papers, which he had untwisted for the pur- pose, upon his right shoulder, upon which the barber wiped his razor. Nollekens cried out, “ Shave close, Hancock, for I was obliged to come twice last week, you used so blunt a razor.”— “Lord, Sir,” answered the poor barber, “you don't care how I wear my razors out by sharpening them." Mr Nollekens, who had been under his hand for upwards of twenty years, was so correct an observer ofits application, that he generaly pronounc- ed at the last flourish, “ That will do ;” and before the shaver could take ofiitlie cloth, he dextrouslv drew down the paper, fold- edit up, and carrietl it home in his hand, forthe purpose ofusing it the next morning when he \vaslied liimsell'.—.Nollc/sens and his Times. ORIENTAL CIVILIZA’1‘ON.—-Orlenlal civilization is always on a level with ours. because it is older, and originally more pure and more perfect. To an UHp!‘t*_lU(llCe(l eye there is no com- parison between the nobletiess, deconrum, and dignified grace of Aarb, Turkish, Indian, and Persian manners, and our own. ‘Vs are felt to be a youthful people, just emerging from a hard, course and imperfect civilization; they are felt to be the well born inheritors of antique wisdon and virtue; their nobleness, which is but the filiation of primitive virtues, is written on their foreheads, is stamped on all their liabits——besides, there is no vulgar amongst them. Moral civilization, which is all I note, is a level everywhere. The shepherd and the emir are ofthe same family, speak the same tongue, have the same usages, participate in the same wisdom, the same grandeur of tradi- tion,--whicli form the atmosphere ofa people.--Lantarlinds Pilgrimage. - N.-1'rIoNA1. TASTES.-“ \Vho,” cries John Bull, “would like to be a slave, and submit to a master ?" Few indeed who were born without one. And “who,” cries the American citizen, “would like to be a subject, and submit to a King ?" Citizen. subject, and slave, are the major, m2';no'r, and miniiitus in politi- cal rank. And an American woodcutter would without doubt look down with the same contempt upon an English Alderman, with which an ‘English coal heaver may regard a well fed Negro : yet the Alderman would think it very impertinent, should the Republicans in W'ashington set about a subacription to deliver him from a King.—Elon.ian out of Bounds. RUSSIA AND RUSSIANS.-—Tl1e late Sir James Macintosh, in his summary view of Rulhiere’s History of Poland, says- " Universal political bondage produces its usual fruits in Russia ; not one native Muscovite shows a glimpse of genius or virtue ; the words ‘slave’ and ‘man’ are it seems, the same in the lan- guage of these waetches. There would surely be a grater de- struction of understanding and virtue in the loss of one Swiss canton. English parish, or American town, than in that of fifty planet loads of Muscovites.” HAPPlNESs.-—- A memorable truth is contained in this stanza : “ If solid happiness we prise, \Vithin our breast this jewel lies, And they are fools who roam :v The world has nothing to bestow ; From our own selves ourjoys must flow ; And that dear but, our home.” WAsniNG'ro1~i’s OPINION or N1~:wsr.u=i:ns.—Extractofa let- ter from the immortal Wasliington to the editor 0} the American Museum," dated Mount Vernon, June 2-5, 1788 : _ _ “For my part, I entertain an high idea of the _utility_of periodical publications ; insomnch, that I could heartily desire copies ofthe Museum magazines as well as the gazettes might be spread through every city, town, and village ot Aiiierica. I consider such easy vehicles of knowledge more happily cala- lated than any other, to preserve the LIBERTY, stimulate the INDUSTRY, and ineliorate the MORALS ofan enlightened and free people.” A .. TRANSMIGRATION or Sou1.s.——Ainong the doctrines taught. by the Bonzes or Priests of the Chinese God F0. IS the Pytha- gorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls. The impression which this doctrine makes upon the credtilous Chinese, may be judged of by a fact related by Ftitherle Coinpte in his meinoris. r 1. “ Irecollect.” says he, “that being one day in the province of Chauci, I was called to baptise asick person. This was a man of 70 years of age, who lived on a small pension the emperor granted to him. The inoinentI entered his chamber be ex- claimed, ‘How much I am obliged to you, my dear Father 3 you will deliver me from the greatest ofmisery ! yoti know, my father, thatI have lived a long time on the bounty of the Ein- peror. The bonzes, who are well informed of what passes in the other world, assured me, that in gratitude I shall be obliged to serve my benefactor after death, and that my soul will infalli- bly pass into one ofhis post horses, in order to carry the despaches of the court to distant provinces. Tney exhort me therefore, to perform my duty well, when I enter upon my new state; not to sttinible, to kick, to bite,nor to hurt any one. Run well, they tell me ; eat little, and be paient. By this you will excite the compassion ofthe gods, who will often at least convert a good beast into a man of quality, and a considerible Mandarin. I confess, my father, that this idea makes me trouble ; it haunts me day and night. In my sleep sometimes, I already imagine myselfin harness, and ready to set off at the first lash of the postillion : I awake imunspeakable terror, not knowing whether I am a man or a horse. Alas, how deplorable will be my fate, when this is no longer a dream 3 I will tell you, then, my father, the resoltitioti I have taken. I am assurred that the fol- lowers of your religion are not subject to these calamities; that men with you will be always men ; thatin the other world they will he what they were in this. I implore you to receive me among you ; I know very well that your religion is difficult to be observed ; but were it far more difficult, still I am ready to embrace it.’ “ This address, and the the situation of the sick person, ex- cited my compassion ; but reflecting that God makes use even of simplicity and ignorance to conduct men to the truth, I took the opportunity which this gave me to convince him ofhis errors, anti to point out to him the road to salvation. I instructed him a long time ; he belived at last, and I had the satisfaction to see him die not only with more rational sentiments, but with all the signs of a good Christian.” Tm; ELEMENTS or CHlVALRY.—-An old writer describing the state of England before the reign of I-Ienrythe eighth, says, “ no younger brothers were allowed to betake themseles totrade, but were churchmen or retainers and servants to great men, rode good horses, now aacl then toolca purse, and their blood, that was bred at the good tables of their masters, was, upon every occasion, freely let out in their quarrels.” DEGRESS or coi\'sA1~:eUi.\'i'rY.—By a late act ofParliament in England, marriages between the widower or widow anda sister or brother, of the deceased wife or husband, are now not merely voidable, but absolutely void. Many instances of this crying enormity had frequently taken place, and this reform was brought about by Lord Lyndhurst. SUMMARY INI-‘LlCTION.—-Count d’Espana lately sentenced the manager of the Theatre at Barcelona, who neglected to cause a cask to be removed from before the playhouse, to have, during the whole evening, his head poked into the cask, which emitted a pestilential stench. - A SE-NSXBLE Apnorusii1.—There is a deal of truth in a re- mark which Mademoisele de Sommary frequently repeated :—-- “ The world stigmatizes may men with the reputation ofbeing wicked, with whom a woman would be bui too happy to pass her life.” BEAUTIFUL SIMILE.-—Byl'OI1 thus compares the decline of day to the dying dolphin. ————“ Parting day Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang inbucs \Vith a new colour, as it gasps away : The last still loveliest, till—-’tis gone—and all is gray !" ABSTRACTION.—-Larrlberf, the famous geometrician, possess- ed such apower of abstracting his mind from what was passing around him, that he wrote many of his most luminous papers on mathematicks and opticks in the cornerof a thickly frequent- ed, noisy, and bustling coffee house. - Lovi-:.-—There is a pithy little epigram in the Greek Anth- ology, on a statue of Cupid ; its translation is to this efi'ect:_ ' “ Whoe’er thou art, thy master see—.-2 He was. or is, or is to be.” _ THE c.»u1r:.t..---The “ship of the desert,” is the oriental figure for the camel, or dromedary ; and they deserve the metaphor well---the former for his endurance, the latter for his swiftness.
Norwalk Chronicler