aides, with the intention of assaulting the editor; he knocked at the door, while Mr. Brackenridge, looking out of the upper story window, inquired what was wanting? Come down,' said Lee, and I'll give you as good a horse-whipping as any rascal ever received.' 'Excuse me, general,' said the other, 'I would not go down for two such favors.'"

Like Dwight and Barlow, Brackenridge was a chaplain in the Revolutionary ariny, preaching political sermons in the camp. Six of them were published at the time in a pamphlet, which had a large circulation. He delivered an oration on the 4th July, 1778, in honor of those fallen in the war, in the Dutch Reformed Church in Philadelphia.

The bent of his mind was not formed for the Scotch Presbyterian theology, so he relinquished the pulpit for the bar, and studied law with Samuel Chase, at Annapolis. His son tells us, in his biographical notice, that "although licensed to preach, he was never ordained nor formally consecrated to the ministry. As he grew older he became convinced that his natural temperament called him to the scenes of active life. Besides, he found himself unable to yield a full assent to all the tenets of the church in which he had been educated. He declared that for two whole years he laboured most sincerely and assiduously to convince himself, but in vain; and he could not think of publicly maintaining doctrines, in which he did not privately believe. On one occasion, in conversation with a Scotch clergyman, he stated his difficulties. The other replied to him that he was pretty much in the same predicament. Then, how do you reconcile it to your conscience to preach doctrines of whose truth you are not fully convinced?' 'Hoot, man,' said he, 'I dinna think much about it-I explain the doctrine, as I wud a system o' moral philosophy or metaphysics; and if I dinna just understand it noo, the time may come when I shall; and in the meantime I put my faith in wiser men, who established the articles, and in those whose heads

are sufficiently clear to understand them. And if we were tae question but ane o' these doctrines, it wud be like taking a stane out o' a biggin; the whole wa' might fa' doon.""

In 1781, Brackenridge crossed the Alleghanies and established himself at Pittsburg-from which region he was sent to the State Legislature. His subsequent participation with Gallatin in the Whiskey Insurrection brought him into general notice in the agitations of that period. As a western man he thought the excise law which the rioters attempted to put down, oppressive. It was impossible not to engage to some extent in their movements, while he exerted his powers to regulate and restrain the actors from the commission of treason. When that affair was over he took pains to vindicate his conduct by procuring letters from the most eminent parties in reply to a circular letter, and by the publication of his Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western Parts of Pennsylvania in 1794, which was published the following year at Philadelphia.

The scenes which he passed through, and his experience of political life, gave him the material for his Modern Chivalry, or the Adventures of Captain Farrago, and Teague O'Regan, his Servant, the first part of which was published in 1796 at Pittsburgh. The second portion was issued after an interval of ten years. The whole of Modern Chivalry, with the last corrections and additions of the author, was published in two volumes at Pittsburgh in 1819, a book which is now exceedingly rare. The Philadelphia edition of 1846, illustrated by Darley, contains only the contents of the first volume of the former edition. It was edited by the author's son, H. M. Bracken ridge, with a preface and biographical sketch. It is there remarked that this work "is believed to be entirely unknown in Europe, and that it has never been noticed by any review." We may quote from the editor's preface an anecdote of the author and his reputation in the West:

The author used to relate an incident which occurred to him at a place where he was detained a day, in consequence of having missed the stage, and feeling ennui, asked the landlord whether he had anything amusing to read. "That I have," said he, at the same time opening a little desk in his bar, and producing a torn volume of "Modern Chivalry." "There," said he, "is something will make you laugh; and the man that wrote it was no fool neither." When the author's descendants or relatives happen to be travelling, the first question almost invariably asked of them is, "Are you related to the author of Modern Chivalry?" One of them having landed on the Mississippi, with the intention of going to St. Louis, a distance of two hundred miles by land, on making inquiries for some mode of conveyance, was addressed by a stranger in these words: "I understand, sir, your name is BrackenChivalry?" And on being answered in the affirmaridge. Are you related to the author of Modern tive, immediately offered his horse, telling him to keep him until an opportunity should offer of returning him.

In the West, Modern Chivalry is, or deserves to be, regarded as a kind of aboriginal classic. It has the rough flavor of the frontier settlement in its manly sentiment, and not particularly delicate expression. Brackenridge was an eccentric man

in his manners, though of vigorous sense. This book shows his humors in perfection, and so far as his ways of thinking go is autobiographic. It exhibits a warm, generous nature, and a man of much reading and reflection. The story, with its few incidents, is modelled upon Hudibras and Don Quixote, and productions of that ilk. The humor is after Sterne and Fielding, whose example would have been nothing without the natural ability of the writer to profit by it.

Captain Farrago is a type of the author; his servant Teague O'Regan is a humorous invention which does capital execution with the demagogues, sciolists, and other pretenders of the day. The work had an object to sow a few seeds of political wisdom among his fellow citizens, then little experienced in the use of political power, and its lessons in this way are profitable still. The Captain is the representative of Don Quixote, a clear-headed man, whose independent way of looking at things, from living out of the world, has gained him the reputation of eccentricity. He is withal a practical wag, setting out with his Irish servant in quest of adventures. The gist of his observation and experience lies in this, that the duties and responsibilities of a new state of society have been thrust upon a race of men so suddenly, that, unused to their new democratic privileges, they are very much in the way of abusing them. Without political knowledge they are ready to send the weaver to Congress; without learning the leatherheads rush in as members of the philosophical society, and appoint, after the manner of Dr. O'Toole, a native Irishman to a Greek professorship. Teague O'Regan is constantly in danger. He is in momentary risk of being decoyed from his master, made a clergyman of, elected to the philosophical society, or spirited away to the legislature. After awhile Teague learns to tell one foot from another by the aid of a Philadelphia dancing master, is introduced at the President's levee, and gets the appointment of Collector of the Excise in the Alleghanies. This leads to a tarring and feathering, which was doubtless drawn from the author's reminiscences of the Whiskey Insurrection. In the meanwhile the Captain has procured a Scottish servant, Duncan, whose dialect is better sustained than that of his Irish predecessor. Brackenridge's law learning, his College reading, his schoolmaster's acquisition, his roughly acquired knowledge of the world, are all displayed in this book. His explanation of his use of the character of the Irish clown is curious, and the remarks which follow are a truthful plea for fiction.

It has been asked, why, in writing this memoir, have I taken my clown from the Irish nation? The character of the English clown, I did not well understand; nor could I imitate the manner of speaking. That of the Scotch I have tried, as may be seen, in the character of Duncan. But I found it, in my hands, rather insipid. The character of the Irish clown, to use the language of Rousseau, "has more stuff in it." He will attempt anything.

The American has in fact, yet, no character; neither the clown, nor the gentleman; so that I could not take one from our own country; which I would much rather have done, as the scene lay here. But the midland states of America, and the western parts in general, being half Ireland, the character

of the Irish clown will not be wholly misunderstood. It is true the clown is taken from the aboriginal Irish; a character not so well known in the North of that country; nevertheless, it is still so much known, even there, and amongst the emigrants here or their descendants, that it will not be wholly thrown away.

On the Irish stages it is a standing character; and on the theatre in Britain it is also introduced. I have not been able to do it justice, being but half an Irishman myself, and not so well acquainted with the reversions, and idiom, of the genuine Thady, as I could wish. However, the imitation, at a distance from the original, will better pass than if it had been written, and read, nearer home. Foreigners will not so readily distinguish the incongruities; or, as it is the best we can produce for the present, will more indulgently consider them.

I think it the duty of every man who possesses a faculty, and perhaps a facility of drawing such images, as will amuse his neighbour, to lend a hand, and do something. Have those authors done nothing for the world, whose works would seem to have had no other object but to amuse? In low health; after the fatigue of great mental exertion on solid disquisition; in pain of mind, from disappointed passions; or broken with the sensibilities of sympathy and affection; it is a relief to try not to think, and this is attainable, in some degree, by light reading. Under sensations of this kind, I have had recourse more than once to Don Quixote; which doubtless contains a great deal of excellent moral sentiment. But, at the same time, has much that can serve only to amuse. Even in health, and with a flow of spirits, from prosperous affairs, it diversifies enjoyments, and adds to the happiness of which the mind is capable. I trust, therefore, that the gravest persons will not be of opinion that I ought to be put out of church for any appearance of levity, which this work may seem to carry with it.

I know there have been instances amongst the Puritans, of clergymen, degraded for singing a Scotch pastoral. But music is a carnal thing_compared with putting thoughts upon paper. It requires an opening of the mouth, and a rolling of the tongue, whereas thought is wholly spiritual, and depends not on any modification of the corporeal organs. Music, however, even by the strictest sects, is admissible in sacred harmony, which is an acknowledgment, that even sound has its uses to soothe the mind or to fit it for contemplation.

I would ask, which is the most entertaining work, Smollet's History of England: or his Humphrey Clinker For, as to the utility, so far as that depends upon truth, they are both alike. History has been well said to be the Romance of the human mind; and Romance the history of the heart. When the son of Robert Walpole asked his father, whether he should read to him out of a book of history; he said, "he was not fond of Romance." This minister had been long engaged in affairs; and from what he had seen of accounts of things within his own knowledge he had little confidence in the relation of things which he had not seen. Except memoirs of persons' own times; biographical sketches by cotemporary writers; Voyages, and Travels, that have geographical exactness, there is little of the historical kind, in point of truth, before Roderick Random, or Gil Blas.

The Eastern nations in their tales pretend to nothing but fiction. Nor is the story with them the less amusing because it is not true. Nor is the moral of it less impressive, because the actors never had existence.

In the second volume of the work the style is

more didactic but not less genial. It contains the material of a rare volume of Essays, fresh, independent in thought, quaint in humor and expression.

When Governor McKean secured the democratic ascendency by his election in 1799, Brackenridge was one of his appointments as Judge in the Supreme Court of the State, where he presided with ability till his death in 1816. Brackenridge deserves to be better known through his writings. His numerous miscellanies, scattered in old pamphlets, periodicals, and newspapers, if collected would form a pleasing and instructive commentary on his times. He had wit, humor, and a sound judgment. His judicial decisions were celebrated for their integrity and independence.

Hildreth, no friend to his party, admits-"Even Brackenridge, whatever his eccentricities and faults as a man or a politician, proved, in his judicial character, no disgrace to the bench."*

His social talents must have been of a rare order. There is a capital anecdote narrated by Paulding, of his efforts to overcome the gravity of Washington. The judge, as he relates it, "on a particular occasion, fell in with Washington at a public-house, where a large company had gathered together for the purpose of discussing the subject of improving the navigation of the Potomac. They supped at the saine table, and Mr. Brackenridge essayed all his powers of humor to divert the General; but in vain. He seemed aware of his purpose, and listened without a smile. However, it so happened that the chambers of Washington and Brackenridge adjoined, and were only separated from each other by a thin partition of pine boards. The General had retired first, and when the judge entered his own room, he was delighted to hear Washington, who was already in bed, laughing to himself with infinite glee, no doubt at the recollection of his stories."t

AN ELECTION SCENE-FROM MODERN CHIVALRY.

The Captain rising early next morning, and setting out on his way, had now arrived at a place where a number of people were convened, for the purpose of electing persons to represent them in the legislature of the state. There was a weaver who was a candidate for this appointment, and seemed to have a good deal of interest among the people. another, who was a man of education, was his competitor. Relying on some talent of speaking which he thought he possessed, he addressed the multitude.

But

Fellow citizens, said he, I pretend not to any great abilities; but am conscious to myself that I have the best good will to serve you. But it is very astonishing to me, that this weaver should conceive himself qualified for the trust. For though my acquirements are not great, yet his are still less. The mechanical business which he pursues, must necessarily take up so much of his time, that he cannot apply himself to political studies. I should therefore think it would be more answerable to

History of the United States.

+ Paulding's Life of Washington, ii. 194. There is a story still circulated in Philadelphia, which he used to tell at the expense of the Philosophical Society, of a member having picked up one of the small fashionable lady's fans of those Pays, in the gutter, and the society having reported on it as the wing of a newly discovered bat.

your dignity, and conducive to your interest, to be represented by a man at least of some letters, than by an illiterate handicraftsman like this. It will be more honorable for himself, to remain at his loom and knot threads than to come forward in a legislative capacity: because in the one case, he is in the sphere suited to his education; in the other, he is like a fish out of water, and must struggle for breath in a new element.

Is it possible he can understand the affairs of government, whose mind has been concentred to the small object of weaving webs, to the price by the yard, the grist of the thread, and such like matters as concern the manufacturer of cloths? The feet of him who weaves, are more occupied than the head, or at least as much; and therefore he must be, at least but in half, accustomed to exercise his mental powers. For these reasons, all other things set aside, the chance is in my favour, with respect to information. However, you will decide, and give your suffrages to him or to me, as you shall judge expedient.

The Captain hearing these observations, and looking at the weaver, could not help advancing, and undertaking to subjoin something in support of what had been just said. Said he, I have no prejudice against a weaver more than another man.

Nor do

I know any harm in the trade; save that from the sedentary life in a damp place, there is usually a paleness of the countenance; but this is a physical, not a moral evil. Such usually occupy subterranean apartments; not for the purpose, like Demosthenes, of shaving their heads and writing over eight times the history of Thucydides, and perfecting a style of oratory; but rather to keep the thread moist; or because this is considered but as an inglorious sort of trade, and is frequently thrust away into cellars, and damp out-houses, which are not occupied for a better use.

But to rise from the cellar to the senate house, would be an unnatural hoist. To come from counting threads, and adjusting them to the splits of a reed, to regulate the finances of a government, would be preposterous; there being no congruity in the case. There is no analogy between knotting threads and framing laws. It would be a reversion of the order of things. Not that a manufacturer of linen or woolen, or other stuffs, is an inferior character, but a different one, from that which ought to be employed in affairs of state. It is unnecessary to enlarge on this subject; for you must all be convinced of the truth and propriety of what I say. But if you will give me leave to take the manufacturer aside a little, I think I can explain to him my ideas on the subject; and very probably prevail with him to withdraw his pretensions. The people seeming to acquiesce, and beckoning to the weaver, they withdrew aside, and the Captain addressed him in the following words:

Now,

Mr. Traddle, said he, for that was the name of the manufacturer, I have not the smallest idea of wounding your sensibility; but it would seem to me, it would be more your interest to pursue your occupation, than to launch out into that of which you have no knowledge. When you go to the senate house, the application to you will not be to warp a web; but to make laws for the commonwealth. suppose that the making these laws requires a knowledge of commerce, or of the interests of agriculture. or those principles upon which the different manufactures depend, what service could you render? It is possible you might think justly enough; but could you speak! You are not in the habit of public speaking. You are not furnished with those commonplace ideas, with which even very ignorant men can

pass for knowing something. There is nothing makes a man so ridiculous, as to attempt what is above his sphere. You are no tumbler, for instance; yet should you give out that you could vault upon a man's back; or turn heels over head like the wheels of a cart; the stiffness of your joints would encumber you; and you would fall upon your posteriors to the ground. Such a squash as that, would do you damage. The getting up to ride on the state is an unsafe thing to those who are not accustomed to such horsemanship. It is a disagreeable thing for a man to be laughed at, and there is no way of keep ing one's self from it but by avoiding all affectation.

While they were thus discoursing, a bustle had taken place among the crowd. Teague hearing so much about elections, and serving the government, took it into his head that he could be a legislator himself. The thing was not displeasing to the people, who seemed to favour his pretensions; owing, in some degree, to there being several of his countrymen among the crowd; but more especially to the fluctuation of the popular mind, and a disposition to what is new and ignoble. For though the weaver was not the most elevated object of choice, yet he was still preferable to this tatter-demalion, who was but a menial servant, and had so much of what is called the brogue on his tongue, as to fall far short of an elegant speaker.

Under

The Captain coming up, and finding what was on the carpet, was greatly chagrined at not having been able to give the multitude a better idea of the importance of a legislative trust; alarmed also, from an apprehension of the loss of his servant. these impressions he resumed his address to the multitude. Said he, this is making the matter still worse, gentlemen: this servant of mine is but a bog-trotter, who can scarcely speak the dialect in which your laws ought to be written; but certainly has never read a single treatise on any political subject; for the truth is, he cannot read at all. The young people of the lower class, in Ireland, have seldom the advantage of a good education; especially the descendants of the ancient Irish, who have most of them a great assurance of countenance, but little information or literature. This young man, whose family name is O'Regan, has been my servant for several years; and, except a too great fondness for women, which now and then brings him into scrapes, he has demeaned himself in a manner tolerable enough. But he is totally ignorant of the great principles of legislation; and more especially the particular interests of the government. A free government is a noble acquisition to a people: and this freedom consists in an equal right to make laws, and to have the benefit of the laws when made. Though doubtless, in such a government, the lowest citizen may become chief magistrate; yet it is sufficient to possess the right, not absolutely necessary to exercise it. Or even if you should think proper, now and then, to show your privilege, and exert, in a signal manner, the democratic prerogative, yet is it not descending too low to filch away from me a hireling, which I cannot well spare? You are surely carrying the matter too far, in thinking to make a senator of this ostler; to take him away from an employment to which he has been bred, and put him to another, to which he has served no apprenticeship to set those hands which have been lately employed in currying my horse, to the draughting bills, and preparing business for the house.

The people were tenacious of their choice, and insisted on giving Teague their suffrages; and by the frown upon their brows, seemed to indicate resentment at what had been said; as indirectly charging them with want of judgment; or calling

in question their privilege to do what they thought proper. It is a very strange thing, said one of them, who was a speaker for the rest, that after having conquered Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and got a government of our own, we cannot put in it whom we please. This young man may be your servant, or another man's servant; but if we choose to make him a delegate, what is that to you? He may not be yet skilled in the matter, but there is a good day coming. We will empower him; and it is better to trust a plain man like him than one of your highflyers, that will make laws to suit their own pur

poses.

I had much rather, said the Captain, you would send the weaver, though I thought that improper, than to invade my household, and thus detract from me the very person that I have about me to brush my boots, and clean my spurs.

The prolocutor of the people gave him to understand that his objections were useless, for the people had determined on the choice, and Teague they would have, for a representative.

Finding it answered no end to expostulate with the multitude, he requested to speak a word with Teague by himself. Stepping aside, he said to him, composing his voice, and addressing him in a soft manner: Teague, you are quite wrong in this matter they have put into your head. Do you know what it is to be a member of a deliberative body? What qualifications are necessary? Do you understand anything of geography? If a question should be put to make a law to dig a canal in some part of the state, can you describe the bearing of the mountains, and the course of the rivers? Or if commerce is to be pushed to some new quarter, by the force of regulations, are you competent to decide in such a case? There will be questions of law and astronomy on the carpet. How you must gape and stare like a fool, when you come to be asked your opinion on these subjects! Are you acquainted with the abstract principles of finance; with the funding public securities; the ways and means of raising the revenue; providing for the discharge of the public debts, and all other things which respect the economy of the government? Even if you had knowledge, have you a facility of speaking? I would suppose you would have too much pride to go to the house just to say, ay or no. This is not the fault of your nature, but of your education; having been accustomed to dig turf in your early years, rather than instructing yourself in the classics, or common

school books.

When a man becomes a member of a public body, he is like a racoon, or other beast that climbs up the fork of a tree; the boys pushing at him with pitchforks, or throwing stones or shooting at him with an arrow, the dogs barking in the mean time. One will find fault with your not speaking; another with your speaking, if you speak at all. They will put you in the newspapers, and ridicule you as a perfect beast. There is what they call the caricatura; that is, representing you with a dog's head, or a cat's claw. As you have a red head, they will very probably make a fox of you, or a sorrel horse, or a brindled cow. It is the devil in hell to be exposed to the squibs and crackers of the gazette wits and publications. You know no more about these matters than a goose; and yet you would undertake rashly, without advice, to enter on the office; nay, contrary to advice. For I would not for a thousand guineas, though I have not the half to spare, that the breed of the O'Regans should come to this; bringing on them a worse stain than stealing sheep; to which they are addicted. You have nothing but your character, Teague, in a new coun

try to depend upon. Let it never be said, that you quitted an honest livelihood, the taking care of my horse, to follow the new-fangled whims of the times, and be a statesman.

Teague was moved chiefly with the last part of the address, and consented to relinquish his pretensions.

The Captain, glad of this, took him back to the people, and announced his disposition to decline the honor which they had intended him.

Teague acknowledged that he had changed his mind, and was willing to remain in a private station.

The people did not seem well pleased with the Captain; but as nothing more could be said about the matter, they turned their attention to the weaver, and gave him their suffrages.

TEAGUE A MEMBER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

There was, in a certain great city, a society who called themselves Philosophers. They had published books, under the title of Transactions. These contained dissertations on the nature and causes of things, from the stars of heaven to the fireflies of the earth; and from the sea-crab to the woodland buffaloe. Such disquisitions are doubtless useful and entertaining to an inquisitive mind.

There is no question but there were in this body some very great men; whose investigations of the arcana of nature deserve attention. But so it was, there had been introduced, by some means, many individuals, who were no philosophers at all. This is no unusual thing with institutions of this nature; though, by the bye, it is a very great fault. For it lessens the incentives of honor, to have the access made so easy that every one may obtain admission. It has been a reproach to some colleges, that a diploma could be purchased for half a crown. This society were still more moderate; for the bare scratching the posteriors of a member has been known to procure a membership. At least, there have been those admitted, who appeared capable of nothing else.

Nevertheless, it was necessary, even in these cases, for the candidates to procure some token of a philosophic turn of mind, such as the skin of a dead eat, or some odd kind of a mouse-trap; or have phrases in their mouths, about minerals and petrifactions; so as just to support some idea of natural knowledge, and pass muster. There was one who got in, by finding, accidentally, the tail of a rabbit, which had been taken off in a boy's trap. Another by means of a squirrel's scalp, which he had taken eare to stretch and dry on a bit of osier, bended in the form of a hoop. The beard of an old fox, taken off and dried in the sun, was the means of introducing one whom I knew very well: or rather, as I have already hinted, it was beforehand intended he should be introduced; and these exuviæ, or spoils of the animal kingdom, were but the tokens and apologies for admission.

It happened as the Captain was riding this day, and Teague trotting after him, he saw a large owl, that had been shot by somebody, and was placed in the erotch of a tree, about the height of a man's head from the ground, for those that passed by to look at. The Captain being struck with it, as somewhat larger than such birds usually are, desired Teague to reach it to him; and tying it to the hinder part of his saddle, rode along.

Passing by the house of one who belonged to the society, the bird was noticed at the saddle-skirts, and the philosopher coming out, made enquiry with regard to the genus and nature of the fowl. Said the Captain, I know nothing more about it than that it is nearly as large as a turkey buzzard. It is

doubtless, said the other, the great Canada owl, that comes from the Lakes; and if your honor will give me leave, I will take it and subinit it to the society, and have yourself made a member. As to the first, the Captain consented; but as to the last, the being a member, he chose rather to decline it; conceiving himself unqualified for a place in such a body. The other assured him that he was under a very great mistake; for there were persons there who scarcely knew a B from a bull's foot. That may be, said the Captain: but if others choose to degrade themselves, by suffering their names to be used in so preposterous a way as that, it was no reason he should.

The other gave him to understand, that the society would certainly wish to express their sense of his merit, and show themselves not inattentive to a virtuoso; that as he declined the honor himself, he probably might not be averse to let his servant take a seat among them.

He is but a simple Irishman, said the Captain, and of a low education: his language being that spoken by the aborigines of his country. And if he speaks a little English, it is with the brogue on his tongue, which would be unbecoming in a member of your body. It would seem to me that a philosopher ought to know how to write, or at least to read; but Teague can neither write nor read. He can sing a song or whistle an Irish tune; but is totally illiterate in all things else. I question much if he could tell you how many new moons there are in the year; or any the most common thing you could ask him. He is a long-legged fellow, it is true; and might be of service in clambering over rocks, or going to the shores of rivers to gather curiosities. But could you not get persons to do this, without making them members? I have more respect for science, than to suffer this bog-trotter to be so advanced at its expense.

In these American states, there is a wide field for philosophic research; and these researches may be of great use in agriculture, mechanics, and astronomy There is but little immediate profit attending these pursuits; but if there can be inducements of honor, these may supply the place. What more alluring to a young man, than the prospect of being one day received into the society of men truly learned; the admission being a test and a proof of distinguished knowledge. But the fountain of honor, thus contaminated by a sediment foreign from its nature, who would wish to drink of it?

Said the philosopher, at the first institution of the society by Dr. Franklin and others, it was put upon a narrow basis, and only men of science were considered proper to compose it; and this might be a necessary policy at that time, when the institution was in its infancy, and could not bear much drawback of ignorance. But it has not been judged so necessary of late years. The matter stands now on a broad and catholic bottom; and like the gospel itself, it is our orders, "to go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." There are hundreds, whose names you may see on our list, who are not more instructed than this lad of yours. They must be a sad set indeed then, said the Captain.

Sad or no sad, said the other, it is the case; and if you will let Teague go, I will engage him a membership.

I take it very ill of you, Mr. Philosopher, said the Captain, to put this nonsense in his head. If you knew what trouble I have lately had with a parcel of people that were for sending him to Congress, you would be unwilling to draw him from me for the purpose of making him a philosopher. It is not an easy matter to get hirelings now-a-days; and