r f kings ton chronicle nec rege nec fopulo 8ed utroque vol x saturday october 11 1828 no xv poetry sonnet 11 id be a butterfly id be a butterfly born in a bower where roses and lilies and violets meet roving forever from flower to flower and kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet id never languish for wealth or for power id never sigh to see slaves at my feet id be a butterfly born in a bower kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet o could i pilfer tbe wand of a fairy id have a pair of those beautiful wings their summerdays ramble is sportive and airy they sleep in a rose when the nightingale sings those who have wealth must be watchful and wary power alas nought but misery briugs id be a butterfly spertive and airy rockd in a rose when the nighingale what tho you tell me each gay little rover shrinks from the breath of the first autumn day sure it is better when summer is over to die when all fair things are fading away some in lifes winter may toil to discover means of procuring a weary delay id he abutterfly living a rover dying when fair things are fading away bayly the marriage scene- young chaste and lovely pleased yet half afraid before yon alter droops a plighted maid clad in her bridal robes of taintless white dumb with the scene and trepid with delight around her berhymenial guardians stand each with a tender look and feeling bland and oft she turns her beauty beaming eye dimmed with a tear of happiness gone by then coil views in youths commanding pride her own adored one standiug by her side like lilies bending from the noontide blaze tlerbashfuleyelidsdroopbenejh the gaze while love and homage blend their blissful power and shed a halo round his marriage hour what though his chanceabounding life ordain a path of anguish and precarious pain 3y weal or woe whereer compelled to rove a cots a palace by the light of love there beats one heart which until death will be a gushing glowing fount of sympathy ouefrowhless eye to kindle with his own one changeless friend when other friends are flown oh sanction thou the love united pair fountain of love for thou are present there r montgomery which if proved would have driven them from society i have frequently heard ac cusations uttered which made accusers responsible to the power of the law and uttered too with a degree of selfcompla cency for the ingenious malice with which the charge was worded not only painful but appalling to witness which of my readers as well as myself has not heard a lawyer accused of taking a bribe to lose a cause for his client ora physician or sur geon accused of killing his patients either by his system his rashness or his igno rance which of us has not heard some persons accused of suppressing or forging a will who has not listened to the asper sions of the fair fame of women for which the utmost vengeance of tbe law could not have afforded the slightest recompense and this too in what is called tho good company far be it from me to plead for those of my own sex who regardless of decorum have been contented to be innocent with out heins careful to appear so who have carried liveliness to the borders of lenity and worn the semblance of errors which they in their utmost heart abhorred s the consequences of their own actions aud though indiscretion docs not at all excuse the slander and backbiting of their accu- sersstill they must heud in humble resigna tion to the punishment of which they are couscious but i have known instances where the most correct conduct has not preserved from defamation- i know that there have been men and women too who though supported by the consciousness of innocence have yet piued brokenhearted through life bowed by a sense of degradation which they never de served and have sunk into an early grave from the consequences of calumnies spo- treating with sisterly candour those petty blemishes from which she is happily ex empt herself when i began this work i had convinc ed myself that though detraction was a common vice defamation was not but the experience eveu of the last year has convinced me that wherever the spirit of the world exists not only that of detraction but of defamation exists also and that though i may not be as much exposed to hear its breathings as i once was they are to bo heard and that where the detractor is the defamer is not far behind even when which is rarely the case reports are not false still it is our duty to suspend our belief of them till to doubt is no longer pos sible and if true why should 1 under take the unbecoming task of spreading the disgrace if i have no personal illwill towards the offender what motive hut a love of evilspeaking can induce me to do so and if i have it is the more necessary that i should be silent lest i should be in dulging a feeling of revenge the author of the government of the tongue gives the epithet of lying to defamation aud justly because those who are eager to tell a tale of srdol i-cnlj- iu itoijiiki ii effects by the aid of invention especially if the tale he against anyone who has wound ed their oelllovc moreover a charge after heilk bruited about by several tongues increases in guilt and impor tance so much that the first uttercr of it would scarcely know it again how un satisfactory often is the evidence for the truth of a calumnious report who told thee ibis and how dost thou know it is true m oh because sich a one told me ad he had it from lady so and so and she knows the parties intimately admirable authority for if lady so and i so knows the parties intimately was she literature from mrs opies detraction dis- pfcayep ofl amatlol i must now discuss the most painful part of my subject namely that excess of detraction which becomes defamation defamation is always detraction hut though tbe tongue which is ready to de tract is well fitted to defame still detrac tion is not positively defamation it was against the utterers of detraction amounting to defamation that the punish- meutof standing in a white sheet in the aisle or porch of a church was awarded by the justice of our ancestors and when i first entered into society and heard reputa tions gossiped away i used to consider the abolition of this punishment as a national evil nay i have sometimes amused my self with imagining certain of our acquain tances standing in the aisle of their pa rish church in this well deserved attire and bad i possessed the power of group ing with my pencil many persons might have seen their faces peeping from under its degraded folds who would have been unconscious that tbey deserved to figure there though for the slanderous frequen ters of an akhouse or inhabitants of a cottage they would have judged it a pro per punishment but as sinners in robes were always more offensive to- me than sin ners in rags and the slanderer of the drawingroom than that of the kitchen as ignorance may excuse the one but cannot the other wrapt the white sheet in idea round the rich alone and should have re joiced to see my imaginations realized but as i have increased in years i have learnt to make more allowance for the in firmities of others taught and humbled by a growing sense of my own and the white sheet or indeed any punishments for of fences which arc common to us all as er ring mortals i have ceased to feel any de sire tosee inflicted even as i humbly trust on those who have calumniated myself still i have not ceased to feel a strong e- motion of indignation wheuever i hear a defamation uttered against friend or foe and alas there are few persons who have lived in the world whether iu public or in private life without hearing their acquain tances male or female accused of faults bacchanalian revelry and repeated as much in wantonness as malignity at the teatable of the gossip alas these uufor- tunates might have exclaimed with the frogs in the fable when some wanton boys threw stones into their pood it may be sport to you but it is death to us nay i believe that there are individu als tremblingly alive to the opinion of o- thers who are preserved from misery aud prevented from hiding themselves in ob scurity merely by being allowed to remain uueonscious to what vile motives even their best actions are attributed for as the somnambulist can walk in safety in the midst of peril only while his sleep is per mitted to continue so these objects of un remitted obloquy arc preserved in peace only as long as they are ignorant of their wrongs but inform the calumniated and awaken the sleep walker and wretched ness even for life would probably be the fate of one aud dislocated joiuts or death of the other my own sex must bear with me while i say that though every man is debased in my eyeb when i hear him accuse a wo man of any gross offence and though i consider his attack on defenceless females as mean aud unmanly yet i am still more wounded when i hear the tongue of wo man busy with the fame of woman and when the scandalous story is propagated by a female slanderer men would not dare to slander one female in the presence of another if we were true to ourselves dialogue ken originally perhaps in the orgies of likely to gossip away their character and if she was treacherous enough to malign her intimate associates i must have a bet ter evidence thau that of so unprincipled a person before i could believe the scan dal uttered yet it is on such evidence as the foregoing that one finds nine ca lumnies out of ten are founded and propa gated i have given a specimen of the of talkersover and shown the progress of detraction and though 1 shrink from the task i shll venture to display in another dialogue tie progress of defamation we wil suppose the parties firm assem bled to hethe master and mistress of the house their two daughters a hoy of thir teen their son and myself luncheon be ing almosi concluded and the elder girl is showing me some fine prints iu the next room but as the door is open i hear all that passes hark there is a knock my dear ring the bell to have the lun cheon taken away make haste sis ter cries one of the girls lowering her voice for it is mrs kappa and we must have more luncheon for her if she see it for she hassuch an appetite dear me mamma cries the other girl she always contrives to corneal our lun cheon time for she is so stingy she does not allow herself any at home in deed says the papa yes i believe it is true cries the mamma by this time the hi ha rung the luncheon is re moved anil the visiter enters just as the mother ha expressed her joy that the ta- older than her father very likely observes mrs kappa she had outstaid her market and i dare say the gentleman is very rich besides says tbe father she has made herself so talked of for our friend sir william rho that she may think herself well off to get married at all h with sir william j i never heard of that before i remember she was violently in love with a young ensign and once i be lieve was just saved from eloping with her singing master at last cries the major she is provided for and will soon be safe from elopements f trust m that is not sure says the father significantly but who is the gentleman sir mar tin tau barenet a baronet too what luck where did she meet him h oh ata watering place they have given her the chance of those places every season you know cries the major for her best days were long ago over she was talked of for me drawing up his neck cloth and i had the run of their house hut it would not d she was too old so it was at a watering place was it says the mother at which her friend kappa whows not pleased probably at missing iipi- liii ft erejt hlint 0 r stinging and flinging besides some mike propensities observed in a soft tolc l think my dear friend you never tak y daughters to watering places well know ing that they went to one every yfwi an the mother with a lightened colour replies to the stinger oh dear yes i j but all persons daughters have not the same luck lady lambda is now announced who says when we are all seated i suppose you have heard that old lady pi is dying at last and that as soon as decency p mits her husband with marry miss sigma- decency is the general exclamation u if they had any regard to decency says the mistress of the house the marriage could not have been talked of hut his fond ness for that girl was notorious how i have pitied that poor lady pi oh i cries the major she had her consotflwns putting his hand to his mouth as if drink ing ofye cries lady lambda giving him a reproving pat in which theie was much encouragement this is scandal aud i hate scandal but it is not scandal says one of the party to talk of this mar riage at all perhaps so replies la- dv lambda but they talk much worse scandal i assure you indeed cries the eager kappa drawing her chaircloser to lady lambda and they do saj what eagerly exclaim both the ladies- that when miss sigma was staying at the house lady pi missed a govu and some fine lace out of her wardrobe aud one of the servents was suspected of having stolen them but one day when lady pi was confined to the room aud miss sigma was to have the carriage to carry her to a party lady pi who had been carried to the window for air saw miss sigma get in to the carriage in the very gown which she missed and as she believed her own lace on her collerctte really what impu dence but observed one of the party why should not this young lady have a gown like lady pis oh but it was a very expensive lowered muslin gown and miss sigma could not afford to buy such an wifes clothes and they end by charging a husband with prescribing wrong medi cines for his wife what a climax of defa mation yet atvful as it is i have witness ed such an one frequently iu the course of experience and have commonly been able to trace some of it to the results of comple tion ou this occasion i wish my readers to believe that i quitted the company after this last speech glad to make my escape though i knew that i left my character be- hind me for a prey and a pastime and what coldbluodedheartles mean as well as criminal enjoyment was this de famation what an unsafe and fearful a- musement hen accidents happen and lives are lost whether on land or water we feel our pity and regret increrscd if the killed or drowned meet their fate on a party of plea sure and whence does this proceed but from the afflicting contrast between the glad expectation and the mournful reality between the views of the unconscious par ties and their miserable results but those who believe defamation to le a great crime and that its utterers areliable to the w tt if hi ittild deify niustlsltjj the conversation ol dchimeys with pity ol the same nature but of a still greater de gree of strength for they must consider them as having met like the victims on the land or water for the purpose of pftasure and as having incurred by the calumnies in which they sought enjoyment that se cond death more terrible than the first the death not of the body but the soul defamation is indeed a crime so cou- sciously lowering that most persons are unwilling to own that they commit it and though they call the slanders which they hear detectable they distinguish those which they utter by the plausable name of the expression of proper indignation and re tributive justice the speakers in a dialogue like that which i have given would each in turn exclaim at the first opportunity probably against the detracting and defaming tongue of their recent associates few per sons if any have courage enough admitt ing that they have sufficient sclfknowledge to say to themselves i am a detractor i am a defamer i propogatedan evil report against that man on such a day because i was envious of him and another day i in jured such a womans reputation by tell ing a slanderous story of her because she had wounded my selflove yet there arc many persons in the world who might make the confession to themselves almost any day iu the week once and only once i saw as i believe a person deeply im pressed with the weight of the crime of de famation and as if the burdened heart wished hut dare not to throw of it her sisters and in them to part with her but because the poor admirers person manners and qualities where the theme of that sort of laughing detraction of all things most fatal to a lovers success and i have known more than one instance of a suitors dismissal not because he ivas un- pleasing to the object of his attachment but because he was not agreeable to the tast of her fastidious family these satiriele young persons were a complete specimen of laugliersat and i should have liked toexpostulate with tf era thus you know your sisters lover to be a gcmlemau a man of excellent character and good principles how could you then because he was rendered awkward and embarrassed by the strength of his attach ment take pleasure iu mimicking him and rendering him rediculous in your sisters eyes and running the risk of making him unhappy for years whatwas your motive no other pro bably than the habitual desire of showing your fancied wit and powers of satire and for this paltry ungenerous gratificati on you have prevented your sister from lavcew pact of an amiable fellow creature is this utter disregard of a mans intrinsic qualities consistent with any views higher than those of this world is it not an awful evidence of a worldl spirit and n holly at variance with that respect for moral worth and that christian faith which you so often profess i should have wished also to a- larm their selfishness and have assured them that their obvious tendency to sa tirize and ridicule would undoubtedly keep suitors to themselves at a respectful distance and make their vicinity avoided in time as much as that of the fabled upas tree i could have told them that i had reason to believe young women who have the reputation of being satirical are gene rally as securely guarded against matrimo nial overtures as if they were enclosed iu the walls of a convent u t from keale romance of history catherine gray cover her face mine eyes dazzle- she died young webster concluded the unhappy catherine who had been iu momentary expectation of hearing a sentence of capitation pronounced upon her theu walked unresistingly out of the presencechamber and was soon afierwads with her infant consigned to one of the gloomy apartments of that fortress which load had been so often familiarized with the if iustead of seeming to enjoy the odious j cleaved how are you my dear one it tale we were to declare ouraejyes tfagmm at being supposed capable of relishing it and were to throw the shield of our can dour and disbelief over the unconscious and probably innocent victim no one has a right to believe that any man or woman deserves to be exiled from respectable society unless the proofs of guilt are too strong to be denied therefore the propagators of unproved chargesought to be deemed as iufamous iu one way as those whom they accuse can be in another and tbey are particularly unbecoming the soft voice of woman whats female beauty but an air divine through which the minds all gentle gra ces shine says dr young in his universal pas sion and if this be true the woman be she everso beautiful who readily listeus to a tale of scandal and smiles on the propa gators forfeits that air divine of which the poet speaks aud loses her claim to those gentle graces which bestow a beauty that time can never destroy the beauty of the candid mind and benevolent heart illuminating the countenance aud giving charm to the conversation the following extract from an american wri ter from whose little work the brief examiner i have derived amusement aud i hope profit is well suited to this sub ject it would be passing no deception on a youug girl at school to tell her along with more solemn exhortations that the feelings aud dispositions from which springcalumny audbackbitiug would de form her face for what is that beauty in the female face which pleases all behold ers it consists chiefly in the apect that indicates good affections- every indica tion of candour gentleness and benignity is a beauty on the contrary every feature or aspect of countenance that indicates pride euvy or malignity is a deformity ror does it need proof that iu frequent in stances the face becomes at ledgth the in dex of tbe passions which oue habitaully harbours whether they be of the benevo lent or the malignant kind one remark nd no trifliug one there scarce attractive feature in tin urrs fffphiwyhkbvkmm of aieows glad to see you pray sit dow n my pood friend says her husband our luu- cheon is only just gone i am sorry you did not come sooner says the wife you are very good replies mrs kap pa but i rarely eat luncheon but perhaps you will take something a piece of cake and a glass of wine gli no thank you she replies faintly meaning to be pressed but her no is suffered to pass for what it was not meant to be a nega tive and the parties sit down all but the roasterofthe house who leansagajnst the cbimnevpiece with one hand in his waist coat pocket swinging himself backwards and forwards and the elder daughter and myself who are now turning over a portfolio on the table well mrs kap pa says the master of the house m is there anv news stirring yes a good deal but then it may not be true no matter what is it they say young zeta is gone off in debt and has robhed his father to a considerable amount that was to be expected from his bring ing up yes certainly in this opini on all join and there is a chorus of pa rents that spoil their children must take the consequences at this moment a ma jor mu m announced and after the usual compliments the major says weil have yo heard the news yes says the eldtv girl if you mean that young zeta is rone off oh he is gone quite ofl is hr and not taken replies the ma- whatdo you mean why jor they sax he has committed a forgery verv likely but are you sure of it oh no not mire nay i believe it was only- said thai some one had supposed it most likehi hi had committed forgery oil that is ail well but what other news have you the lovely helen omicron is going to he married to a man some years more a lv can be a more character of a woman than her veiling or 1 1 thcigh ignorant of the greek language i have veutured to give the persons in my dialogue the names of the greek alpha bet because i feared that if i put mrs mr l m d somv persons might ckoos to fuixcy i meant some particular individu als ur v btits afford in give said the major true said the master of the house but miss sigma is you know a very taking woman excellent excellent but you know said the ma jor emulous of his friends punning fame if sir george takes the lady she will af ter all find herself mistaken what mistaken says one i doot exactly see that cries another while the niortificd major is on the point of being forced to explain his vilequibblewhen la dy lambda exclaims oh i see it ex cellent excellent major miss taken but major cried the roaster of the house alarmed for his laurels lady pi herself according to you was a taking roman and a chorus of laughs repays him and now that like the knife of the hea then priest their detracting weapon is sharpened for the sacrifice of victims by imagined wit they eagerly demand more news more scandal and the ready weapon descends on a new victim in the shape of colonel ipsilon well but lady srmhda you said you had more nctcs asked tbe mistress of the house when this interruption was over oyes colonel upsilcn has made his choice at last he has given up the widow theta and is to have the widow jota it is said his poor wife knowing he wift court ing hoth advised this preference i am quite sure eiics one of he party rather indignantly that his wife had no reason to be jealous he was oue of the most kind and attentive of husbands aifd such a nurse a very attentive nurse iudeed say lady lambda yes says the of the house with an emphasis hush hush ray dear cries the husband- no i choose to speak out my love they do say that he choose to prescribe tbrjis wife as well as nurse her and medic n j m think she was uot the better or his prescrip tions thus they began by a charge of rob bery an accusation of forgery imputat ions of levhy in oue young hi a thev imply against another a charg flirt- preceding tual acquaintance did you 6iay loug after us said my husband oh yes replied the other long indeed i staid sitting up with the man and his wife till near two in the morning for we did not know how time went then your con versation must have been very inter esting yes was the reply in an odd tone and with a flushing cheek but it was dreadful also there was not one of our acquaintances that wc showed a- ny mercy oh it was too bad he then covered his face adding and there was that friend the wife pretending to be shocked at our severity and calling us o- dious calumniators but if ourcruclty abat- ted one moment she would goad us on a- gain by some diabolical remark till at last we had gone so far iu deadly defamation that we felt almost ashamed to look each other in the face we were really shock ed into silence and were impressed at the same moment with the same conviction namely that we ourselves had been two of the victims offered up at the shrine of de famation and that the speaker wished to satisfy his conscience by confessing it but dared not do more than insinuate the de grading fact i may add that we rejoiced to be the objects rather than the utterers of this unmerciful defamation i know uo place in which satire and ridi cule can be so securely indulged as in a large and attached family of brothers and sisters there one is sure offiodingmany laughersat and 1 cannot imagine a more embarrassing situation than that of a man whose heartimpcls him to make proposals to one out of several single sisters the habit which they have probably acquir ed of laughing at all their associates inti mate or occasional is likely to be more than usually exerted on the candidate for the favour of cue of them for the true lover is the most awkward and embarrassed of men as the poet says the lover is a man afraid has neither grace nor ease nor art kmbarrassd comfortless dismayd lie sinks the victim of his heart he feels his own demerit most when he should most aspire to gain and is at length completely lost because he dare not tell his pain when i have heard that auy one is pay ing his addresses to one sister and exposed to the criticisms of the others 1 have pitied him sincerely because 1 have doubted ol his success having rarely known a suitor under these circumstances accepted at once if he has hrru accepted at all not from sence in london the news of his wifes being confined in the tower having pre viously been received by him he had left paris before the queens command reach ed him and elizabeth who had feared that he would endeavour to flee from her authority received with some surprise the intimation that he was already in her capital the earl vainly petitioned for an interview- with his royal mistress in whic be hoped to be able to place the whole history of his courtship and marriage with the lady catberiue gray before her in such a light that she would extend her pardon to both the queen however was inexorable refused to admit him to her presence affected to laugh at bis allegation that catherine and he were actually married and finally committed him to the tower and gave strict injunctions that his lady should not he permitted to visit the apart ment in which he was confined sir edward warner the lieutenant of the tower promised tbe most implicit obedience to his sovereigns commands and although of a naturally compassionate dis position he resisted the prayers cf both his captives who incessantly assailed him with theirsolicitationsthat he would grant thera put one single interview elizabeth in the mean time felt uneasy at the existence of the issue of this unhappy amourand instituted proceedings in tbe star chamber before the archbishop of canter bury to inquire into the validity of the mar riage between catherine and the earl these proceedings were conducted with thegrentestapparcntslmwofjustee equi ty a day wasappointed before which time the prisoners were to produce proofs of the alleged matrimonial union between iheru when thatday arrived they were not able to bring forward the necessary witnesses nd by an unusual strength of indulgence the inquiry was remitted to a future time the second period also expired and also a third to which the final settlement of the inquiry had been still fart er postponed yet neither the captives nor their friends could discover tbe minister or any of the other per sons whom catherine and hertford asserted to have been present at their marriage the judgement of the star chamber was then pronounced declaring the connexion between the karl of hertford and the lady catherine gray adulterous and traitorous condemning both the offending persons to perpetual imprisonment in the tower of london and fining the earl moreover a sum of fifteen tlousrnd pouudsbe being con sidered the greater criminal in hrving do ing with u inarricil man it ml svling bis ian amiable reluctance iu the lady to leave bauohed a princess of the blood royal l