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Article THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PETER PORCUPINE; ← Page 7 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life And Adventures Of Peter Porcupine;
the liberty they held out to me , and that partly tempted me to the country . When an aa is passed for excluding Englishmen from exercising their talents , and from promulgating what they write , then will I desist ; but I hope , when that time arrives , no act will be passed to prevent people from emigrating back again . Before I conclude , it seems necessary to say a word about the miserable shift which the Democrats have had recourse to , respeaing the
infamous letter of Citizen Hint . They pretend that I fabricated it myself , though I have publicly declared that it was delivered into my hands by a gentleman of reputation , whose name I have mentioned . Can any one be-stupid enough to imagine that I would have run the risk of being deteaed in such a shameful business ? And how could it have been undertaken without running that risk ? Had I written it myselfthere would have been hand-writing against meand had
, my ; I employed another , " that other might have betrayed me .: he mi ght have ruined me in the opinion of all those whom it is my interest , as well as pride , to be esteemed by ; or , at best , I should have been at his mercy for ever after . Besides - this , let any one point out what end I could propose to myself by such a device .
As to making my shop and myself known , I presume I did not stand in need of a scarecrow to do that , when the Democrats had published that I had taken the house in which I live , for the purpose of retailing my poison , as they called it , and had even the candour to tell the world that I had paid my rent in advance . ' . They affea to . believe that the letter was a trick to bring- in the pence , and they even call me a catchpenny author . * But let them recollea that I am now a
bookseller , whose trade it is to get money ; and if I am driven to such shifts as the scarecrow to get a living , let them reconcile this circumstance with their assertions concerning my being paid by Great-Britain . A man in British pay , ' rolling in the gold of Pitt , ' could never be so reduced as to venture everything to colleas . few elevenpenny bits . It is the misfortune of the Democrats ever to furnish arguments against themselves .
Their great objea is to silence me ; to this all their endeavours point : lies , threats , spies , and informers , every engine of Jacobinical invention is played ofl- " , I am sorry to tell them that it is all in vain ; for I am one of those whose obstinacy increases with opposition . I have now to apologize to my reader for having taken up so much of his time with siibjeas relating chiefly to myself . The task has been to me a very disagreeable oae ; but it was become necessary , as
* It was to Mr . Franklin Bache ' s incorruptible Gazette that I was indebted for this advertisement . Those will not be astonished at his tolerating principles , who are acquainted with the following- anecdote . 'When Voltaire arrived at Paris , an interview took place between him and Franklin . After the first compliments , the Doctor presented hisgrandsoti to Voltaire , at the same time soliciting for him his blessing . The philosopher of impiety relished the pleasantry ; he rose from his chair , and , with a patriarchal air , laid his hands on the head ofthe child , and solemnly pronounced , in a loud voice , these three words : " Gad , Libertyand Tultratiail" All the pious were shocked at the American , who , they said , burlesqued Keligion , by asking the blessing oV' Yiluin . '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life And Adventures Of Peter Porcupine;
the liberty they held out to me , and that partly tempted me to the country . When an aa is passed for excluding Englishmen from exercising their talents , and from promulgating what they write , then will I desist ; but I hope , when that time arrives , no act will be passed to prevent people from emigrating back again . Before I conclude , it seems necessary to say a word about the miserable shift which the Democrats have had recourse to , respeaing the
infamous letter of Citizen Hint . They pretend that I fabricated it myself , though I have publicly declared that it was delivered into my hands by a gentleman of reputation , whose name I have mentioned . Can any one be-stupid enough to imagine that I would have run the risk of being deteaed in such a shameful business ? And how could it have been undertaken without running that risk ? Had I written it myselfthere would have been hand-writing against meand had
, my ; I employed another , " that other might have betrayed me .: he mi ght have ruined me in the opinion of all those whom it is my interest , as well as pride , to be esteemed by ; or , at best , I should have been at his mercy for ever after . Besides - this , let any one point out what end I could propose to myself by such a device .
As to making my shop and myself known , I presume I did not stand in need of a scarecrow to do that , when the Democrats had published that I had taken the house in which I live , for the purpose of retailing my poison , as they called it , and had even the candour to tell the world that I had paid my rent in advance . ' . They affea to . believe that the letter was a trick to bring- in the pence , and they even call me a catchpenny author . * But let them recollea that I am now a
bookseller , whose trade it is to get money ; and if I am driven to such shifts as the scarecrow to get a living , let them reconcile this circumstance with their assertions concerning my being paid by Great-Britain . A man in British pay , ' rolling in the gold of Pitt , ' could never be so reduced as to venture everything to colleas . few elevenpenny bits . It is the misfortune of the Democrats ever to furnish arguments against themselves .
Their great objea is to silence me ; to this all their endeavours point : lies , threats , spies , and informers , every engine of Jacobinical invention is played ofl- " , I am sorry to tell them that it is all in vain ; for I am one of those whose obstinacy increases with opposition . I have now to apologize to my reader for having taken up so much of his time with siibjeas relating chiefly to myself . The task has been to me a very disagreeable oae ; but it was become necessary , as
* It was to Mr . Franklin Bache ' s incorruptible Gazette that I was indebted for this advertisement . Those will not be astonished at his tolerating principles , who are acquainted with the following- anecdote . 'When Voltaire arrived at Paris , an interview took place between him and Franklin . After the first compliments , the Doctor presented hisgrandsoti to Voltaire , at the same time soliciting for him his blessing . The philosopher of impiety relished the pleasantry ; he rose from his chair , and , with a patriarchal air , laid his hands on the head ofthe child , and solemnly pronounced , in a loud voice , these three words : " Gad , Libertyand Tultratiail" All the pious were shocked at the American , who , they said , burlesqued Keligion , by asking the blessing oV' Yiluin . '