Friendship—An Essay [pp. 735-737]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
cept once, upon compulsion, when my horses ran off
with me; but if you will credit me, sir, there is no door
to an omnibus; so I suppose omnibus means without a
door, but in what language is more than I pretend to
know. Perhaps it may be the Garamna language, but
none but the author of the Doctor can tell that. If you
should be acquainted with the tongue, Mr. Editor, just
drop me a hint in your next number, and I shall be
much obliged to you.
Well, praised be heaven, I had escaped the death of
a hog, and felt somewhat revived by the morning air
Away we whirled with great rapidity to the rail road
depot, where the cars were ready to receive us. We
were told that from some irregularity, I never knew
what, we were to be drawn for some miles by horses,
and I blessed my stars at the occurrence, as I had been
anticipating, with some dread, that wonderful velocity
of the engines of which I had heard and read so much;
but short-lived indeed was my joy, as it began to be a
matter of interesting speculation whether the cars meet ing us, might not, peradventure, be driven by steam.
We had not proceeded far, before our apprehensions
were realized. Just as we turned an abrupt curvature
in the road, there came the engine roaring and snorting
upon us!! Mr. Editor, I have been pursued in my
time by a mad bull; I have been upon the point of being
tossed upon his horns; I have been in the imminent peril
of being run over by squadrons of wild horses which
had taken the stampado; I have seen perils by sea and
perils by land, but never had I felt such alarm, such
destitution of all hope of escape as now. Our driver
sprang from his seat, and had just time to unhitch his
horses, but what were we to do? One man jumped
out and broke his leg, the rest of us kept our seats. I
could not leave mine-I was transfixed with horror-my
eyes were starting from my head and my mouth wide
open. Breathless, we awaited the shock, and soon it
came like a thunder-crash. What happened to others
I cannot tell. All I remember distinctly is that the concussion was so tremendous, that it brought my two
remaining teeth so violently together, that they were
both knocked out; they were the last of the Capulets,
and I would not have taken a thousand dollars a piece
for them; it is awonder I did ntot die of friight-my hair,
if 1 had had any, must have turned grey; but thanks
to the barber, I had none. I was taken up more dead
than alive, and nothing could induce me to hazard my
life again. I consigned to the devil all cars, steamboats,
rail-roads, their projectors and iniventors, solemnly
vowing never to be in a hurry again as long as I lived,
but to remember the old maxin, festina lente-make
haste slowly.
My business I abandoned in despair,-bought the
dullest horse I could procure,-sold my trunk and got a
pair of saddle-bags, and resolved to jog slowly and safely
homeward. After a fatiguing journey, I reached my
own house, where nobody knew me. When I told my
wife who I was and what had occurred to me, she said
it was a judgment upon me for being soch a fool as to
clt my hair in that fashion. She will never listen to
me now when I attempt to repeat the particulars of my
excursion, and that is the reason that I have concluded
to trouble you with my history. If it should entertain
you, and serve as a warning to my countrymen not to
be in such a confounded hurry in doing every thing, I
shall be repaid for my trouble. The whole world seems
to me to be in a sort of neck-or-nothing state; all the
sobriety, frugality and simplicity of our forefathers
seems to be forgotten, and the only object is, to grow
rich suddenly, and time and space must be annihilated
in the pursuit.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient, humble servant, SOLOMON SOBERSIDES.
FRIENDSHIP,
AN E S SAY.
Solem e mundo tollere videntur, qui amicitiam a vita tolltnt;
quI a Diis immortalibus, nihil melius, nihil j.ucundiis, hlabemus.
Cicero de daiicitia.
Pleasure, to be really such, must be the matter of
our own free choice and voluntary election; whatever is
commanded immediately becomes a duty; and though
by the goodness and wisdom of the commander, the
paths of duty may lead to pleasure; yet strictly and
properly speaking, pleasure can never be enjoined by
any authority, can never submit to the bonds of obligation.
No virtue can be more amiable and excellent than
friendship, no pleasures more refined than that which it
affords, and though friendship may be recommended as
the most valuable acquisition and the highest enjoyment, it cannot be enjoined as a duty, or as an indispensable obligation; so that, if; after our utmost researches
in pursuit of it, we should be disappointed, we cannot
be condemned as criminal, or deficient in what we owe
to our own happiness.
Friendship, to adopt the definition given by Lord
Shtaftsbury, is that peculiar relation which is formed by
a consent and harmony of minds, by mutual esteem and
reciprocal affection. Friendship, therefore, can never
be enjoined as a duty, since our lot in life may never be
cast amongst those whose minds will harmonize with
our own; it is rather to be considered a singular bles
* When New York was in possession of the English during
the war of the revolution, the officers, to relieve the monotony
of a garrison life, established a society in which some subject of
a literary character was discussed at every meeting. Before this
society was read this essay, by Mr. Gilchrist-which we print
fiom his original MS. Of their author, personally, we know
little, except that he was not an officer in either the army or navy,
nor a member of either of the learned professions, although a
gentleman of literary taste and extensive acquirements. Henry
K. White, in a letter to his brother Neville. mentions a Mr. Gilchrist as one of the contributors to the " Monthly Mirror," with
Capel Lofft, Robert Bloomfield and others. If Mr. G. returned
to England he was probably the author of most of the articles in
the Monthly Mirror over the signature of Octavius. Judge Hoffman and Mr. Dunlap of New York, may be able to give some
account of him, as well as of the " Literary Society."
About this same time there existed, perhaps in opposition to,
or in ridicule of the "Literary Society," a junto formed by the
young ladies, together with the students of medicine, and other
young men of New York, and called the "Dreaming Society"
one or more of whose members were appointed at each meeting
to prepare an essay for the next, (either in prose or verse,) which
essay was either to be a dream, or to represent the essayist as
having obtained it by means of a dream, or to have written it
while asleep. The sisters of Lindley Murray; the late Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell; Mr. Dunlap, (we believe,) the author of the
" History of the American Theatre;" and Judge Hoffman, were
members
735