



344 
ot converfation, were eafily propagated 
By. perfons accaftomed to write as well 
as to converie; and what firt only cir- 
culated in domeftic circles was {oon trans- 
ferred to the prefs, and became the theme 
oi general inquiry, comment, and ap- 
plaufe. The force of fatire, and the be- 
nefits of difcuffion, being once thoroughly 
2pprehended by the authors, they were 
éalily induced to perfiit; and the temper 
as well as opinions of a large portion of 
the public, in that part of the United 
States, were for a long time formed or 
anfinenced by the joint exertions of Mr. 
"FRUMBULL, Mr. Bartow, Colonel 
HUMPHREYS, Dr. Horxins, Mr.Wo.u- 
€COTT, (now fecretary of the treafury of 
the United States) and Mr. Srronc, a 
celebrated divine of Hartford. Of the 
two gentlemen laft named, the firft, with 
every requifite for a poet, has neglected 
to claim his wreath of laurel; and the 
econd has lately finothered the wit, fa- 
gacity, and political ability of Swift, in 
the melancholy confideration of the theo- 
Jegical dogmas of election, atonement, 
and eternal punifhment. 
‘The authors cf « The Anarchiad,”’ or 
of the papers intituled «: American Anti- 
quities,’” introduce their account of that 
poem by an hiftory of its difcovery. A 
member of an American fociety of anti- 
quarians is reprefented as having been 
prefent at the opening of one of the large 
éumuls in the weftern country, which ‘re- 
 femble the fortifications of modern times. 
inthe progrefs of digging, the labourers 
“* find a cafemate, magazine, and ciftern, 
alinof entire.”’ They purfue their work, 
till they make their way into *¢ a room 
that had evidently been occupied by the 
commandant ;”” where they find «a great 
number of utenfils mor 
gant than thofe of Palmyra and Hercu- 
faneum. But what rendered their good 
fortune complete, was the Glicovery of a 
joyed to find a folio manuicript, which 
. appeared to contain an epic poem com- 
plete; and, as I am pafhonately fond of 
poetry, ancient as weil as modern, TF fet 
myfelf inftantly to cleante it from tHe ex- 
franeous concretions with which it yeas 
dn fome parts inveloped, defaced, and 
rendered illegible, By means of a chemic 
preparation, which is made ule of for re- 
foring old paintings, T foon accomplithed 
this defirable obje&. It was then I found 
It was called “ The Auarchiad,” a poem, 
Anarchiad, an American Poem, 
[Nov. 
on the reftoration of chaos and fubfiantial 
night, in twenty-four books.” 
By a fable, iufficiently well contrived, 
this poem is reprefented to have been 
known ‘o the ancients, and even to the 
moderns; thence the utmoft liberty of 
imitation and parody. is obtained; and 
by the help of vifions, prophecies, &c. 
the {ceng is thifted from one country to 
another, and from modern to ancient 
ages ; and real and imaginary perfonages, 
‘and actual and fanciful regions, are in- 
troduced at pleafure. 
Tt will be recolle&ted, that at the time. 
of publithing |“ The Anarchiad,” the 
American republic was united but in 
name. Each ftate contravened, at will, : 
the public wifhes; and meafures the mott 
hoftile to good faith and found policy’ 
were every where purfued. The primary 
defigu of our authors was to chaftife the 
promoters of fuch meafures; and, with= 
out altogether relinquifhing the aid of 
ferious expoftulation, to apply the fatiric 
{courge, and lath thofe into right con- 
dug, who could not be led into it by per- 
fuafion and a fenfe of duty. Asa f{peci- 
men of ferious poetry, the ** Speech of 
y 
HeEsrper,”’ (which is an addrefs to the 
Convention of 1787) may be adduced. 
This is inferted in the ** American Poems.” 
I thal! therefore extraét, in this place, a 
few peflages which will convey fome no- 
tion of the ability. with which the fatirical 
part was managed, and the {cope of whofe 
fatire may be intelligible in Europe’as 
well as in the United States. But thefe, 
Mr. Editor, with your approbation, fhall 
be referved for a future communication. 
Sept. 1798. HEY Ft. 

‘To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Pye not the following reafons juftify 
| # the opinion of thofe eritics, ancient 
and modern, who fuppofe the Apocalypfe 
not to have been written by the apoftle, 
-but, either by fome other perfon of the 
fame name, or by an impoftor affuming 
a talfé appellation. 
1. The language of the Gofpel of St. . 
John, although not very pure or elegant, 
is however tolerably correct, and is for 
the moft free from orefs inaccuracies ; 
whereas the ftyle of the Revelation is full 
Of the moft flagrant folecifms of every 
kind, which are to be found in the moft 
corrupted writer of Greek. Does any in- 
fiance occur in literary hiftery, of fo re- 
markable a difparity between the earliey 
and jater writin gs of the fame author ? 
Ae The 
