Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE ART OF PUFFING. Without wishing to exhibit a specimen of this enviable art, we may be allowed to say that, among the comparatively small number of News Papers in the United States, exhibiting strong marks of genius, erudition, and taste, a very distinguished rank is justly deserved by, and universally assigned to, the Repository; a paper published in Boston, under the direction of a deep-thinking politician, and a correct scholar, Dr. Park. In this paper we have noticed occasional essays on miscellaneous subjects; under the title of The Caravansary; of the style and temper of which the following extract may be considered as no very unfavourable specimen. It ridicules a custom perhaps not less common in other parts of America than in New-England, or in our town of Boston.

There is no art, in which our publick prints more excel, than in the art of puffing, and no part of the Union, in which it is practiced with more success than in New England, -and in this our beloved town of Boston. As in these Eastern States it is rare to meet with an uncommissioned private, since our very publicans are field Officers, so, if we give credit to our weekly Journaux, our minds too are of a gigantick stature, and tower far above the pigmy geniuses of Europe. In the opinion of certain enlightened Editors. our men are wiser than Solomon, and our women more beautiful than Venus.

If in the House or Senate; a speech unusually popular and impressive is delivered, we find in the next paper a high-flown panegyrick, in terms similar to these: 'Yesterday Mr. A. in the debate that took place in the House, delivered a speech, which far surpassed the most sanguine expectations of his warmest admirers. It united the torrent of Demosthenes with the splendid conflagration of Tully, and in short, is above all eulogy. We hope shortly to be able to gratify the publick with this unrivalled specimen of reason and eloquence.'

Should a series of periodical papers be collected and published in a volume, we are, immediately informed, 'The volume now for sale has the fairest claims to the palm of immortality.-- It comprises the genteel humour and easy elegance of Addison, the rich colouring of Hawkesworth, and the majestick energy of Johnson.-- We may now boast of a work that will establish the fame of American literature on an immovable basis, and challenge the proudest productions of Europe.'

Should a poem appear, however vicious in design and defective in execution, the intrepid editor heroically asserts--'The world must now confess, that the Muses have at length taken up their abode in Columbia. This poem vies with the happiest efforts of the European muse, in design and execution, and greatly excels all the bards of the old world in magnificence and originality of expression. The author, without flattery, may be styled the tenth Muse.'

So lavish, indeed, are our editors of their encomiums, that the death or marriage of the obscurest person in the community seldom happens, without extravagant praise; as for instance--

'Last Thursday were united in the bands of connubial bliss. Mr. C. Scavenger to the lovely and all accomplished Miss D.' Then follows a scrap of Poetry, which if it prove either rhyme or sense, the reader finds himself agreeably disappointed:

'Died last Wednesday, after a short illness, Dermot Tipperary, lemon-seller. The publick have suffered an irreparable loss in this worthy Hibernian, as his lemons far excelled all others in thinness of skin and delicacy of flavour. The Select men, and other connoisseurs in punch, uniformly declared, that none squeezed with so much ease, or tasted so well; and the first ladies of our metropolis have been known to refuse lemonade when not made with lemons of Mr. Tipperary. We hope that all those who have been refreshed by his fruit, will not fail to attend his funeral, which will proceed from,' &c. &c.

This custom of praising every one in the same strains of extravagant encomium, would be equally silly and harmless, did it not swell the vanity of the ignorant, and expose us to the ridicule of strangers. I was once informed by a British officer, who was taken prisoner with Burgoyne, that he was thus accosted by an honest Yankee, who was his sentinel; 'Well, I guess you are very glad you are taken, eh! You never fared so well before. Good salt beef and pork every day and a power of sauce. Why they tell me that in Britain, the King and nobles eat all the meat, and the rest of the folks live upon porridge and potatoes.'

The officer was amused with the simplicity of the honest fellow, and thinking it no easy matter to undeceive him, rather confirmed him in his error, leaving him highly elated with the imagined superiority of his own country.

This vanity among the less informed part of our citizens, might lead at times into a war, did not their love of money dread the expenses that would attend it. Thus we are guarded against the consequences of one weakness, by the counteracting effects of another. Vanity is the most despicable of infirmities, and puffing generally injures those whom it intends to serve. When we find any one praised beyond his desert, our self-love takes the alarm, and leads us to inquire into his claims of superiority. On discovering that either as speaker or writer, he is but a mortal piece of mediocrity, our indignation is kindled against his insidious encomiast, and we feel inclined to detract even from the real merit he may possess.

An honest but ill informed citizen may think the Old South larger than St. Paul's, and the Mall superiour to the Thuilleries. But men of sense should be above such prejudices, which are a perpetual bar to improvement, and expose us to the derision of foreigners. We are highly gifted as a nation, and inferior to none in proportion to our opportunities; and whilst all the world allow us to be six feet high, let us not quarrel with them, should they refuse to acknowledge us to be seven.