The New Hampshire Gazette

PORTSMOUTH.

A Gentle Whisper, in Answer to the Ladies Objections to some useful Arguments in your Paper, No. 226, which please to insert verbatim.

LADIES,
Your's. Yeoman Youch.

Your charming Thoughts in Softest Words express'd,
Must surely Pity raise in ev'ry Breast;
Such pleasing Strains can't fail but contrite move.
And make the flinty Heart submit to LOVE:
Sweet as the tuneful Philomela's Song,
When at the blooming Spring he hails the Morn:
If so, who to attack the beauteous Throng will dare,
And charge with Blemishes the powerful Fair?
Great POPE himself the Task did arduous call.
And left the Weight on hardier Souls to fall;
'Matter too Soft, a lasting Form to bear,
'And best distinguish'd by Black, Brown and Fair.
But where my Muse? Your eager Warmth repel,
And leave to honest Prose the rest to tell;
Yourself a Female, can't the Sex be nam'd,
But (a true Woman) your own Friend be blam'd?

Let us then examine the sagacious, and doughty Arguments brought by the Ladies Champion to confute the Positions advanc'd by Mr. Batchellor's Antagonist, who would gladly attend to any Thing in Favor of the charming, useful Sex, his Heart being young, pleads their Part, and sympathizes in every unjust Quibble against them; but begs Leave in all Tenderness and Submission to observe, That the Ladies not understanding the Quotation, is hardly a sufficient Argument against the Justness and Sense of the Positions, which altho' much disconnected by the Alterations and Omissions of the Printer, occasion'd by the Author's distance from the Press, seems to want a sturdier Repeller to confute it. As to the Reflections upon the Ladies Sagacity, we must allow some Deduction, and confess them to have arrived at great Accuracy in the voluble Part of Logick, and have such an Advantage of the greatest Disputants of the other Sex, that they can afford a great many Words to a small Argument, when the others poor contracted Wretches, lay out but few Words upon the greatest Subject. The Ladies delicate Ears are offended at the Immodesty of the Quotation, which I suppose made them so intent, and particularly upon the Punishment the poor Author is sentence'd to, which he hopes will in all Lenity be shortened of the Parson's Ceremony: also from their friendly Innuendo of a nameless Reward for the Printer.

I am much pleas'd to find the Ladies such Advocates for the divine Institutions, and I flatter myself, they will exert themselves to advance all, as they so conspicuously shew their generous Principles in defending one (which nothing surely but their good Nature could induce them to) which so apparently takes its Rise, at least so far as to the humane Part of it, from the Understanding being so muffled up for the present, as to be unable to discern that it is a Clog fastened to the Neck of Liberty, by the juggling Hand of Policy, that provides only for the general Necessities of all in the Gross, laying aside Thoughts of the Conveniences of single Persons, so as to need being lined with the richest Stuff & softest outside Conveniences, to prevent galling the Neck and Heart till the Knot is tied, when the Virtue, Beauty &c. &c. of your Yoke Fellow, will be but little Comfort and Recompence; for if nothing capable of the Name of Felicity, was ever by Men or Angels denied the Priesthood, surely this said Ceremony must be thought out of that List, when the crafty Jesuits having dignified it with the Name of Sacrament, which yet they are loth to clog their own Stomachs with, and prohibit with as Severe a Penalty to themselves, as they enjoin it on others, and the patient Submission to which seems the more unaccountable, since Men and Women being allow'd not of equal Strength, are so prevailed on, as quietly to submit themselves to one Yoke.

But why the Ladies should be so wroth upon the honest Answerer of Mr. Batcheller, who asks only a civil Question or two, for the Direction of some well wishing Youth, especially when their own first Principle is, that moving Anger in their Antagonist is gaining half the Cause, therefore he hopes that if any Reply is made to this, it will be to the Point itself.

Here I would say something to the prophesying but as he has advanced the Cause very little, I shall only Clarisa, who appears somewhat read in Romances;

ly advise her to recollect the Fate of Cassandra, and tell her that when he writes to the Purpose, with the true Spirit, Wit and good Sense of Aminta, he Shall be attended to: I had almost forgot my Custom before rising from the censorial Chair, of distributing my Rewards to my Scholars, as their Merits demand, so I here award to Clarisa a large Cup of Sugar Plumbs, and one of Sweet Meats; and to Aminta I must at present only give my good Will, having nothing vacant, equal to her Ingenuity and good Sense, so shall refer it till some of my many Donations are at liberty, when I hope to do her Justice.

Notwithstanding the first appearance of these Pieces, they were wrote without any malicious Design, but only as a merry jocose Amusement; their Effects cannot be in the least Prejudicial, as when applied to the virtuous Part of the Sex they lose their Force, and confute themselves, and may do some good when they stare in the Face of Guilt: the Author glorying in Principles retained from a virtuous Education, and would by no Means conduce towards Immorality or the most distant Designs, against the wise Institutions of civil or religious Society. flatters himself he is neither a useless nor unbeloved Member thereof, and concludes,

Leaving these Things to who the Muses follow.
Must tend to Neptune's, not to Jove's Apollo.