Alexandria Gazette, Commercial And Political

THE NEWSPAPER.
To you, all readers turn, and they can look
Pleas'd on a paper who abhor a book;
Those who ne'er rise a sermon to peruse,
Would think it hard to be denied their news;
Sinners and saints, the wisest with the weak,
Here mingle tastes, and one amusement seek;
This, like the public inn, provides a treat,
Where each promiscuous guest sits down to eat:
And such this mental food, as we may call,
Something to all men, and to some men all.
Add next the amusement which the monthly page
Affords to either sex and every age:
Lo! where it comes before the winter's fire
Damps from the press in smoky curls aspire,
(As from the earth the sun exhales the dew,)
Ere we can read the wonders that ensue:
Then eager every eye surveys the part.
That brings its favorite subject to the heart;
Grave politicians look for facts alone.
And gravely add conjectures of their own.
The sprightly nymph, who never broke her rest
For tottering crowns, or mighty lands opprest,
Finds broils and battles, but neglects them all
For songs and suits, a birth day or a ball:
The plodding man, overlooks each idle tale
For "money's wanted." and "estates on sale:"
While some with equal minds to all attend.
Pleased with each part and grieved to find an end.