The Virginia Gazette

The MONITOR.
No. 11.

Hic murus aheneus esto
Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.
Hor.

THE great Respect I bear to the Person, as well as Function, of a Reverend Gentleman who
has lately favour'd us with his Correspondence, and who seems to have a perfect Notion of our Design in this Paper, obliges
me to postpone all other Affairs to the Pleasure of entertaining
my Readers with a Letter I receiv'd the other Day
from him.

To the MONITOR.

SIR,

THE Design you have undertaken of adding to the
Instruction of your Readers, while you entertain
them, and of mixing their Improvement with their Diversion; and the candid Reception, I understand, your
Endeavours meet with from Gentlemen of the highest
Distinction, as well for their good, as great Qualities;
and the natural Propensity we have to believe what we
wish, give a solid and well-grounded Hope to all Lovers
of Humanity, that we may see, in these our Days,
Virtue and good Manners encouraged, Vice and Folly
depressed, and Mankind reformed.

There are several Indecencies and Impertinencies to be
met with in common Life, which stand in great Need
of Correction, yet cannot, with a good Grace, be animadverted on, from the Pulpit; that Sacred Place requires
more solemn Subjects: And whilst we have so much
Room (and so much Occasion,) to engage all our Attention on Matters of the most important Concernment,
should we suffer our Time and Pains to be taken up
with entering upon Details of little Peccadillos, half Vice,
half Folly, it were a kind of Prostitution of our Function:
At most, we might expect no better Treatment than
that Discourse met with, which gave Occasion to the famous Lullaby Song for young Mothers and Nurses.

In such Cases, therefore, the Press is a natural and
necessary Auxiliary to the Pulpit; 'Tis our Light-Horse,
which, whilst we attack the main Body of Atheism, Profaneness, and Immorality, makes Excursions abroad, picks
up little straggling Parties of inferior Enormities, and, if
I may use the Expression, reaches, within Pistol-shot,
what escapes the Brunt of our Canons.

To do this Service to the Cause of Virtue; I think
your Scheme is very well laid; and I hope your Female
Allies will not fail to give you all Intelligence necessary
to the carrying on so good and useful a Design. Their
Parts, I find, are all laid off, and I don't doubt but they
will be able to give a good Account of their Address
and Management in their proper Provinces. The Subjects
for Ridicule, in that Sex, are many and copious;
but, to speak impartially, I believe they are more abundant in ours. And if we have not, as yet, heard any
Thing in particular of the constituent Members of your
Club, I suppose the Reason is, because their several Stations are not yet allotted. But this you know best.

However, you must give us leave to expect your Animadversions on all the reigning Follies of these Times in
both Sexes impartially, and, whilst you ridicule what you
contemn, you need not fear being engag'd in any Personal
Quarrel, unless any Man should be silly enough to arro-