A CURIOUS

NORTH AMERICAN ANECDOTE.

T

O prove the natural goodness of Attakullakulla, or, the Little Carpenter, he was shy of being ftared at, and therefore always chofe to go incog, to any public place. "They are welcome, faid he, once to his interpreter; to look upon me as a strange creature; they fee but one, and in return, they give me an opportunity to look upon thousands." He was refpected and countenanced by the court, the greateft people in the nation did not difdain to hold converfation with him, as far as they were able through the medium of an interpreter. Some particular ftate officers were, indeed, fhy of his company, as they often found themselves, by the fhrewdnefs of his queftions, the mere dictates of nature, puzzled to give an honeft direct anfwer. King George himself, (the Second) once afked him, whether the people in his nation were free. "Yes, furely, faid the noble favage, for I, who am their chief, am

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free." The king was filent, and, a certain minifter left the room.

THE

THE HANDSOME PUPPY,

A TALE.

TIS not, perhaps, poffible for a father to be

hold all his children with equal eyes: he

will naturally feel fenfations more in favour of one than of another; but he may behave, and ought to behave, in fuch a manner as not to let his partiality appear, Parental partiality is always attended with difagreeable, frequently with dangerous, and fometimes with dreadful confequences.

The behaviour of a Mr. Meredith to his fons. was highly exceptionable: it was quite fufficient to crush every spark of fraternal affection in their bofoms; and, indeed, they did not, from their boyish days, difcover themselves to be any way related but by the table of confanguinity; they were brothers by blood, but their hearts were as far afunder as the poles. And yet, as they were neither of them ill-tempered lads; as they, each of them, were virtuously inclined, it is extremely probable that if their father had not, by a prepos terous partiality, fet them at variance, had not made invidious diftinctions between them, they would have grown up with that fort of friendship which commonly fubfifts among brothers (if they have not very bad difpofitions indeed) whose paf

fions and affections have fair play, and are not turned to wrong objects by a miftaken education.

The first inftance of partiality which Mr. Meredith fhewed for his eldeft fon, was occafioned by the superiority which nature had given him, in point of perfon, over his brother: a partiality which originated, no doubt from the ftriking resemblance of Harry to himself, having been very much admired for his own exterior when he was in his prime, he was flattered by the reflection of his beauty, grace, &c. in his fon, and too often made mortifying comparifons between him and his Brother (who was not at all happy in his outward form, though not frightful,) before their faces. Tom, it is true, had great reason to be fatisfied with his intellectual powers, in which Harry was exceedingly deficient, and he now and then was provoked to throw out a farcafm at his brother for his infolent and coxcomical airs; but while he pointed his fatire at him, it was clear enough to the most carelefs obferver, that he was not a little pained by the consciousness of his own perfonal defects. Had he been blessed with the temper which guided the late ingenious and amiable Mr. Hay, when he wrote his Essay on Deformity, he would have rather pitied than envied his brother for his feminine afpect and manners, and derived the moft folid fatisfaction,

tisfaction from his own mafculine understanding, bright parts, and deep penetration. However, Tom was not fo far pained by his brother's fuperior beauty, as to neglect the culture of thofe talents with which nature had liberally furnished him. By culture he gradually improved his mind to fuch a degree, that few young fellows ever went to the University with a better fundamental ftock of learning. To the University alfo Harry was fent; but as the fatigue was infupportable, and as his ideas of a gentleman were very unacademical, he only amufed himself in the idleneffes of literature. Knowing that he should inherit a confiderable eftate, he thought it altogether unneceffary to qualify himself for any of the learned profeffions; and finding that he was extravagantly courted by the fair fex, he paid much more attention to his face than to his head. Tom, on the contrary, being very well affured, from his father's ruling paffion, his family pride, that he had no chance for a genteel fettlement in life, without procuring it by dint of application, stuck close to his ftudies; and feeling that he fhould make but an indifferent figure in the pulpit, or at the bar, threw himself into the phyfical line, that he might be able to do fomething for a fubfiftence at the death of his father; who frequently told him, that as he had given him a liberal education, he must make his way in the world

E e

world as well as he could, and not rely upon him for a fortune fufficient to keep him in a state of lazy independence.

Juft when his fons were going to leave the Univerfity, Mr. Meredith died. It was then that the oppofite characters of the two brothers appeared with the most ftriking difcriminations.

Harry took pofeffion of his paternal eftate with a filly kind of joy, and by the levity of his 'conduct, betrayed the weakness of his understanding. The fums which he laid out upon his drefs, did him no honour; they only served to make him appear in a more ridiculous light than he had yet been feen; and he did not in the difpofal of his money in any fhape, acquire any reputation. At every public place he brought himself forward to the eye of criticism: to that eye he was continually offenfive, by that eye he was univerfally condemned; but not having fagacity enough to difcern his imperfections, he was every moment affording new matter for ridicule to work upon. His pursuits were of the moft trifling kind, but they were expenfive ones, and he was perpetually furrounded by a fet of fummer-friends, who artfully availed themselves of his exceffive vanity, to promote the circulation of his running cafh.

But