http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/search?f1-date%3D1798;f2-subject%3Dserial%20essay Results for your query: f1-date=1798;f2-subject=serial essay Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02001.xml I KNOW not whether my pen will afford me any amusement in my present condition. I have been little accustomed to the use of it, but I have nothing else to do, and my pre- sent situation stands in need of being beguiled of its cares. I am without books, and am not permitted to leave my chamber. I have, therefore, no alternative. This, or nothing is my lot. I cannot consent to pass a life of inactivity. But what shall I write? There is something whimsical in this undertaking. For a man of my ha- bits, at the age of sixty, to sit down to the writing desk! Nothing would have been less expected a month ago, and nothing but the unfortunate cir- cumstances in which I am placed would reconcile me to it. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02001.xml Tue, 03 Feb 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02033.xml GO thy ways for an honest crea- ture. I cannot explain to thee, in an intelligible way, the true nature of my condition; or perhaps I might be disposed to gratify thy curiosity. I have no need to dread from thee any imputations on the honesty of my proceeding. Casuists have, long ago, settled that point. By casuists such as thou, it would never be brought into question. That action may be wrong, which law has thought proper to prohibit and punish. He that per- petrates it may be truly criminal. The action by which we incur punish- ment is unjust, but what is to be said of the means by which we elude the penalty? No doubt an highwayman is criminal, but after the commission of the deed, he endeavours to elude his pursuers. Do these endeavours enhance his guilt? When taken, and dungeon-doomed, and fettered, does duty restrain him from breaking his chains, and restoring himself, by the exertion of dexterity or strength, to liberty? http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02033.xml Tue, 10 Feb 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02065.xml I AM sitting here employed in this way, from a notion that it is the only practicable employment: It is the only exercise, as I suppose, within my reach. This perhaps is an error. In one sense my sphere is a small one. My observation is limited to an area of twelve feet square; but surely it becomes me to examine every thing within this space. If it be small, the examination is proportionably easy. If our means are few, the motives seem to be enhanced for making the best use of them of which they are capable. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02065.xml Tue, 17 Feb 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02099.xml I HAVE talked with Kate upon the subject of this chest. Her infor- mation, as I expected, is not very satisfactory. When she first applied for this house it was untenanted. Its recent inhabitants had been destroyed by the reigning malady. The scanty furniture that was possessed by them, had been partly sold by the landlord for the payment of arrears. The rest, such as beds and clothes, had been buried or burnt, on account of the in- fection which they were supposed to have imbibed. The seeming worth- lessness of this trunk, and the difficulty of removing it, had rescued it from the general wreck. In the terms which he made with Kate, the landlord al- lowed her to act, with regard to this piece of furniture, as she thought proper. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-02099.xml Tue, 24 Feb 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03257.xml MISS De Moivre did not fail to remind me of my promise when I next saw her. I repeated that the task which she assigned to me, was arduous. It was perhaps impossible to say what species of employment was most beneficial. Some might be mentioned from which unquestionable benefits would flow. It is worthy of a rational being to weigh with scru- pulous exactness; to chuse that only which is intrinsically preferable. This, however, is your own province, not mine. I will point out one method, and state the recommendations that belong to it. Judge you whether it outgoes in excellence all others. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03257.xml Tue, 31 Mar 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03133.xml BAXTER, after taking some re- freshment, retired to rest. In no long time, however, he was awakened by his wife, who desired him to notice a certain glimmering on the ceiling. It seemed the feeble and flitting ray of a distant and moving light, coming through the window. It did not proceed from the street, for the cham- ber was lighted from the side, and not from the front of the house. A lamp borne by a passenger, or the attendants of an hearse, could not be discovered in this situation. Besides, in the latter case, it would be accom- panied by the sound of the vehicle, and, probably, by weeping and ex- clamations of despair. His employ- ment, as the guardian of property, naturally suggested to him the idea of robbery. He started from his bed, and went to the window. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03133.xml Tue, 03 Mar 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03167.xml PAGES have been filled with ideas suggested by a broom-stick. I have a volume, under that title, in my possession. The writer follows the train of ideas suggested by the sight of this useful instrument, and is led by it on many an instructive and amusing ramble. His speculations, indeed, are bound together by no other affinity than this. It is curious to observe what various and momen- tous themes take their rise in his un- derstanding, from this humble source. He first discusses the nature of that principle, by which the sight of a broom-stick is made productive of a series of thoughts in the mind. In the course of this speculation he raises a scheme of his own on the ruins of that system which changes man into a pair of bag-pipes, and makes out the contexture of his body to be nothing more than a congeries of fiddle-strings. He endeavours to prove, that the hand is lifted and planets impelled by the same power, and that this power is thought. Having settled this point, he proceeds to describe the thoughts t... http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03167.xml Tue, 10 Mar 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03193.xml I AM disappointed, though the cha- grin of disappointment has perhaps been justly incurred by me, since my expectations were set on irrational foundations. I have opened, and find —nothing! I will take, however, a child's vengeance on the cause of my vexation. I will hew the chest to pieces, and convert the fragments into fuel. Henceforth it shall be my busi- ness to forget it. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03193.xml Tue, 17 Mar 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03225.xml WELL, old as I am, I find I am reserved for an extraordinary fate. “Nil desperandum” was ever my motto; and yet, in the present case, I suffered appearances to snatch it from me. For a time, I thought my search was at an end—that the trunk was useless for any purpose but that of kindling a blaze. When black Will came to cut my wood, I desired my good woman to bring me up his axe for three minutes, and I proceeded to break up the chest. It is nothing, thought I, but useless lumber. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-03225.xml Tue, 24 Mar 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04289.xml THE second period of Miss De Moivre's life was still more worthy to be exhibited. She was now become a woman, and was preparing to return to her father, when a letter from him informed her of a change in his plans. He was considerably capricious, and had roamed about so much, that he found it impossible to remain long in one place. Add to this, a sudden scheme that occurred to him of ex- ploring the southern side of mount Jura, as a botanist. Every thing must yield to the gratification of his darling passion. He immediately re- solved to sell his property in St. Do- mingo and return to France, and of this, timely information was received by his daughter. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04289.xml Tue, 07 Apr 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04320.xml WHAT a series of calamities is the thread of human existence? I have heard of men who, though free themselves from any uncommon distress, were driven to suicide by reflecting on the misery of others. They employed their imagination in running over the catalogue of human woes, and were so affected by the spectacle, that they willingly resorted to death to shut it from their view. No doubt their minds were consti- tuted after a singular manner. We are generally prone, when objects chance to present to us their gloomy side, to change their position, till we hit upon the brightest of its aspects. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04320.xml Tue, 14 Apr 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04352.xml IT is amusing to remark in what va- rious points of view the passion of love has been considered. I was lately perusing an author*, whose theory * Darwin's Zoonomia. Eratomania. had more novelty, and wore an air of greater paradox than I have hitherto met with. He is a physician who makes a threefold classification of diseases. The two first classes are fashioned on a new, but on no fantasti- cal model. If there be any truth in the customary distinctions, these are suf- ficiently within the province of the medical art. Many of the articles that constitute the third class have hitherto been assigned to the mo- ralist. This writer, however, very gravely arranges them in his cata- logue, annexes a technical descrip- tion, and prescribes the “modus medendi.” http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04352.xml Tue, 21 Apr 1970 12:00:00 GMT http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04383.xml TO be sure! Yet retire for a while: I shall not leap out of the window to escape you. I am weary of my present habitation, and should, in a few days, have put myself within your power. I have not the least objection to this visit, though, I must own, it was somewhat unex- pected. http://brockdenbrown.cah.ucf.edu/xtf3/view?docId=1798-04383.xml Tue, 28 Apr 1970 12:00:00 GMT