friends; yes, in spite of envy, malice and falsehood, I say, my numerous and respectable friends, who, I trust, will be well pleased to find, that there is nothing in the history of Peter Porcupine to raise a blush for the commendations they have bestowed on his works, or to render them unworthy of their future support. END OF THE LIFE OF PORCUPINE, THE LIFE OF THOMAS PAINE, INTERSPERSED WITH REMARKS AND REFLECTIONS. "A Life that's one continu'd scene CHURCHILL. BIOGRAPHICAL memoirs of persons, famous for the great good or the great mischief they have done, are so sure to meet with a favourable reception in print, that it has long been subject of astonishment, that none of the disciples of Paine should ever have thought of obliging the world with an account of his life. His being of mean birth could form no reasonable objection: when the life of his hero is spotless, the biographer feels a pride as well as a pleasure in tracing him from the penurious shed to the pinnacle of renown. Besides, those from whom we might have expected the history of Old Common Sense, are professed admirers of all that is of low and even base extraction. They are continually boasting of the superior virtues of their "democratic floor," as they call it; it, therefore, seems wonderful, that they should have neglected giving an instance of this superiority in the life of their virtuous leader. This unaccountable negligence of Paine's friends has, in some measure, been compensated by the diligence of the friends of order and religion. His life was published in London, in 1793; but, like most other works calculated to stem the torrent of popular prejudice, it has never found admittance into the American press. I am afraid it will be a lasting reproach on those, into whose hands this press has fallen, that while thousands upon thousands of that blasphemous work, "the Age of "Reason," were struck off, the instant it arrived in the country, not a single copy of the life and crimes of the blasphemer, so fit to counteract his diabolical efforts, was printed in the whole Union. This little pamphlet has, at last, fallen into my hands, and were I to delay communicating it to the public, I should be unworthy of that liberty of the press, which, in spite of lying pamphlets and threatening letters, I am determined to enjoy, while I have types and paper at my command. The reader must observe that this account of Paine's Life, is an abstract of his life, a larger work, written by Francis Oldys, A. M. of the University of Pennsylvania, and published by Mr. Stockdale of London. The following extract is taken from the London Review of the work." A more co 66 gent reason cannot be given for this publication, "than that which is assigned by the writer of Mr. "Paine's Life, in the following short exordium.— "It has been established by the reiterated suffrage of "mankind, that the lives of those persons, who have "either performed useful actions, or neglected essential "duties, ought to be recounted, as much for an example to the present age, as for the instruction of fu"ture times.- THOMAS PAIN* (proceed the Reviewers) "In a note we are informed by Mr. Oldys, that this is the "real name; and that his fictitious name is Paine with a final "e; for that his father's name was Pain; his own name was "Pain when he married, when he corresponded with the ex"cise, and when he first appeared in America. But finding 66 some |