Concetti. I have stung folks with my epigrams, amused them with acrostics, puzzled them with rebusses, and distracted them with riddles. It remained only for me to succeed in the Impromptu, for which I was utterly disqualified by a whoreson slowness of apprehension.

STILL desirous, however, of the immortal honor to grow distinguished for an extempore, I petitioned Apollo to that purpose in a dream. His answer was as follows:-"That whatever piece of wit, "either written or verbal, makes any pretence to

66

merit, as of extemporaneous production, shall be "said or written within the time that the author 66 supports himself on one leg. That Horace had 66 explained his meaning, by the phrase STANS PEDE 66 IN UNO. And forasmuch as one man may persevere, in the posture longer than another, he "would recommend it to all candidates for this "extraordinary accomplishment, that they would "habituate themselves to study in no other attitude "whatsoever."

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METHOUGHT I received his answer with the utmost

plea

C

pleasure as well as veneration; hoping, that, however I was debarred of the acumen requisite for an extempore, I might learn to weary out my betters in standing on one leg.

A HU

A HUMOURIST.

O form an estimate of the proportion which one man's happiness bears to another's, we are to consider the mind that is allotted

him with as much attention as the circumstances. It were superfluous to evince that the same objects which one despises, are frequently to another the substantial source of admiration. The man of business and the man of pleasure are to each other mutually contemptible; and a blue garter has less charms for some, than they can discover in a butterfly. The more candid and sage observer condemns neither for his pursuits, but for the derision he so profusely lavishes upon the disposition of his neighbour. He concludes that schemes infinitely various were at first intended for our pursuit and pleasure; and that some find their account in heading a cry of hounds, as much as others in the dignity of Lord Chief-Justice.

HAVING

HAVING premised thus much, I proceed to give some account of a character which came within the sphere of my own observation.

NOT the entrance of a cathedral, not the sound of a passing bell, not the furs of a magistrate, nor the sables of a funeral, were fraught with half the solemnity of face!

NAY, so wonderfully serious was he observed to be on all occasions, that it was found hardly possible to be otherwise in his company. He quashed the loudest tempest of laughter, whenever he entered the room; and men's features, though ever so much roughened, were sure to grow smooth at his approach.

THE man had nothing vicious, or even iilnatured in his character; yet he was the dread of all jovial conversation; the young, the gay, found their spirits fly before him. Even the kitten and the puppy, as it were by instinct, would forego their frolics, and be still. The depression he occasioned was like that of a damp, or viciated air. Unconscious of any apparent cause, you found your spirits sink insensibly: And were any

one

one to sit for the picture of ill-luck, it is not possible the painter could select a more proper person.

YET he did not fail to boast of a superior share of reason, even for the want of that very faculty, risibility, with which it is supposed to be always joined.

INDEED he acquired the character of the most ingenious person of his county, from this meditative temper. Not that he had ever made any great discovery of his talents; but a few oracular declarations, joined with a common opinion that he was writing somewhat for posterity, completed his reputation.

NUMBERS would have willingly depreciated his character, had not his known sobriety and reputed sense deterred them.

HE was one day overheard at his devotions, returning his most fervent thanks for some particularities in his situation, which the generality of mankind would have but little regarded.

АССЕРТ,