fometimes fhines as a ftar of the fift • magnitude among the choice spirits of the age; he is reckoned equally ex⚫cellent at a rebus, a riddle, a bawdy fong, and an hymn for the Tabernacle. You will know him by his fhaboy finery, his powdered wig, dirty shirt, and broken fik ftockings.

After him fucceeds Mr. Tibbs, a very useful band; he writes receipts for the bite of a mad dog, and throws off an eastern tale to perfection; he • understands the business of an author

as well as any man, for no boo teiler alive can c' eat him. You myd tingth him by the peculiar clumsiness of his figure and the coartenets of his coat: however, though it be coarie, (as he frequently tells the company) he has paid for it.

Lawyer Squint is the politician of the fociety; he makes fpeeches for parliament, writes addreffes to his fellow-fub ects, and letters to noble com. manders; he gives the hidory of every new play, and finds feafonable thoughts upon every occafion." My companion was pr ceeding in his description, when the hot came running in ith terror on his countenance to tell us, that the door was befer with bailiffs. If that be the cafe, then,' fays my companion, we had as good be going; for I am pofitive we hail not fee one of the company this right." Wherefore, difappointed, we were both othed to return home, he to enjoy the odd.ues which compofe his character alone, and I to write as ufual to my friend the occur. rences of the day. Adieu.

B

Y my laft advices from Mofcow, I find the caravan has not ver departed from China: Ift ll continue to write, expecting that you may receive a large number of my letters at once. In them you will find rather a minute detail of Englith peculiarit es, than a general picture of their manners or difpofition. Happy it were for mank nd if all travellers would thus, inftead of characterifing a people in general terms, lead us into a detail of thofe minute circumftances which first influenced their opi nion. The genius of a country thould be inveftigated with a kind of experimental enquiry: by this means we fhould have more precife and just notions of foreign nations, and detect travellers themfives when they happened to form wrong conclufions.

My friend and I repeated our visit to the club of auth rs; where, upon cur entrance, we found the members all af fumbled and engaged in a loud debate.

The poet, in thabby finery, holding a manufcript in his hand, was earneftly Endeavouring to perfuade the compary to hear him read the firft book of an heroic poem, which he had compofed the day before. But against this all the members very warmly objected. They knew no reason why any member of the club hould be indulged with a particular

your common epic poems, which come 'from the prefs like paper kites in fum• mer; there are none of Turnus's your or Dido's in it; it is an heroical de'feription of nature. I only beg you'll ' endeavour to make your fouls unifon with mine, and hear with the fame ⚫ enthufiafin with which I have written. The poem begins with the defcription of an author's bedchamber: the pic" ture was sketched in my own apartment; for you must know, gentle. men, that I am myfelf the hero." Then putting humfelf into the attitude of an orator, with all the emphafis of voice and action, he proceeded

Where the Red Lion flaring o'er the way, Invites each paling ftranger that can pay; Where Calvert's butt, and Parfon's black champaign,

Regal- the ara s and bloods of Drury Lane; There in a lonely room, from bailiffs fnug, The mufe found Scroggen ftretch'd beneath a rug;

lent a ray,

A window, patch'd with paper,
That dimly fhew'd the state in which he lay:
The fanded for that grits beneath the tread;
The humid wall with paltry pictures ipread:
The royal game of goofe was there in view,
And the twelve rules the roval martyr drew;
The feafons fram d with lifting found a place,
And brave Prince William thewd his lamp-
black face:

The morn was cold, he views with keen defire

The rufty gate unconscious of a fire;

With beer and milk arrears the frieze was

fcor d,

And five crack'd tea-cups drefs'd the chimney board;

A night-cap deck d his brows inftead of bay, A cap by night-a stock ng all the day!

With this line he feemed fo much elated, that he was unable to proceed : There, gentlemen,' cries he, there is a defcription for you! Rabelais`s bed chamber is but a fool to it. A cap by night-a focking all the day!

There is found, and fenfe, and truth, and nature, in the trifling compass of ten little fyllables.'

He was too much employed in felfadmiration to obferve the company; who by nods, winks, fhrugs, and ftifled laughter, teft fied every mark of, contempt. He turned feverally to each for their opinion, and found all, however, ready to applaud. One fwore it was inimitable; another faid it was damn'd

fine; and a third cried out in a rapture

Cariffimo! At laft, addreffing himfelf to the prefident- And pray, Mr. Squint,' fays he, let us have your opinion.'- Mine!' answered the prefident, taking the manuscript out of the author's hands; may this glafs • fuffocate me, but I think it equal to any thing I have feen; and I fancy,' continued he, doubling up the poem, and forcing it into the author's pocket, that you will get great honour when it comes out; fo I fhall beg leave to put We will not intrude upon your good-nature, in defiring to hear more of it at prefent; ex ungue Her 'culem, we are fatisfied, perfectly sa

it in.

tisfied.' The author made two or three attempts to pull it out a fecond time, and the president made as many to prevent him. Thus, though with reluctance, he was at laft obliged to fit down, contented with the commendations for which he had paid.

When this tempeft of poetry and praife was blown over, one of the company changed the fubject, by wondering how any man can be fo dull as to write poetry at prefent, fince profe itself would hardly pay. Would you think it,

gentlemen,' continued he, I have actually written laft week fixteen prayers, twelve bawdy jefts, and three fermons, all at the rate of fix pence a piece; and what is ftill more extraor dinary, the book feller has loft by the • bargain. Such fermons would once have gained me a prebend's stall; but now, alas! we have neither piety, talte, nor humour, among us. Politively, if this feafon does not turn out better than it has begun, unless the miniftry commit fome blunders to furnifh us with a new topic of abuse; I 'fhall refume my old bufinefs of working at the prefs, inftead of finding it ' employment.'

The whole club feemed to join in condemning the feafon, as one of the worst that had come for fome time. A gentleman particularly obferved, that the nobility were never known to fubfcribe worfe than at prefent. I know not • how it happens,' faid he; though I follow them up as clofe as poffible, yet I can hardly get a fingle fubfcription in a week. The houtes of the great are as inacceffible as a frontier garrifon at midnight. I never fee a noble'man's door half opened, that fome

G2

• furly

furly porter or footman does not ftand full in the breach. I was yesterday to wait with a fubfcription-propofal upon my Lord Squash the Creolin: I had posted myfelf at his door the whole morning, and just as he was getting into his coach, thruft my propofal fnug into his hand, folded up in the form of a letter from myself. He just glanced at the fupericription, and, not knowing the hand, configned it to his valet de chambre. This refpe A⚫able perfonage treated it as his mafter, and put it into the hands of the porter. The porter grafped my propofal, frowning; and, meafuring my figure from top to toe, put it back into iny own hands unopened.'

To the devil I pitch all the nobility,” cries a little man, in a peculiar accent; I am fure they have of late uted me mfolt feurvily. You must know, gentlemen, fome time ago, upon the arrival of a certain noble duke from his travels, I fet myfelf down, and vamped up a fine flaunting, poetical panegyric, which I had written in fuch a ftrain, that I fancied it would have even wheedled milk from a mouse. In this I reprefented the whole kingdom welcoming his grace to his native foil, not forgetting the lofs France and Italy would fuftain in their arts by his departure. I expected to touch for a bank bill at leaft; fo, folding up my vertes in gilt paper, I gave my last half crown to a genteel fervant to be the bearer. My letter was fafely conveyed to his grace; and the fervant, after four hours abfence, during which time I led the life of a fiend, returned with a letter four times as big as mine. Guefs my extafy at the profpect of fo fine a return! I eagerly took the pacquet into my hands, that trembled to receive it. I kept it fome time unopened before me, brooding over the expected treasure it contained; when, opening it, as I hope to be faved, gentlemen, his grace had fent me in payment for my poem no Bank bills, but fix copies of verfe, each longer than mine, addreffed to him upon the fame occafion.'

A nobleman,' cries a member, who had hitherto been filent, is created as much for the confufion of us authors

· the catch pole. I'll tell you a story, gentlemen, which is as true as that this pipe is made of clay. When

I was delivered of my firft book, I owed my taylor for a fuit of cloaths, but that is nothing new, you know, and may be any man's cafe as well as mine. Well, owing him for a fuit of cloaths, and hearing that my book took very well, he fent for his money, and infifted upon being paid immediately: though I was at that time rich in fame, for my book run like wild-fire, yet I was very fhort in money; and being unable to fatisfy his deinand, prudently refolved to keep my chamber, preferring a prifon of my own chufing at home, to one of my taylor's chufing abroad. In vain the bailiffs ufed all their arts to decoy me from my citadel; in vain they fent to let me know that a gentleman wanted to fpeak with me at the next tavern; in vain they came with an urgent mesfage from my aunt in the country; in vain I was told that a particular friend ( was at the point of death, and defired < to take his laft farewell; I was deaf, infenfible, rock, adamant; the bailiffs could make no impreffion on my hard heart, for I effectually kept my liberty by never ftirring out of the room.

This was very well for a fortnight; when one morning I received a moth folendid meffage from the Earl of Doomsday, importing that he had read my bock, and was in raptures with every line of it; he impatiently longed to fee the author, and had fome defigns which might turn out greatly to my advantage. I paufed upon the contents of this meffage, and found there could be no deceit, for the card • was gilt at the edges, and the bearer, I was told, had quite the looks of a gentleman. Witnefs, ye powers, how my heart triumphed at my own im portance! I faw a long perspective of felicity before me, I applauded the tafte of the times, which never faw genius forfaken; I had prepared a set introductory fpeech for the occafion, five glaring compliments for his lordfhip, and two more modeft for myself. The next morning, therefore, in order to be punctual to my appointment, I took coach, and ordered the fellow to drive to the treet and house mentioned in his lordship's addrefs. I had the precaution to pull up the windows as I went along to keep off the bufy part of mankind; and, big with expectation, fancied the coach never

• went

went fast enough. At length, however, the wished-for moment of it's ftopping arrived; this for fome time I impatiently expected; and, letting down the door in a tranfport, in order to take a previous view of his lordfhip's magnificent palace and fituation, I found poifon to my fight! I found myfelf, not in an elegant ftreet, but < a paltry lane; not at a nobleman's door, but the door of a fpunginghoufe; I found the coachman had all this while been just driving me to jail, and I faw the bailiff with a devil's face coming out to fecure me.' To a philofopher, no circumstance,

TH

however trifling, is too minute; he finds inftruction and entertainment in occurrences, which are paffed over by the reit of mankind as low, trite, and indiffe rent; it is from the number of these particulars, which, to many, appear infignificant, that he is at lait enabled to form general conclufions; this, therefore, muft be my excufe for fending fo far as China, accounts of manners and follies, which, though minute in their own nature, ferve more truly to characterife this people, than hiftories of their public treaties, courts, minifters, negociations, and ambaffadors. Adieu.

HE English have not yet brought the art of gardening to the fame perfection with the Chinefe, but have İately begun to imitate them. Nature is now followed with greater affiduity than formerly; the trees are fuffered to shoot out into the utmoft luxuriance; the ftreams, no longer forced from their native beds, are permitted to wind along the vallies; fpontaneous flowers take place of the finished parterre, and the enamelled meadow of the fhaven green.

Yet ftill the English are far behind us in this charming art; their defigners have not yet attained a power of uniting inftruction with beauty. An European will fcarcely conceive my meaning, when I fay, that there is fcarce a garden in China which does not contain fome fine moral, couched under the general defign, where one is not taught wildom as he walks, and feels the force of fome noble truth, or delicate precept, refulting from the difpofition of the groves, ftreams, or grottoes. Permit me to il Juftrate what I mean by a defcription of my gardens at Quamfi. My heart ftill hovers round thote fcenes of former happinefs with pleafure; and I find a fatiffaction in enjoying them at this diftance, though but in imagination.

You defcended from the houfe between two groves of trees, planted in fuch a manner, that they were impenetrable to the eye; while on each hand the way was adorned with all that was beautiful in porcelaine, tatuary, and

painting. This paffage from the house opened into an area furrounded with rocks, flowers, trees, and thrubs, but all fo difpofed as if each was the ipontaneous production of nature. As you proceeded forward on this lawn, to your right and left-hand were two gates, oppolite each other, of very different architecture and defign; and before you lay a temple, built rather with minute elegance than oftentation.

The right-hand gate was planned with the utmoft fimplicity, or rather rudeness; ivy clafped round the pillars, the baleful cyprets hung over it; time feemed to have destroyed all the fmoothnefs and regularity of the ftone: two champions with lifted clubs appeared in the act of guarding it's accefs; dragons and ferpents were feen in the most hideous attitudes, to deter the fpectator from approaching; and the peripective vieve that lay behind, feemed dark and gloomy to the laft degree; the ftranger was tempted to enter only from the mottoPERVIA VIRTUTI.

The oppofite gate was formed in a very different manner; the architecture was light, elegant, and inviting; flowers hung in wreaths round the pillars; a was finifhed in the mott exact and mafterly manner; the very ftone of which it was built, ftill preferved it's polish; nymphs, wrought by the hand of a matter, in the most alluring attitudes, beckoned the ftranger to approach; while all that lay behind, as far as the eye

could

could reach, feemed gay, luxuriant, and capable of affording endlets pleafure. The motto itself contributed to invite him; for ver the gate was written theie words-FACILIS DESCENSUS.

By this time, I fancy, ou begin to perceive that the gloomy gate was defigned to reprefent the road to Virtue; the oppofite, the more agreeable paffage to Vice. It is but natural to fuppofe, that the spectator was always tempted to enter by the gate which offered him fo many allurements; I always in thefe cafes left him to his choice; but generally found that he took to the left, which promifed most entertainment.

Immediately upon his entering the gate of Vice, the trees and flowers were difposed in such a manner as to make the most pleading impreffion; but as he walked farther on, he infentibiy found the garden affume the air of a wildernefs, the landfkips began to darken, the paths grew more intricate, he appeared to go downwards, frightful rocks feemed to hang, over his head, gloomy caverns, unexpected precipices, awful ruins, heaps of unburied bones, and terrifying founds, caufed by unfeen w3Ters, began to take place of what at firft appeared fo lovely; it was in vain to attempt returning, the labyrinth was too much perplexed for any but myfeif to find the way back. In short, when fuific ently impressed with the horrors of what he faw, and the imprudence of his choice, I brought him by an hidden door, a fhorter way back into the area from whence at firit he had trayed.

The gloomy gate now prefented itself

before the ftranger; and though there feemed little in it's appearance to tempt his curiolity, yet encouraged by the motto, he generally proceeded. The darkness of the entrance, the frightful figures that feemed to obstruct his way, the trees of a mournful green, confpired at first to dilgutt him: as he went forward, however, all began to open and wear a more pleafing appearance; beautiful cafcades, beds of flowers, trees loaded with fruit or bloffoms, and unexpected brooks, improved the scene: be now found that he was afcending; and, as he proceeded, all nature grew more beautiful, the pr fpect widened as he went higher; even the air itself feemed to become more pure. Thus pleased, and happy from unexpected beauties, I at laft led him to an arbour, from whence he could view the garden, and the whole country around, and where he might own, that the road to Virtue terminated in Happiness.

Though from this defcription you may imagine, that a vast tract of ground was neceffary to exhibit fuch a pleasing variety in, yet he affured I have feen teveral gardens in England take up ten times the space which mine did, without half the beauty. A very fmali extent of ground is enough for an elegant tafte; the greater room is required if magnificence is in view. There is no fpot, though ever fo little, which a skilful defigner might not thus improve, fo as to convey a delicate allegory, and imprefs the mind with truths the most uleful and necessary. Adieu.