and we had a tete-a-tete dinner in the country; where we talked of nothing elfe. I fancy you forget, Sir, cried I, " you told us but this moment. of your dining yesterday in town!'- Did I fay fo? replied he, coolly; to be fure, if I faid fo, it was fo• Dined in town! Egad, now I do remember, I did dine in town; but I din⚫ed in the country too; for you must know, my boys, I eat two dinners. By the bye, I am grown as nice as the devil in my eating. I'll tell you a pleatant affair about that: We were a fele&t party of us to dine at Lady Grogram's, naffected piece, but let it go no further; a fecret. Well, there happened to be no affafoetida in the fauce to a turkey; upon which, fays I. "I'll hold a thoufand guineas, and "fay done firft, that But, dear Drybone, you are an honeft creature, lend me half-a-crown for a minute or two, or fo, juft till But, harkee, • afk me for it the next time we meet, or it may be twenty to one but I forget to pay you.*

When he left us, our converfation naturally turned upon fo extraordinary a character.

His very drefs,' cries

1

my friend, is not lefs extraordinary If you meet him

than his conduct.

this day, you find him in rags; if the next, in embroidery. With thofe perfons of diftinction, of whom he talks fo familiarly, he has fcarce a coffee'house acquaintance. However, both for interefts of fociety, and perhaps for his own, Heaven has made him poor; and while all the world perceive his wants, he fancies them concealed 'from every eye. An agreeable companion, because he understands flattery; and all must be pleafed with the firit part of his converfation, though all are fure of it's ending with a demand on their purfe. While his youth countenances the levity of his conduct, he may thus earn a precarious fubfiltence; but when age comes on, the gravity of which is incompatible with buffoonery, then will he find himself forfaken by all. Condemned, in the decline of life, to hang upon fome rich family whom he once defpifed, there to undergo all the ingenuity of ftudied contempt, to be employed only as a fpy upon the fervants, or a bugbear to fright the children into obedience.' Adieu.

I

Am apt to fancy I have contracted 3 new acquaintance whom it will be no ealy matter to shake off. My little beau yefterday overtook me again in one of the public walks, and flapping me on the fhoulder, faluted me with an air of the most perfect familiarity. His drefs was the fame as ufual, except that he had more powder in his hair, wore a dirtier thirt, a pair of temple fpectacles, and his hat under his arm.

As I knew him to be an harmless amuling little thing, I could not return his fmiles with any degree of severity; fo we walked forward on terms of the utmost intimacy, and in a few minutes difcuffed all the ufual topics preliminary to particular converfation.

The oddities that marked his character, however, icon began to appear; he bowed to feveral well-dreffed perfons, who, by their manner of returning the compliment, appeared perfect furangers.

At intervals he drew out a pocketbook, seeming to take memorandums before all the company, with much importance and affiduity. In this manner he led me through the length of the whole walk, fretting at his abfurdities, and fancying myfelt laughed at not less than him by every spectator.

When we were got to the end of our proceffion Blaft me!' cries he, with an air of vivacity, I never faw the Park fo thin in my life before; there's no company at all to-day. Not a fingle face to be feen.- No company!' interrupted I, peevishly; no company where there is fuch a crowd? why, man, there's too much. What are the thoufands that have been laughing at us but company?'-'Lard, my dear, returned he, with the utmost good humour, you feem immensely chag`ined; but, blaft me, when the world laughs at me, I laugh at all the world, and

fo we are even. My Lord Trip, Bill Squafh, the Creolian, and I, fometimes make a party at being ridiculous; and fo we fay and do a thousand things for the joke fake. But I fee you are grave, and if you are for a fine grave fentimental companion, you fhail dine with me and my wife to• day, I must infift on't; I'll introduce you to Mrs. Tibbs, a lady of as ele< gant qual alifications as any in nature;

he was bred, but that's between ourfelves, under the infpection of the • Countess of All night. A charming body of voice, but no more of that, the will give us a fong. You fhall fee my little girl too, Carolina Wilhelma Amelia Tibbs, a fweet pretty 'creature; I defign her for my Lord Drumstick's eldelt fon, but that's in friendship, let it go no further; fhe's but fix years old, and yet the walks a minuet, and plays on the guittar im'menfely already. I intend the shall be as perfect as poffible in every accomplishment. In the first place, I'll make her a fcholar; I'll teach her Greek myfelf, and learn that language purposely to instruct her; but let that be a fecret.'

Thus faying, without waiting for a reply, he took me by the arm and hauled me along. We paffed through many dark alleys and winding ways; for, from fome motives to me unknown, he feemed to have a particular averfion to every frequented ftreet; at lait, however, we got to the door of a difmal looking houfe in the outlets of the town, where he informed me he chofe to refide for the benefit of the air.

We entered the lower door, which ever seemed to lie most hospitably open; and I began to afcend an old and creaking ftair-cafe, when, as he mounted to fhew me the way, he demanded, whether I delighted in profpects; to which anfwering in the affirmative Then,' fays he, I thall fhew you one of the molt charming in the world, out of

my

as the fairs would permit us to afcend, till we came to what he was facetiously pleafed to call the first floor down the chimney; and knocking at the door, a voice from within demanded—'Who's there?' My conductor anfwered, that it was him; but this not fatisfying the querit, the voice again repeated the demand: to which he anf vered louder than before; and now the door was opened by an old woman with cautious reluctance.

When we were got in, he welcomed me to his houfe with great ceremony; and turning to the old woman, asked where was her lady? Good troth, replied the, in a peculiar dialect, fhe's washing your two thirts at the next door, because they have taken an oath against lending out the tub any longer.'

My two fhirts!' cries he, in a tone that faultered with confusion, what does the idiot mean! I ken what 'I mean well enough,' replied the other; fhe's washing your twa fhirts at the next door, becaufeFire and fury! no more of thy ftupid explanations,' cried he; go and inform her we have got company. Were that Scotch hag to be for ever in the family, he would never learn politeness, nor forget that abfurd poisonous accent of hers, or testify the finalleft fpe- " cimen of breeding or high life; and yet it is very furprizing too, as I had her from a parliament man, a friend of mine, from the Highlands, one of the politeft men in the world; but that's a fecret,*

We waited fome time for Mrs. Tibb's arrival, during which interval, I had a full opportunity of furveying the chamber and all it's furniture; which confifted of four chairs with old wrought bottoms, that he affured me were his wife's embroidery; a fquare table that had been once japanned, a cradle in one corner, a lumbering cabinet in the other; a broken fhepherdefs, and a mandarine without a head, were stuck over the chimney; and round the walls feveral paltry, unframed pictures, which, he obferved, were all his own drawing:

What do you think, Sir, of that head in the corner, done in the manner of Grifoni? there's the true keeping in it; it's my own face, and though there happens to be no likeness, a countess offered me an hundred for it's fellow : I refufed her; for, hang it, that would be mechanical, you know.'

The

The wife at last made her appearance, at once a flattern and a coquet; much emaciated, but fill carrying the remains of beauty. She made twenty apologies for being feen in fach odious dihabille, but hoped to be cxcufed, as fhe had staid out all night at the gardens with the countefs, who was exceffively fond of the horns. And, indeed, n.y dear,' added the, turning to her husband, 'his lordship drank your health in a bum'Poor Jack,' cries he, " per. dear good-natured creature, I know · he loves me; but I hope, my dear, you have given orders for dinner? You need make no great preparations neither, there are but three of us; fomething elegant, and little will do; a turbot, an ortolan, or a◄ Or what do you think, my dear,' interrupts the wife, of a nice pretty bit of ox cheek, piping hot, and dreffed

a

with a little of my own fauce?'The very thing,' replies he; it will eat beft with fome finart bottled beer; but be fure to let's have the fauce his grace was fo fond of. I hate your immenfe loads of meat, that is country all over; extreme difgufting to those who are in the least acquainted with high life.'

By this time my curiofity began to abate, and my appetite to increase. The company of fools may at firft make us fmile, but at laft never fails of rendering us melancholy; I therefore pretended to recollect a prior engagement; and after having fhewn my refpect to the house, according to the fashion of the English, by giving the old fervant a piece of money at the door, I took my leave Mr. Tibbs affuring me that dinner, if I ftaid, would be ready at least in lefs than two hours.

TH

HE diftant founds of mufic that catch new sweetness as they vibrate through the long drawn valley, are not more pleafing to the ear than the tidings of a far diftant friend.

I have juft received two hundred of thy letters by the Ruffian caravan, defcriptive of the manners of Evrope. You have left it to geographers to determine the fize of their mountains, and extent of their lakes, feeming only employed in difcovering the genius, the government, and difpofition, of the people.

In thofe letters I perceive a journal of the operations of your mind upon whatever occurs, rather than a detail of your travels from one building to another; of your taking a draught of this ruin,, cr that obelisk; of paying fo mary Tomans for this commodity, or laying up a proper ftore for the paffage of fome new wildernefs.

From your accounts of Ruffia I learn, that this nation is again relaxing into priftine barbarity, that it's great emperor wanted a life of an hundred years more to bring about his vaft defign. A favage people may be refembled to their

own forefts; a few years are fufficient to clear away the obstructions to agriculture; but it requires many ere the ground acquires a proper degree of fertility. The Ruffians, attached to their ancient prejudices, again renew their hatred to ftrangers, and indulge every former brutal excefs. So true it is, that the revolutions of wifdom are flow and difficult; the revolutions of folly or ambition precipitate and eafy. We are not to be astonished,' fay's Confucius, that the wife walk more flowly in their road to virtue, than fools in their paffage to vice; fince paffion drags us along, while wifdem points out the

afide, each of it's inhabitants feeming more proud of being called from the petty state which gives him birth, than by the more well-known title of Ger

man.

This government may be regarded in the light of a fevere master, and a feeble opponent. The ftates which are now fubject to the laws of the empire, are only watching a proper occafion to fling off the yoke; and thofe which are become too powerful to be compelled to obedience, now begin to think of dictating in their turn. The ftruggles in this itate are therefore not in order to preferve, but to deftroy, the ancient conftitution; if one fide fucceeds, the government must become defpotic; if the other, feveral states will fubfift without nominal fubordination; but in either cafe the Germanic conftitution will be no more.

Sweden, on the contrary, though now feemingly a ftrenuous affertor of it's liberties, is probably only haftening on to defpotifm. Their fenators, while they pretend to vindicate the freedom of the people, are only eftablishing their own independence. The deluded people will, however, at laf perceive the miferies of an aristocratical government; they will perceive that the adminiftration of a fociety of men is ever more painful than that of one only. They will fly from this moft oppreffive of all forms, where one fingle member is capable of controuling the whole, to take refuge under the throne which will ever be attentive to their complaints. No people long endure an aristocratical government, when they can apply elfewhere for redrefs. The lower orders of people may be enflaved for a time by a number of tyrants, but upon the firft opportunity

they will ever take a refuge in defpotism or democracy.

As the Swedes are making concealed approaches to defpotifm, the French, on the other hand, are imperceptibly vindicating themselves into freedom. When I confider that those parliaments (the members of which are all created by the court, the prefidents of which can act only by immediate direction) prefume even to mention privileges and freedom, who, till of late, received directions from the throne with implicit humility; when this is confidered, I cannot help fancying that the genius of freedom has entered that kingdom in difguife. If they have but three weak monarchs more, fucceffively on the throne, the mask will be laid afide, and the country will certainly once more be free.

When I compare the figure which the Dutch make in Europe, with that they affume in Afia, I am truck with furprize. In Afia, I find them the great lords of all the Indian feas; in Europe, the timid inhabitants of a paltry state. No longer the fons of freedom, but of avarice; no longer affertors of their rights by courage, but by negotiations; fawning on those who infult them, and crouching under the rod of every neighbouring power. Without a friend to fave them in diftrefs, and without virtue to fave themfelves; their govern ment is poor, and their private wealth will ferve to invite fome neighbouring invader.

I long with impatience for your letters from England, Denmark, Holland, and Italy; yet, why with for relations which only defcribe new calamities, which fhew that ambition and avarice are equally terrible in every region?

Adieu.

Have frequently admired the manner of criticifing in China, where the learned are affembled in a body to judge of every new publication; to examine the merits of the work without knowing the circumstances of the author, and then to usher it into the world with proper marks of refpect or reprobation.

In England there are no fuch tribunals erected; but if a man thinks proper to be a judge of genius, few will be at the pains to contradict his pretensions. If any chufe to be critics, it is but faying they are critics; and from that time forward they become invested with full power and authority over every caitiff N

who