coufin, is the majestic columns, the imperial front, the august display of kingly architecture? It looks like Majefty in difgrace; or, rather, it looks as if the people of England were enjoying the pomps of the fubject, while they thought any thing good enough for their Sovereign.

This unmajestical hut denoted such apparent difrefpect in the subject, that I was naturally led to enquire into the London character of the owner of this petty manfion. Is he, amongst you Londoners, efteemed a good FATHER? faid I. Excellent, rejoined my coufin; -a tender Husband? Unequalled, faid Mr. Smart; a kind Mafter? Remarkably fo;-a wife, politic, prudent, able, and fagacious Prince? Is he all thefe too, coufin? faid I.-Heaven blefs us, rejoined Mr. Smart, how the Park begins to thicken fince we have been criticifing the Falace!!

The Lord have mercy upon us! said Trusty, fuch a Palace, indeed! why I've seen a set of ftables that fhall beat his Majesty's manfion

house all to nothing.

By this time aftonishingly refulgent was the confluence of carriages and company. The richness of the dreffes, the beauty of several of the figures, the luftre of the fun, the verdure of the trees, feveral inftruments of fifes, drums, &c. that were pleasingly varied in their tunes,

*Let the reader call to mind thofe of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn-Abbey.

up

up and down the walks, the gildings of the chariots, and the general fatisfaction that diffused itself over every face, feemed to vie with each other. Amidft this agreeable rivalry, this fplendid jealoufy, we were delighted fpectators; and that we might fee the manners of the place, we fat ourselves focially down upon one of the benches in the centre. My cousin promised to give me the fuccinct history of thofe he knew, as they paffed in review before him; and, as kind luck would have it, a great number of fuch as he had confiderable knowledge of were present.

That black, fhabby-coated character, faid he, that you behold walking folitarily befide us, with the fnuff settled upon his bofom, is what they call a News- Doer; fee how flow and deliberate he walks! while his wig is thrown half over his face, for the benefit of his ears. As foon as he finds a knot of people got together, you fhall obferve him circle round them, or walk backwards and forwards within ear-fhot, in order to register the minutes of their converfation upon little dirty pieces of paper that is tucked in his bofom; or else you shall observe him following a party of females that talk loud; and the next morning you fhall perhaps read half a column of tittle-tattle of that very fellow's doing. Doing! faid I, my dear coufin, and are our public news-papers done after that manner? Oh, my friend, replied Mr. Smart, not a

fiftieth

fiftieth part of the readers of a news-paper can conceive how they are manufactured. You gentlemen who read them in the country, in particular, have no notion what malicious creatures are employed by the Printers to collect, to make, to mend, or to unmake paragraphs. That very skeleton that has just passed, shall breakfast, for inftance, upon the account of a broken limb, dine upon a death, fup upon a marriage that never happened, and fleep upon a robbery that never was committed. Oh Lord! Sir, London is a ftrange place, and you must look with a keen eye, and stay in it a great while, before you will be a master of half its expedients; half the shifts of the indigent, or half the lazinesses of the luxurious. But hum, faid my coufin, here's a whole ftring of characters that I am acquainted with; fee, their eyes have caught me, and they bow: that on the right-hand fide, the nearest to Trufty, is a Divine of the Church of England, remarkable for his eloquence upon the fubject of Charity; equally diftinguished for faying much, and doing nothing; he bids his congregation give, but makes a rule never to part with a penny himself. Nor is the man with the large wig (after the fashion of the last age) in the leaft behind-hand with him, in point of morals: he is neither more nor less than a Scotch Judge, but now retired (on account of bis infirmities) from the Bench. After having

D..

hanged,,

hanged, drawn and quartered for whim, caprice, or rather than "eat his mutton cold," he is now retired upon the comforts of a penfion. He has been fufpected, of making the law yield more than once, to favour his amorous "paffions; and. it is even whispered that he once faved a notorious offender, for fecret fervices granted by that offender's wife. Such, Mr. Randal, is the influence of certain favours. The middle-aged man on the other fide is a Physician, neat as imported; look how he fmells to his cane, criticifes the tick of his watch, twitches his enormous periwig, and looks, to use the language of Shakespeare, as who should fay, "I am Sir Oracle; and when I ope my lips, let no dog bark !" I remember him, about four years ago, a very worthy, modeft, diffident, and fkilful man, who used to walk on foot; but then, alas! his virtues ftarved him; he could not, Sir, get falt to his porridge. He laboured, ftudied, and footed it in vain; he fell a victim to the obfcurity of his fituation, and all his ingenuity was under a cloud. Although he frequently fought out the fick to relieve them, his benevolence was rewarded only by the poor; and he was in too much poverty himself to be employed by the rich. At last a relation luckily died, and bequeathed him a legacy of 500l. with which he was advised to set up a chariot, add a founding fyllable to his name, affume an air of import

ance,

ance, and fubftitute parade for knowledge. This did the business in a hurry, and he has now a very fplendid set of customers and connections.

It was now time for us to go home to dinner; and I employed the reft of the day in writing to my good friends this account: Farewell.

-ROBERT RANDAL.

LETTER V.

'SQUIRE RANDAL to CHARLES CRONY, Gent.

The first night's ramble-Covent-garden characterized.-Ladies of love and money described.—The Red Riding habit.-The Blue Pofts.-Story of Sandy-haired Sally displaying the science of pimping and cullying-With the humours of King's

I

Place.

DEAR CRONY,

Have told my brothers and fifters what was done in the day, but I fhall tell only fuch honeft fellows as you what hath been done in the nights. You fhall be, as it were, my nocturnal correfpondent; and to you I mean, according to promife, to devote all thofe humorous defcriptions, glowing fcenes, and warm views,

that