Farewell." doubting you would be the first to share with (eration of himself, that stimulating pride of me in the same sentiments. nature, which are to push his efforts towards perfection. The Romans were much in the habit of read- A limner will take a canvass and chalk out a ing their unpublished performances to select par-man's face he has never seen before, and hang ties, and sometimes no doubt put the patience and on his robes, or his garter, if he has one, or will politeness of their hearers to a severe trial: I put a horse in his hand, if he likes it better, or conceive that this practice does not obtain to any make a battle in the background, if he was ever degree amongst us at present: neither is it a within hearing of one, and when the job is thing to be recommended to young authors, finished will be paid the price of his labour, except under peculiar circumstances; for they like any other mechanic; the money he may certainly expose themselves and their hearers to spend or put to use, and, if customers come in, a situation very delicate at best, and which some- he may raise his price upon them, and the world times leads to unpleasant consequences. I am may call those profits an encouragement; but aware how much is to be expected from the judi- the painter is still a tradesman, and his sitter, cious remarks of a critic who will correct with not a patron, but a customer; the mercer, whose all the malice of a friend; yet a man so qualified damask clothes the walls of the nobleman's and disposed is not easily found, and does not saloon, and the artist, whose pictures hang often fall within the list of an author's acquain-round it, are in the same predicament as to entance: men, who read their works in circles, or couragement, whilst neither of them are admitto any but the most select friends, read for noted into the house they contribute to adorn. other purpose but for admiration and applause ; they cannot possibly expect criticism, and it is accordingly agreed upon by all, but the sect of the Dampers, either to keep out of such circles, or to pay their quota when the reckoning is cast up. Few, but men of quick and lively parts, are forward to recite in such societies, and these are the very men who are most pained by neglect; for I think it is a remark, with as few exceptions to it as most general remarks have, that brilliant talents are attended with extreme sensibility, and the effects of sensibility bear such resemblance to the effects of vanity, that the undiscerning multitude are too apt to confound them. These are the men who, in their progress through life, are most frequently misunderstood, and generally less pitied than they ought to be. Now a Damper will tell you that he is consult ing such a man's good, and lowering his vanity, when he is sporting with his feelings, and will také merit to himself for the discipline he gives him: but humanity will reflect, that the same spirits, which are prone to exult upon success, are proportionably agonized by the failure of it, and will therefore prompt us to a gentler treatment of such persons. As I have made this remark with a reference to the Dampers in high life, I am aware that there are many eminent encouragers of the arts and sciences among the rich and liberal; nay, so general is their protection that it comprehends a numerous importation of exotic toothdrawers, dancers, and milliners, who find that in England is the nursery of genius: even the magnifying philosopher of Piccadilly (unless he multiplies as well as magnifies) has shown his wonders so frequently and to such prodigious numbers, that it is to be doubted if they shall continue to be wonders much longer. There were men in ancient Greece, no doubt, who talked though Zeno chose to hold his tongue, when certain ambassadors had invited him to supper, that they might report his sayings to their sovereign: "what shall we say of you to our master?" the foreigners demanded; “ say that I had the wisdom to hold my tongue," replied the Stoic. Though I am clearly of opinion that this great master of silence was an intolerable Damper, and made a very poor return to these same hospitable ambassadors for their good entertainment of him, yet I am not quite so ready with my answer to a certain female correspondent, who in consequence of some discourse upon Dampers the other day, in a company where she was present, favoured me with the following short but curious epistle. "SIR, The sums which are expended in this nation upon those refined enjoyments, which are produced by the expertness of the hands and the ingenuity of the head, are certainly very great; and men are therefore apt to exclaim, "See what encouragement this country gives to arts and sciences!" If money were the standard "I have the misfortune to be married to an measure of encouragement, there could be no elderly gentleman, who has taken strange things dispute in the case; but so long as men have a in his head of late, and is for ever snubbing me feeling for their pride, as well as for their pocket, before folks, especially when the captain is in money alone will not encourage and promote company. 'Twas but t'other night he broke up the genius of a nation; it is the grace of doing a a party of hotcockles in the back parlour, and favour which constitutes its merit; it is from would not let the captain take a civil salute, the manners of the great, that the man of though I assured him it was only a forfeit at rising talents is to draw that inspiriting consid-questions and commands. "I don't know what he means by saying he | for instance, was a surly poet, yet how fulsome will put a spoke in my wheel, but I suspect it are his masques! In his " News from the New is some jealousy matter. World" he says of James, "Pray, Sir, is not my husband what you call a Damper? Yours, "LUCY LOVEIT." NUMBER III. THE desire of praise is natural, but when that appetite becomes canine, it is no longer in nature; a taste of it is pleasant to most men: temperance itself will take a little, but the stomach sickens with a surfeit of it, and the palate nauseates the debauch. Let the passion for flattery be ever so inordinate, the supply can keep pace with the demand, and in the world's great market, in which wit and folly drive their bargains with each other, there are traders of all sorts; some keep a stall of offals, some a storehouse of delicacies; a squeamish palate must be forced by alluring provocatives, a foul feeder will swallow any trash that he can get hold of. Read him as you would do the book No measure that is thence contrived, This poet, though he was rather a clumsy flatterer of his prince, was ingenious enough in the mode he took for flattering himself, by introduc. ing a kind of chorus, wherein he takes occasion to tell his hearers, that "careless of all vulgar censure, as not depending on common approbation, he is confident his plays shall superplease judicious spectators, and to them he leaves it to work with the rest by example or otherwise." It is remarkable that this passage should be found in his Magnetic Lady, and that he should speak with such confidence of one of his worst productions, as if he was determined to force a bad comedy upon the hearers by the authority of his own recommendation. This is an evident imitation of Aristophanes, who, in his comedy of The Clouds, holds the same language to his audience, fairly telling them " he shall estimate their judgment according to the degree of applause they shall bestow upon his performance then before them :' in conclusion he inveighs against certain of his contemporaries, Eupolis, Phyrnichus, and Hermippus," with whose comedies if any of his audience is well pleased, that person he hopes will depart from his dissatisfied; but if they condemn his rivals, and applaud him, he shall think better of their judgment for the future." Act 1. sc. 6. In a recent publication of the history of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, written by Sepulveda of Cardova (a contemporary and favourite of that famous monarch), the Academy of History at Madrid, in their dedication to his present Catholic Majesty, address him in the following words-Nam quem tu, Carole Rex, ut nomine refers, ua etiam bellicâ laude jampridem æmularis. When these courtly academicians have thus mounted their peaceable sovereign on the warhorse of the victorious Charles, they seriously The caution authors now proceed with shows proceed to tell him, that "being fully equal to the refinement of the times; still they can conhis predecessor in his martial character, he is trive in a modest way to say civil things of out of all distance superior to him in every other themselves, and it would be hard indeed to diskingly quality; more wise, more politic, more appoint them of so slight a gratification-for magnanimous, and (as the present work can what praise is so little to be envied as that which testify) a greater friend to learning than all that a man bestows on himself? Several of our diurever went before him, and if they may risk anal essayists have contrived under the veil of ficprediction, there will probably be none to come in competition with him hereafter." tion to hook in something recommendatory of themselves, which they mean should pass for truth; such is the intelligent taciturnity of the Spectator, and the solemn integrity of the Guardian. The latter, in one of his papers, notices the ambition of some authors to prefix engravings of their portraits to their title pages; his ridicule has not quite laughed this fashion out of countenance, for I perceive it is still in existence, and I frequently meet the face of an old acquaintance looking through the windows of a bookseller's shop. One very ingenious gentleman, whose beauty is amongst the least of his recommendations, has very prudently stamped his age upon his print. In the same shopwindow with this gentleman I observed with great pleasure an ele- | word of command the automaton bent his body gant author standing by him, as erect as a dart, firm and collected in the awful moment of beginning a minuet. I own I regret that the honest butler, who has regaled the age with a treatise on ale and strong beer, has not hung out his own head in the front of his book, as a sign of the good entertainment within. But of all the instances of face-flattery I have lately met with, that of a worthy citizen surprised me most, whose counting-house I entered the other day, and found an enormous portrait of my friend in a flaming drapery of blue and gold, mounted upon the back of a war-horse, which the limner has made to rear so furiously that I was quite astonished to see my friend, who is no great jockey, keep his seat so steadily: he confessed to me that he had consented to be drawn on horse-back to please his wife and daughters, who chose the attitude; for his own part it made him quite giddy to look at it himself, and he frequently desired the painter not to let the horse prance so, but to no purpose. Too great avidity of praise will sometimes betray an author into a sudden attempt at fine writing, where the thought will not carry the style; writers of this sort are like those tasteless dabblers in architecture, who turn the gable ends of barns and cottages into castles and temples, and spend a world of plastering and pains to decorate a pig-sty. They bring to my mind a ridiculous scene, at which I was present the other day; I found a lady of my acquaintance busily employed in the domestic education of her only son; the preceptor was in the room, and was standing in an attitude very much resembling the erect gentleman I had seen that morning in the bookseller's window; the boy kept his eyes fixed, and seemed to govern his motions by certain signals of the feet and arms, which he repeated from the preceptor. In the course of my conversation with his mother, I chanced to drop my glove upon the floor, upon which he approached to pick it up, but in a step so measured and so methodical that I had done the office for myself before he had performed his advances. As I was about to resume the conversation, the mother interrupted me by desiring I would favour her so far as to drop my glove again, that Bobby might have the honour of presenting it to me in proper form: all this while the boy stood as upright as an arrow, perfectly motionless; but no sooner had I thrown down my gauntlet than he began to put one foot slowly in advance before the other; upon which the preceptor of politeness cried out, "one!-first position !"-The boy then made another movement of his feet, upon which the master repeated-" two!-second position :"This was followed by another, and the echo again cried out "three! very well-third position! bend your body slowly!"-At the very deliberately, its arms hanging down in parallel perpendiculars to the floor, like the forelegs of a quadruped. The glove being row taken up by the right hand, was placed with great decorum upon the back of the left hand; the trunk of the animal was slowly restored to its erect position, and the glove presented with all due solemnity. As I was in hopes the ceremony was now over, upon hearing the teacher cry "bravo!" I thought it time to make my compliment of "thank you, pretty Master!" but I was again in a mistake, for the mother begged me not to hurry her dear Bobby, but allow him time to make his bow, and still hold the glove in my hand: this was an operation of no slight consequence, for in the time it took him up a nimble artist might have made the glove: at last, however, it was over, and the boy was putting himself in order of retreat, when the master observing that I had omitted the necessary bend of my wrist upon receiving the glove, for want of which the whole had been imperfect, proposed a repetition of the mancuvre, in which Bobby should be the dropper, and himself the picker up of the glove. This proposal struck me with such horror that taking a hasty leave of the lady, in which first, second, and third position were probably huddled all together, I departed, repeating to myself, in the words of Foigard, "all this may be very fine, but upon my soul it is very ridiculous.” ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ NUMBER IV. LADY Thimble is one of those female pedants who, with quick animal spirits, a pert imagination, great self-conceit, and a homely person, sets herself up for a woman of talents: she has as much of the learned languages as a boarding school girl carries home of French upon her first holidays, when Miss assures you she can call for what she wants, and though she won't utter a word in the parlour from pretended modesty, insults the ignorance of the chambermaid with an eternal jargon of bad grammar, worse pronounced. This learned lady is the only child of a wealthy trader of the city of London, who, having never advanced in his own education beyond the erudition of the counting-house, took care his daughter should be instructed in every thing he did not understand himself, and as the girl grew exceedingly vain of the applause of the pedagogue who read to her, the merchant grew as vaiu of the scholarship of his child, and would listen to the sound of Latin or Greek, with as much superstitious respect as a Gentoo does to the Shanscrite language of the Brahmins. but upon his death it fell into the occupation of young Theodore, who, disdaining the crosslegged art by which his father had worked himself into opulence, set out upon a new establishment, and figured off as the first gentleman of his family: he served as sheriff of the county, and acquired great reputation in that high office by the elegant and well cut liveries which he exhibited at the assizes; a lucky address from the county gave him a title, and the recommendation of a good settlement procured him his present lady, whom we have been describing. Miss, in the meantime, became an insufferable | seat, during the life of Mr. Thimble, remained slattern in her clothes and person, her handker- uncontaminated by the presence of its possessor, chiefs and aprons were full of iron-moulds from the drippings of the inkhorn, and her stockings full of holes from her neglect of the needle; these were, in fact, badges of affectation rather than of oversight, and you could not pay your court to her better than by rallying her about them. She wore a head of false hair, not because her own was thin, but because a wig was thrown on in an instant; this was sometimes done with a negligence that seemed studied, and when the learned Ventosus vouchsafed to visit her she was sure to wear her wig awry, as Alexander's courtiers did their heads, in honour of her guest: there was, indeed, an unseemly humour settled in her nose, but this she got by studying Locke upon the Human Understanding after dinner; before she could develope the whole doctrine of innate ideas the humour deepened many shades, which, however, on the whole may be allowed to be getting off, pretty well for a student in metaphysics. No face could bear the addition of a red nose better than Lady Thimble's: but a more alarming accident had befallen her in her astronomical studies, for as she was following a comet in his perihelion through the solutions of Sir Isaac Newton, her cap caught fire, and she was forced to break off in the midst of a proposition, by which means she dropped a stitch in the demonstration, and never was able to take it up again; her skin being cruelly scorched by this system of the comets, she wears a crimson scar upon her cheek, not indeed as an ornament to her beauty, but a trophy of her science. Her works are pretty voluminous, especially in manuscript; but censorious people affect to whisper, that she performed one work in concert with the pedant her master, and that, though this composition was brought secretly into the world, it is the only one of her producing that bids fair for posterity: this story, and the remark upon it, I had from a lady, who is one of her intimate friends, but she assured me she gave no credit to it herself, and considered all such scandalous insinuations as the effects of malice and envy. At the age of seven and twenty, by the persuasion of her father, she was joined in the bands of wedlock to Sir Theodore Thimble: this gentleman had been lately dubbed a knight for his services to the crown in bringing up a county address; his father, Mr. David Thim- | ble, had been an eminent tailor in the precincts of St. Clement's, in which business he had, by his industry, and other methods, raised a very respectable fortune in money, book debts, and remnants: in his latter years Mr. Thimble purchased a considerable estate in Essex, with a fine old mansion upon it, the last remaining property of an ancient family. This venerable As I have been in long habits of friendship with the worthy citizen her father, I could not resist the many pressing invitations he gave me to pay a visit to his daughter and Sir Theodore at their country seat, especially as he prefaced it by assuring me I should see the happiest couple in England; and that although I had frequently opposed his system of education, I should now be convinced that Arabella made as good a housewife, and understood the conduct of her family as well as if she had studied nothing else; and this, he was sure, I would confess, if he could prevail with me to accompany him to her house. On the day following this conversation we set out together, and in a few hours found ourselves at the promised spot: as I remembered this fine old mansion in the days of its primitive simplicity, when I was ushered to its gates through a solemn avenue of branching elms, that arched over head in lofty foliage, and formed an approach in perfect unison with the ancient fashion of the place, I must own I was much revolted to find that Sir Theodore had begun his improvements with a specimen of his father's art, by cutting an old coat into a new fashion: my favourite avenue no longer existed; the venerable tenants of the soil were rooted up, and a parcel of dotted clumps, composed of trumpery shrubs, substituted in their places; 1 was the more disgusted, when I perceived that by the nonsensical zigzaggery of the road, through which we meandered, I was to keep company with these new-fashioned upstarts, through as many parallels as would serve for the regular approaches to a citadel. At one of these turnings, however, I caught the glimpse of a well dressed gentleman standing in a very becoming attitude, who I concluded must be the master of the mansion waiting our approach; and, as I perceived he had his hat under his arm, expecting us with great politeness and civility, I instantly took mine from my head, and called to our driver to stop the carriage, for that I perceived Sir Theodore was come out to meet us. My companion was at this time exceedingly busy in directing my attention to the beauties of his son-in law's improvements, so When the first salutations were over, lady Thimble gave her orders to the servant, in the style of Lucullus, to prepare The Apollo, declaring herself ashamed to receive a gentleman of talents in any other apartment; I beseeched her to let us remain where we were, dreading a that I had stopped the chaise before he observed | being unexpected, we were shown into the comwhat I was looking at; but how was I surpris- mon parlour, where this happy couple were ed to find, in place of Sir Theodore, a leaden sitting over a good fire with a middle aged man statue on a pair of scates painted in a blue and of athletic size, who was reposing in an elbow gold coat, with a red waistcoat, whose person, chair, in great state, with his mull in his hand, upon closer examination, I recollected to have and with an air so self important, as plainly inbeen acquainted with some years ago, amongst dicated him to be the dictator of this domestic the elegant group, which a certain celebrated circle. artist exhibits to the amusement of stage coaches and country waggons, upon their entrance into town at Hyde Park Corner! I was happy to find that this ridiculous mistake, instead of embarrassing my friend, occasioned infinite merriment, and was considered as so good a joke by all the family upon our arrival that I am persuad-removal from a comfortable fireside to a cold ed it was in the mind of the improver when he placed him there; for the jest was followed up by several other party-coloured personages cast to the life, gentlemen and ladies, who were airing themselves upon pedestals, to the no small delight of my companion; and though most of these witticisms in lead were of the comic cast, one group, of a mountebank in the act of draw-bands under proper subjection, and I saw with ing an old woman's tooth, was calculated to move the contrary passion; and this I observed was the last in the company, standing in view from the windows of the house, as the moral of the fable. We now entered a Chinese fence through a gate of the same fashion, to the side of which was affixed a board, on which I observed, at some distance, a writing in fair characters; this I suspected to be some classical text, which my lady had set up to impress her visitors with a due respect for her learning, but upon a near approach I found it contained a warning to all interlopers, that men traps and spring guns were concealed in those walks. In this dangerous defile we were encountered by a servant in livery, who was despatched in great haste to stop our driver, and desire us to alight, as the gravel was newly laid down, and a late shower had made it very soft; my friend readily obeyed the arrest, but I confess the denunciation of traps and guns were so formidable to my mind that I took no step but with great circumspection and forecast, for fear I was treading on a mine, or touching a spring with my foot, and was heartily glad when I found myself on the steps, though even these I examined with some suspicion before I trusted myself upon them. As we entered the house, my friend the merchant whispered me, that "we were now in my lady's regions; all without doors was Sir Theodore's taste, all within was hers;"-but as here a new scene was opened, I shall reserve my account to another paper. ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ NUMBER V. stately apartment, for the season was severe; I was so earnest in my request that Sir Theodore ventured, in the most humble manner, to second my suit; the consequence of which was a smart reprimand, accompanied with one of those expressive looks which ladies of high prerogative in their own houses occasionally bestow to hus pity the poor gentleman despatched for his officiousness upon a freezing errand through a great hall, to see that things were set in order, and make report when they were ready. I could not help giving my friend the merchant a significant look upon this occasion; but he prudently kept silence, waiting with great respect the dreadful order of march. My lady now introduced me to the athletic philosopher in the elbow chair, who condescended to relax one half of his features into a smile, and with a gracious waving of his hand, or rather fist, dismissed me back again to my seat without uttering a syllable. She then informed me, that she had a treat to give me, which she flattered herself would be a feast entirely to my palate; I assured her ladyship I was always happiest to take the family dinners of my friends, adding, that in truth the sharp air had sufficiently whetted my appetite to recommend much humbler fare than I was likely to find at her table. She smiled at this, and told me, it was the food of the mind that she was about to provide for me: she undertook for nothing else; culinary concerns were not her province; if I was hungry, she hoped there would be something to eat, but for her part, she left the care of her kitchen to those who lived in it. Whilst she was saying this, methought the philosopher gave her a look, that seemed to say he was of my way of thinking; upon which she rung the bell, and ordered dinner to be held back for an hour, saying to the philosopher she thought we might have a canto in that time. She now paused for some time, fixing her eyes upon him in expectation of an answer; but none being given, nor any signal of assent, she rose, and observing that "it was surprising to think what Sir Theodore could be about all OUR visit to Sir Theodore and Lady Thimble this while, for she was sure the Apollo must be |