whole had been imperfect, proposed a repetition of the manœuvre, 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 compting-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 vain 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.

Miss, in the mean time, became an insufferable slattern in her clothes and person, her handkerchiefs 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 dropt 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 as a trophy of her science.

Her works are pretty voluminous, especially in manuscript; but censorious people affect to whisper,

sant consequences. I am aware how much is to be expected from the judicious remark of a critic, who will correct with all the malice of a friend; yet a man so qualified and disposed is not easily found, and does not often fall within the list of an author's acquaintance; men, who read their works in circles, or to any but the most select friends, read for no 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 consulting such a man's good, and lowering his vanity, when he is sporting with his feelings, and will take 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.

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 measure of encouragement, there could be no dispute in the case; but so long as men have a feeling for their pride, as well as for their pocket, money alone will not encourage and promote the genius of a nation; it is the grace of doing a favour, which constitutes its merit; it is from the manners of the great, that the man of rising talents is to draw that inspiriting consideration of himself, that stimulating pride of nature, which are to push his efforts towards perfection.

A limner will take a canvass and chalk out a man's face he has never seen before, and hang on his robes, or his garter, if he has one, or will put a horse in his hand, if he likes it better, or make a battle in the back ground, if he was ever within hearing of one, and when the job is finished will be paid the price of his labour, like any other mechanic; the money he may spend or put to use, and, if customers come in, he may raise his price upon them, and the world may call those profits an encouragement; but the painter is still a tradesman, and his sitter not a patron, but a customer: the mercer, whose damask clothes the walls of the nobleman's saloon, and the artist, whose pictures hang round it, are in the same predicament as to encouragement, whilst neither of them are admitted into the house they contribute to adorn.

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 tooth-drawers, dancers, and milliners, who find that 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 con tinue 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.

6 SIR,

'I have the misfortune to be married to an elderly gentleman, who has taken strange things in his head of late, and is for ever snubbing me before folks, especially when the captain is in company. 'Twas but t'other night he broke up a party of hotcockles in the back parlour, and would not let the captain take a civil salute, though I assured him it was only a forfeit at questions and commands.

'I don't know what he means by saying he will put a spoke in my wheel, but I suspect it is some jealousy matter.

'Pray, Sir, is not my husband what you call a Damper? Yours, 'LUCY LOVEIt.'