tered, than I was hurried along by the crowd to the farther end of the hall, where the first thing that caught my eye was an old lady, who, it seems presided for the night, and was at that instant employed in distributing tickets, to ascertain the order in which the ladies were to dance. She was surrounded by a cluster of persons of both sexes, all of whom spoke at the same time, and some of them, as I thought, with a voice and gesture rather rough and vehement.

This important part of the ceremonial being at length adjusted, the dancing began. My conductress asked me, if I did not think the ladies, in general, handsome? I told her, (and that without any compliment,) that I thought them more than commonly beautiful; "but methinks," added I, "the gentlemen are not, either in dress or appear"ance, such as I should have expected."....“ O,” replied she," have a little patience, the men of "fashion are not yet come in; this being the first "day of the races, they are dining with the stew"ards." I had not time to make my observation on the propriety of allowing ladies to go unattended to a public place, to wait there four hours in expectation of the gentlemen with whom they were to dance; for, at that instant, a loud noise at the lower end of the hall attracted my notice. “There "they come," said she; and I soon perceived a number of young gentlemen staggering up the room, all of them flustered, some of them perfectly intoxi cated. Their behaviour (I forbear to mention the particulars) was such as might be expected.

In a few days I was quite satisfied with the amusements of Edinburgh, and with pleasure retired once more to my solitude at ......... There, however, I again fell a sacrifice to ennui: I could contrive no way to fill up my time. After passing two or three tedious years, I resolved to make one effort more, and

set out for London, in hopes of meeting those friends with whom I had lived so happily abroad, and in whose society I now expected to receive pleasure without allay.

Upon enquiry, I found that almost all my friends were in town, and next morning sallied forth to wait upon them. But no where could I gain admittance. It did not occur to me that those doors, which, at Rome or Naples, flew open at my approach, could, at London be shut against me. I therefore concluded I had called at an improper time, and that the hours of London (with which I was but little acquainted) differed from those we had been accustomed to abroad.

In that belief I went to the Opera in the evening. I had not been there long before Lord happened to come into the very box where I was. With Lord I had lived in habits of the most intimate friendship, and, in a less public place, I should have embraced him with open arms. Judge, then, of my astonishment, when he received my compliments with the coldness of the most perfect indifference. It is needless to run through the mortifying detail. From all my friends I met with much the same reception. One talked of the business of parliament, another of his engagements at the Sçavoir Vivre, or the Coterie. The Duke of

who then filled one of the greatest offices of state, alone seemed to retain his former sentiments. One day he took me into his closet, and, after some general conversation, solicited my interest in the county of ........, for Mr. ........ I told him, that my engagements to the other candidate were such, that I could not possibly comply with his request. He seemed perfectly satisfied, and we parted on the best terms; but from that day forth, his Grace never happened to be at home when I did myself the honour of calling on him.

Chagrined and mortified, I returned to Scotland. When I had got within fifty miles of my own house, I observed, from the road, a gentleman's seat, the beauty and elegance of which struck me so múch that I stopped the carriage, and asked the post-boy to whom it belonged? "To Mr. Manly," said he. "What, Charles Manly?" Before I could receive an answer, my friend appeared in a field at a little distance. Manly and I had been educated at the same school, at the same university, and had set out together to make the tour of Europe. But after we had been some time in France he was called home, by accounts that his father lay dangerously ill. From that time a variety of accidents had pres vented our meeting. We now met as if we had parted but yesterday; with the same freedom, the same warmth, the same glow of friendship, height. ened, if possible, by our long separation.

During my stay at his house, I told him all my distresses, all my disappointments. When I had done, "To be plain with you, my friend," said he, "I cannot help thinking that most of your disap"pointments must be imputed to yourself. Your "long residence abroad, and your attachment to "foreign manners, has led you to judge rather "hastily of your countrymen. Had you been less "rash, you might have discovered virtues in your "neighbours that would, in some measure, have "made up for the want of that high polish and re"finement which they cannot be expected to possess. "From what you saw at Edinburgh in the hurry of "a race week, and from the behaviour of a set of "men, who think that fashionable distinction consists " in indulgence in low pleasures and gross amuse❝ments, you have drawn conclusions equally un"favourable and unjust. I know, from experience, "that nowhere are to be found men of more agree. "able conversation, or women more amiable and

"respectable. Your late disappointment, in the " reception you met with from your foreign friends, "proceeds from a mistake not uncommon, from "confounding that companionship, so apt to produce "a temporary union among young men, when en"gaged in the same pleasures and amusements, with "real friendship, which seldom or never has been "found to subsist between men differing much in "rank and condition, and whose views and objects "in life do not in some measure coincide."

I am now, Mr. Mirror, fully convinced of the truth of Manly's observations; and am every day more and more satisfied, that it is a misfortune for a private gentleman, who means to pass his days in his native country, to become attached to foreign manners and foreign customs, in so considerable a degree, as a long residence abroad, in the earlier period of life, seldom fails to produce.

M

I am, &c.

ALONZO.

No. LVIII. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14.

Veniam damus petimusque vicissim.

HOR.

THE mutual complaints of Mr. and Mrs. Gold," which have been communicated in a former paper, together with some complaints of similar familydistresses, which I have received from other correspondents, often remind me of the happy effects which my friends Horatio and Emilia have experienced from an opposite temper and conduct.

Horatio, though he obtained a very liberal edu-* cation, lived till the age of twenty-five almost en

tirely in the country. The small fortune. which he inherited from his father being about this time increased by his succeeding to a distant relation, he afterwards spent some years in this city, in London, and in making the usual tour on the continent. •-,

Soon after his return, he married the young and beautiful Emilia, to whom he had become warmly attached, not so much on account of her beauty, as from an expression of a sweet, though lively temper, which marked her countenance....which, when admitted to a more intimate acquaintance, he found to be justified by her conversation and

manners.

Emilia's father was addicted to pleasure and expence, and her mother, though more accomplished, of a similar disposition.....In their family she had been accustomed to a life of more than ordinary gaiety.

Though Horatio felt, in all its extent, that passion which is nowise favourable to a just estimation of character, these circumstances had not escaped his notice; and he failed not to observe that Emilia had acquired a stronger attachment to the pleasure of a town life, than was either right in itself, or agreeable to that preference for domestic society, and the quiet of a country life, which he had always felt, and which he still wished to gratify.

In place, however, of acquainting Emilia with his taste in these particulars, he judged it better to let her enjoy that style of life to which she had been accustomed, not doubting, from the natural good sense and sweetness of her disposition, that her own taste might gradually be corrected, and that as his should from time to time fall under her observation, it might contribute to the change,

He took up his residence, therefore, in town; and though Emilia went into company, and frequented public places more than he could have