: produce an inundation of scribblers. Thus I have known the birth of an epic poem foretold by the shooting of a corn, and an ode to Peace prophesied from a pain in the shoulder. The reason of this is obvious wet weather confines people at home; people confined at home become sick, listless, satirical, melancholy. Now the sick man must not suffer his ideas to stagnate, the listless must have something to dissipate his ennui, the satirical something to yent his spleen upon, and the melancholy something to amuse him; and each, to answer his particular end-writes. Mr. Afflatus, who "is now a scribbler that was once a man," caught his distemper by the merest accident in the world. He was going out a shooting, and preparatory to it employed himself in drying his powder by the fire. A spark flying out, the whole magazine was in flames; and my friend suffered so much in the explosion, from the havoc it made in the features of his face, that I scarce knew him. He was condemned for a considerable time to his chamber, and during that confinement first became acquainted with the Aonian ladies. He was driven by necessity to read; and chance having flung in his way the energetic poetry of sir Richard Blackmore, such a furor poeticus was kindled in his breast, that he instantly mistook himself for a genius, and communicated his mistake to the public. I have been informed, that in his first fit of poetic freuzy, he was so considerably elevated and furious, that after having kicked down a whole set of china, the servants were obliged to be called in to hold him. The wet weather still affects him, but he is now less violent; and his do mestics take no other precaution, than when they find the glass falling, or the sky clouding over, to remove every thing out of his way which might be damaged by a fall. I can now easily conceive some sly female inquiring: What, after all this detail of other people's misfortunes, can be the reason of thy scribbling? To which, as I am a downright kind of a being, I answer, with more truth than politeness: Because it happens to be my humour; and, my dear madam, should you be half as well pleased with what you read, as I am with what I write, I shall find in you a constant reader, and you will find in me a constant attentive slave. And, since I have indulged the flattering supposition, that I may possibly find a reader or two among the ladies, I beg leave to inform them, that it is by no means my wish to call off their attention from their work, to dismal inquiries into the nature of truth and falsehood, to the apophthegms of moralists, the discoveries of philosophers, or the disquisitions of the learned. I shall frequently devote a paper entirely to their service; and, as I have none of those antiquated prejudices or opinions about me, that advice may tend to the reformation of manners; or, indeed, that mankind stand in any need of improvement-I shall study to entertain them without assuming the superiority of a dictator. In my attempts to collect materials for this purpose, I shall hope to succeed, notwithstanding "Oxford" (according to the opinion of many) "is such a dull, insipid, out of the way place, that if it were not for the stage coaches, it would be difficult for a body to pick up news enough in the week to furnish a petit-maitre's pocket-book.” There still remains a very large class of readers, for whom I confess myself totally unable to provide. I mean those, who, (from various causes which I shall not at present enumerate) are entertained with nothing but anecdotes of the beau monde, gleaned from waiters and unliveried gentlemen; or the scurrilities of an insolent buffoon, which are unpunished because they are unworthy of notice. That my attention has not been engaged in pursuits which will enable me to gratify such tastes, I do not repine. Cur ego laborem notus esse tam prave, Cum stare gratis cum silentio possim?-Martial. "Why should I labour in vicious industry, when I may remain without toil in innocent silence?" I should in vain endeavour to convey to my readers any very accurate idea of my proposed plan, as that which is in itself incomplete must be imperfect in description. Thus far I can venture to promise them; that, however little pleasure they may reap from perusing the produce of a gayer hour, or however little instruction from the lucubrations of a graver one, they will not have occasion to reproach me with having willingly disseminated error, having made my correspondence with the public the vehicle of private calumnies, or ministered by my pen to the gratification of vice. I may now, perhaps, be forgiven, if I say a few words of myself; and having entered upon that favourite topic on which the dull can expatiate with brilliancy, and the sterile with copiousness, let me obtain the negative praise of not having been pro lix. I shall only then add, that I am in good health, neither sick, listless, satirical, nor melancholy; and, that I shall be thankful for the communications of all correspondents, and object to the publishing of nothing which is not devoid of candour, delicacy, common sense, or grammatical correctness. -pereat mea Musa, dolosum Si quando ornaret vitium, aut cecinisse recuset No. II. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1787. Laudant illa, sed ista legunt. MONRO. Martial. THE elegant and justly-admired author of the Adventurer* censures the practice of our instructors of youth, for making their pupils more intimately acquainted with the Iliad than the Odyssey of Homer. I fear he has done this without producing, by his arguments, a reformation in the conduct of some, who still persist in the prosecution of their plan; or conviction in the minds of others, who may have altered it."This absurd custom," says he, "which seems to arise from the supposed su • No. 75. periority of the former poem, has induced me to make some reflections on the latter." The custom does not appear to me an absurd one, but founded on the experience of its utility; nor can I think the superiority of the Iliad supposed, but real. "The moral of this poem" says the Adventurer, "is more extensively useful than that of the Iliad, which, indeed, by displaying the dire effects of discord among rulers, may rectify the conduct of princes, and may be called the manual of monarchs: whereas, the patience, the prudence, the wisdom, the temperance, and fortitude of Ulysses, afford a pattern, the utility of which is not confined within the compass of courts and palaces, but descends and diffuses its influence over common life and daily practice." Upon this argument, namely, that the affairs which the Iliad treats of, are too far removed from common life to be of service to common readers, is grounded his principal objection to the practice before observed. Admitting the posi tion to be true, the conclusion does not necessarily follow. It is universally allowed, that the doctrine of morality has never been more forcibly inculcated, or its practice more strenuously and successfully recommended, than in the lofty tales and sublime language of Eastern literature: they have been subjects of imitation to an Adventurer and a Rambler, and of admiration to all. The tendency of these tales is universally an incitement to virtue, by an unlimited display of the workings of Providence. Yet how far removed are they from the business "of common life and daily practice!" Infinite merit is certainly due to the simplicity of the Odyssey. Yet is the Iliad by no means inferior |