cult to write an introductory paper than we were aware of, and, with regard to the admission of Mr. Pope's translation of each passage, that the paper appeared so full, as necessarily to exclude either that or the original.

66 Besides," ‚” added he, (recovering himself from the convulsion of merriment into which his own friendly ideas had betrayed him) “ upon such a subject as the Iliad or Odyssey, who cares what the Adventurer has said, or what the Olla Podrida has to say? Every body knows that each is a model of different excellence, that the former is the work of genius in the full and vigorous exertions of all its powers, and the latter bears evident marks of the poet's having arrived at a maturity of judgment, though, at the same time, he discovers the decay of age." I acquiesced more with silence than satisfaction in what I heard my friend advance. Had he known me for the author, while his conscientious adherence to truth might have extorted the same opinions from him, he would have been prevented from triumphing in the insolence of wit. This tribute he would have paid to delicacy When he reads the eighth number of the Olla Podrida, he will probably agree in opinion with me, that those thoughts have been conceived in an unlucky moment which are expressed in an improper one. He will, likewise, be reminded, that people are inclined to entertain little opinion of that judgment which controverts their own sentiments, and little relish for that wit by which themselves become ridiculous.

I shall solace myself with the assurance Mr. Addison has given us, "That there is, and ever will

be, justice enough in the world, to afford patronage and protection for those who endeavour to advance truth and virtue, without any regard to the passions and prejudices of any particular cause and faction.*"

But lest I should seem to dwell too long upon a subject neither interesting nor entertaining to my readers, I shall subjoin the following letter:

To the Cook of the Olla Podrida.

Xanthe, retro propera.

Ovid.

MR. TARATALLA, or whatever your name is,

THERE is at present, in this little island of Great Britain, so much hurry, bustle, and confusion, that nothing is in its proper place. O'Kelly has been taken in, the Bath butcher has been beaten, and no progress is made toward finding out the longitude. We are in the same state in which Rome was during the Catilinarian conspiracy; no man knows upon whom he may depend; honest men are afraid of each other; and thieves are betrayed by their associates. The honourable fraternity of Black-legs cannot follow their calling, because the management of the faro-table is in the hauds of nobility: the women of fashion are at my lord mayor's dinner; royalty is gone to a Barnet boxing-match; and the parson of the parish lives an hundred miles from his flock, because his preferment is a sinecure.

Spectator, No. 445.

Not three days ago, I met my shoemaker airing himself and his household, between Hampstead and Kentish-town, in a job coach, all dust, and sweat, and belly. The gentility of this notable tradesman's equipage induced me to make some inquiry into the state of his business and circumstances. He was candid enough to inform me (for that was his phrase, “I will candidly inform you,”) that constant attention for years to his shop had enabled him to go thus a pleasureing every Saturday : and, thank God, he had been able to educate his family genteelly; two daughters were then at the boarding school at Old Brentford, and two sons at the Latin college at Knightsbridge. This honourable shoemaker's trade, being left to his journeymen, is, like the parson's, a sinecure: and he would willingly, no doubt, take the hopes of his family from the college, if he could be so fortunate as to procure him a sinecure place in the Customs; nor would it be improper, or unentertaining, to see Mrs. Last accommodated with the rangership of some forest; a genteel sinecure, like religion, charity, matrimony, honesty, and benevolence, which are become all, all sinecures !

Mr. Last and his family are neither particular in the end they have in view, nor in the means they use to acquire that end. Yet, let them remember, that though the trouble of their shop may be carried on by proxy, and their business by those means become a sinecure, they will find ruin not to be the sinecure they willingly aim at, and that they cannot die by proxy; the former of which must as inevitably be the portion of the tradesman above his business, as the latter must of all mankind.

The prevalent fashion seems to be, for every one to shine conspicuously, where no one expects to see him. If this total derangement of the order of things continues to spread through all ranks of people, we shall, perhaps, see the spirit of the Chevalier D'Eon, or the bruiser Ben, diffused among our fair countrywomen, or the bench of bishops huzzaing a ham-strung ox from Cripplegate to Fleet-market.

If you call at your coachmaker's in a morning, he is trying a pair of horses for his own chariot; if in an evening, you cannot see him, for he is at the opera your hair-dresser refuses to shave you, for he is a ploco cosmist, and not a barber: the barber sends his boy to do it, obliged himself to attend one of the company's dinners. A waiter will not buckle on your spurs, because it is the office of Mr. Boots, who calls his deputy; and your gentleman's gentleman, instead of pimping for his master, is intriguing for himself. If we go on at this rate, who the devil is to do the business of the world? Who will cry the peas and beans about the streets this spring? Who will sell oranges at the Abbey ? Who will sweep the stage, snuff the candles, shift the scenes, make thunder and lightning, play Scrub, or dance a hornpipe? All which things are so necessary to the welfare of mankind, that without them, life is a joke, and this world a vale of tears.

Ten years hence, I shall not be surprised to find this nation so thoroughly possessed by the resolution to be all gentlemen, that house-breakers will be pardoned at the gallows, upon condition of their submitting to become pedlers, brewers, conveyancers, or lord chief justices, for the rest of their

lives: while the man who is to be transported, may, perhaps, be tempted to exchange his infamy for the drudgery of a foreign bishopric. Many au industrious handicraftsman, who has been condemned to the floating academy at Woolwich for life, will be dismissed, on pain of sitting nine years at the helm of Great Britain, giving proper security for his good behaviour. Nor will the place of master of the ceremonies at court be unprofitably filled by some well-bred lawyer from the pillory.

Of trade and profession we shall be thus radically cured. No man can then call another apothecary! no common-council-man's heart will burst with spleen at the grandeur of a lord mayor's show: no wine-merchant need be at the trouble of committing adultery with a cargo from Portugal: no epitaph writers will be constrained to pun on the death of the cobbler: no tailor will be troubled to turn the author's breeches. Veniet felicius ævum, "the happier day will come," when we shall be all on a level; every man his own coachman, his own tobacconist, his own gentleman, his own man-midwife, and, as I know who would say, his own wash

er-woman.

MONRO.

I am, Mr. Taratalla, yours, &c.

SNUB.