gentleman fuppofed his honour to be injured. His Lordfhip, well understanding the meaning of this appeal, returned the piftol; and being very much agitated by a fudden tremor, which very vifibly appeared to be exerted throughout his whole frame, with a faultering voice defired the Officer to give himself no further uneafinefs relative to his promotion, as he then pledged his honour that he should be presented with the first vacant company; upon

which the Officer very politely took leave of his Lordship, after having apologized for the mode of procedure which he had been under the neceffity of adopting, with a view of gratifying his honour, and removing his grievances.

His Lordship for once was faithful; he fulfilled his Promife; and the Officer thereby experienced the ultimatum of his wishes.

[Weft. Mag.]

the beft periodical production that has ever yet appeared, it would be only a repetition of what thousands have already faid; I therefore wave all compliment, and beg leave to lay the following plan before you.

-You must know, Sirs, that I am an old man, who delight much in reading, and whenever I meet with any thing that is particularly ftriking, I copy it in my Common-Place Book, where are now depofited the choiceft treafures of our best Englifh writers; but as my defign, in following this method, has not been merely for my own advantage, but for that of the public alfo, I have for fome time waited for a proper channel, whereby I might convey them to the notice of mankind; and now offer them to you, Sirs, as a proof of the opinion I entertain of your undertaking, not doubting but they will prove agreeable to your very numerous readers.

But it not be unnecessary to explain may my motives for appearing under fo uncouth a title as that of BOOK-WORM.----Believe me, Sirs, I from my heart despise the felfifh wretch who deferves that appellation; who reads for ever for himself alone, and lays up in his memory an useless heap of undigefted matter.---Men of this clafs are generally little more than WORDGRUBBERS, remembering with the niceft care the peculiar ftile or expreffion of an author, but totally inattentive to his principles or fentiments. The pride of fuch a man is merely in the number of the volumes he has read, and fo perpetually is he engaged in reading, that he does not allow himfelf time for application, and thus be comes a very drone in fociety,---living on the fruits of other's labours, yet no way adding to the general ftock.

I need not, however, take up your readers' time, in pourtraying a character too often feen; fuffice it to fay, that my own MISCELL, VOL. II.

fondness for books has drawn upon me this opprobrious name, and that I am feldom known by any other, more especially among the undifcerning multitude, whofe opinions are formed from fuperficial views. But my prefent appearance may poffibly convince them, that I am not that mifer in knowledge they fufpect me to be, and that whatever I glean in the fields of learning, I freely diftribute to fuch as will receive it.

Apropos, Meffieurs---the English, I obferved, are a strange, unaccountable people, judging without thought, and deciding without judgment.---Take, then, the following picture of them, as drawn by the ingenious and fenfible Dr. S, in his HISTORY and ADVENTURES of an ATOM.

In juftice to the Doctor, I muft previoufly obferve, that he has published the character in question under another name, fubftituting the empire of Japan for the kingdom of England; but as nothing of ill-nature is to be found in this defcription, my countrymen, I think, cannot be dif pleafed, if the mirror is awhile held up to them.

THE kingdom of England confifts of three large iflands; and the people who inhabit them are fuch inconfiftent, capricious animals, that one would imagine they were created for the purpose of ridicule. Their minds are in continual agitation, like a fhuttlecock toffed to and fro, in order to divert the demons of philofophy and folly. An Englishman, without the intervention of any vifible motive, is, by turns, merry and penfive, fuperficial and profound, generous and illiberal, rafh and circumfpect, courageous and fearful, benevolent and cruel. They feem to have no fixed principle of action, no effectual rudder to fteer them through the voyage of life; but to be hurried down the rapid

C

tide

property, they are the tameft animals in the

pens to blow. An Englishman will fing at a funeral, and figh at a wedding; he will this hour talk ribaldry with a proftitite, and the next immerfe himself in the ftudy of metaphyfics or theology. In fa vour of one ftranger, he will exert all the virtues of hofpitality; against another, he will exercife all the animofity of the most fordid prejudice; one minute fees him hazarding his all on the most extravagant project; another beholds him hefitating in lending a fum of money to his friend on undeniable fecurity. To-day, he is afraid of paring his corns; to-morrow, he fèruples not to cut his own throat. At one feafon, he will give half his fortune to the poor; at another, he will not bestow the fmalleft pittance to fave his brother from indigence and diftrefs. He is elated to infolence by the leaft gleam of fuccess; he is dejected to defpondence by the flighteft turn of adverfe fortune. One hour he doubts the best established truths; the next, he fwallows the moft improbable fiction. His praise and cenfure is what a good man would chufe to avoid, as evils equally pernicious: the firft is generally raifed without foundation, and carried to fuch extravagance, as to expofe the object to the ridicule of mankind; the last is often unprovoked, yet ufually inflamed to all the rage of the moft malignant perfecution. He will extol above Alexander the Great, a petty officer who robs a henrooft; and damn to infamy a General for not performing impoffibilities. The fame man whom he yesterday flattered with the moft fulfome adulation, he will to-morrow revile with the most bitter abuse; and, at the turning of a raw, take into his bofom the very perfon whom he has formerly defamed as the moft perfidious raícal.

The English value themfelves much upon their conftitution, and are very clamorous about the words Liberty and Property; yet, in fact, the only liberty they enjoy is to get drunk whenever they pleafe, to revile the government, and quarrel with one another. With refpect to their

dergo, without wincing, fuch impofitions, as no other nation in the world would bear. In this particular, they may be compared to an afs, that will crouch under the most unconfcionable burthen, provided you feratch his long ears, and allow him to bray his belly full. They are fo practicable, that they have fuffered their pockets to be drained, their veins to beemptied, and their credit to be cracked," by the most bungling adftras, to gratify the avarice, pride, and ambition, of the moft fordid and contemptiblethat ever fate upon the ——

The methods used for accomplishing thefe purposes are extremely fimple. You have feen a dancing bear incenfed to a dangerous degree of rage, and all at once appeafed by firing a piftol over his nose. The English, even in their most ferociou s moods, when they denounce vengeance against the m r, and even threaten the

itfelf; are eafily foftened into meeknefs and condefcenfion. A fet cf tall fellows, hired for the purpofe, tickle them under the nofes with long ftraws, into a gentle convulfion, during which they fhut their eyes, and fmile, and quietly fuffer their pockets to be turned infide out. Nay, what is ftill more remarkable, the m y is in poffeffion of a pipe, or rather bullock's horn, which being founded to a particular pitch, has fuch an effect on the ears and understandings of the people, that they allow their pockets to be picked with their eyes open, and are bribed to betray their own interests with their own money, as eafily as if the treasure had come from the remoteft corner of the globe.

Notwithstanding thefe capricious pecu-' liarities, the English are become a wealthy and powerful people, partly from their infular fituation, and partly from a fpirit of commercial adventure, fuftained by all the obftinacy of perfeverance, and conducted by repeated flashes of good fense, which almoft inceffantly gleam through the chaos of their abfurdities.

all over her head. Her robe was of the richest embroidered and embossed blue and

filver I ever faw. She had on a large hoop, and a great quantity of diamonds. More than two yards of her train fwept the ground.

When

When the first appeared, the looked very pale, and more dead than alive. She made a moft profound reverence to the cardinal, who was feated on the steps of the altar in his mitre, and all his rich veftments, ready to receive her. She threw herself upon her knees, at the foot of the altar, and remained in that posture fome time, while other parts of the ceremony were adjusting; then the approached the cardinal, who faid, "Figlia mia, che domandate ?" "My child, what is your request?" She faid, that the begged to be admitted into the convent as a fifter of the order of St.

Urfula. "Have you (faid the cardinal) well confidered of what you ask?" She anfwered chearfully that the had, and was well informed of all that she was about to do. Then the kneeled down again, and kiffed the cardinal's hands, and received from him a little crucifix, which she also kifled; after which the retired again to the foot of the altar, where she threw herTelf on her knees while the cardinal faid mass, which was fung at the fame time in the organ loft. After this there was a fermon in the Italian language, and that being over, the cardinal led the nun elect into the convent, where she was divested of all her gorgeous attire, and worldly vanities, and had her hair cut off. She then came to the gate in her religious dress, to

receive the white veil, with which she was invested by the lady abbess, the cardinal, and the other affiftants standing by her.

When her veil was on, the new fifter came to the convent door, to receive the congratulations of her friends, and of the company; but first, with a lighted taper in her hand, the marched round the convent, to falute all the nuns, who had likewife tapers in their hands. When the was at the door, with the veil, and a crown on, but her face uncovered, I, among the reft, went close to her, and found that fhe was much prettier than I had before imagined. She had a sweet mouth, and the fineft teeth in the world, with lively fparkling eyes, and an elegant fhaped face. She would, any where elfe, have been styled a very pretty woman; but here her fituation exalted her into a beauty.

At the altar fhe changed countenance feveral times; firft grew pale, then red, and feemed to pant, and to be in danger of either bursting into tears, or fainting; but the recovered before the ceremony was ended, and at the convent door affumed an air of great chearfulness, talking to feveral of her friends and acquaintance, and feeming to give up the world very heroically. And thus ended the human facrifice. [St. James's Mag.]

PRIDE on the LowER

THE most general complaint in the

univerfe is against Pride; which -furprizes me very much that it is not entirely banished out of fociety; nor can I otherwife account for it, than that it is a part of most people's natures, and lies concealed from the poffeffor, though comanonly visible enough to every one else.--The Rev. Mr. Collier, in an effay on this fubject, defines Pride "to be the having too high an opinion of our own excelfence." Now that most, if not all, people entertain very flattering opinions of themfelves, is, I believe, beyond all doubt; but that they can do fo with propriety, is what I much question. I am rather inclined to think the contrary; and that, if every perfon would examine himself impartially, he would find no juft grounds to be otherwife than modeft and humble, and very dubious of his own perfections.

It must be a mortifying reflection to those who place fo much confidence in

O F

CLASSES of MANKIND.

worldly enjoyments, that this life will not laft for ever; and that it will not, is very evident.

I have often made a remark, (which ftrict obfervation has convinced me is just) that Pride and Ignorance are generally infeparable, and that the Juperior part of mankind are much freer from them than people in inferior fituations. I am not unacquainted with any one station in life, and therefore write more from experience than fuggeftion and as I apprchend the fame remark has been made by many befides myfelf, I fhali confine my strictures on this fubject chiefly to the middle and lover claffes, as conceiving them the most culpable.

:

It is a fact well known, that Borough and Corporation Towns are principally inhabited by a fet of men, whofe delight and ftudy it is to oppofe one another; and of women who endeavour to excel in drefs, and what they call politenefs, and C 2

who

was mistaken in almost every notion he entertained. He had a ftrong defire to pleafe, (the mixed refult of good nature, and a laudable vanity) and was fenfible that he had nothing but the defire. He therefore refolved, if poffible, to acquire the means too. And this he accomplished, by attentively studying the drefs, the manner, and the converfation of all thofe whom he found to be the people in fashion, and moft generally allowed to please.

Before he came of age, being then ftiled Lord Stanhope, he was chofen, in the first parliament of King George the First, for the borough of St. Germain, and in the next for Leftwithiel, both in Cornwall.--He tells us himself, that "he fpoke in parliament the first month he was in it, and from the day he was elected to the day he fpoke, thought and dreamed of nothing but fpeaking." On the Prince of Wales's firft arrival in England, he was made one of the Lords of his Bed-chamber, in which poft he was retained, when his Royal Highness was difmiffed the Court of St. James's, in 1717. In 1723, he was appointed Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. In January, 1726, on his father's death, he fucceeded him in his titles and estates; and, in 1728, foon after the acceffion of King George II. his Lordfhip was fworn of his Majefty's privycouncil, and appointed Ambaffador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Holland, which high character he fupported with the greatest dignity, doing service to his own country, and gaining the esteem. of the States General. In 1730, he was elected a Knight of the Garter, and appointed Lord Steward of his Majesty's Household; and, in the fame year, he returned to his embassy in Holland.

In September, 1733, he married the Right Hon. Melefina de Schulemburgh, Countess of Walfingham, in Norfolk, (fo created by King George I. in 1722) niece to the Duchefs of Kendal: and, foon af ter, as that Prince had left her Ladyship a legacy, which his fucceffor did not think proper to deliver, the Earl, it is faid, was determined to recover it by a suit in Chancery, had not his Majesty, on questioning the Lord Chancellor on the fubject, and being anfwered that he could give no opinion extra-judicially, thought proper to fulfil the bequest.

At the clofe of 1744, the Earl was a fecond time appointed Ambassador Extra

*Letter lxxxviii.

ordinary and Plenipotentiary to Holland, and fet out for the Hague, Jan. 11, 1745-6. His bufinefs, there was to engage the Dutch to enter roundly into the war and to ftipulate their quota of troops, &c. The Abbé de la Ville was there on the part of France, to hinder them from entering into the war at all. They could not vifit; but the first time the Earl met him at á third place, he procured fome one to introduce him, and told the Abbé, that, tho' they were to be national enemies, he flattered himself they might, however, be perfonal friends," which the Frenchman re turned as politely. Two days afterwards, the English Ambaffador went, early in the morning, to folicit the Deputies of Amfterdam, where he found the Abbé, whỏ had been before-hand with him; upon which he addreffed himself to the Deputies, and faid, with a fmile, "I am very. forry, Gentlemen, to find my enemy with you; my knowledge of his capacity is already fufficient to make me fear him; we are not upon equal terms; but I trust to your own intereft against his talents. If have not, to-day, had the firft word, I fhall, I hope, have the last." They smiled; the Abbé was pleafed with the compliment, and the manner of it, ftayed about a quarter of an hour, and then left his Lordship to the Deputies, with whom he continued upon the fame tone, though in a very ferious manner, and told them that he was only come to state their own true interefts, plainly and fimply, without any of thofe arts, which it was very neceffary for his friend to make ufe of to deceive them. He carried his point, and conti, nued his procedé with the Abbé; and, by this eafy and polite commerce at third places, often found means to fish out from him whereabouts he was.t

His Lordship took leave of their High Mightineffes, May 6, 1745, and the letter which they wrote to the King on that occafion, fhews the juft fenfe they had of his merit and abilities. He arrived in London, May 11, having concluded a treaty with the States, by which they engaged to affift the common cause with 60,000 men in the field and garrifons.→→→ During his abfence, in Holland, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and, on the King's going to Hanover, was nominated one of the Lords Juftices. His administration in Ireland will long be remembered with gratitude and admiration by that kingdom, where he met the par

liament,