worth, his son Henry, Rev. Mr. Love good, Squire Worthy, and his Lady, at Gracehill farm.-XI. contains the history of the family of the Littleworths, with the character of Rector Fillpot, and Mr. Meek, his Welch Curate. XII. A Sunday Evening's Conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Steadyman, Farmer Littleworth and family.-XIII. Resumes the subject of the Slave Trade.-XIV. XV. A Whisper from behind the door, or the Secrets of private Scandal made public, in which the following new characters are introduced: - Rev.. Mr. Spiteful, Master of the grammar school in Envy Lane, and one of the writers of the Anti-jacobin.- Mr. Wisehead, a Socinian Bookseller, Mr. Considerate, Alderman of Mapleton, and Miss Pratapace, the apothecary's daughter.-XVI. XVII. More News from Lower Brookfield, or the evils of seduction delineated in the story of Mrs. Chipman. We shall give our readers an extract from Dialogue XI. containing the character of the farmer's maiden sister, Mrs. Mary Littleworth, and her friend, Madam Vixen. "There lived in the town of Ruckford, about fifteen miles from Maple ton, a Mr. Nathaniel Steadyman, who had united himself to Farmer Littleworth's family by marrying his younger sister. His occupation was that of a currier, in which line he did a considerable deal of business, and was in general esteem among his neighbours for his candour and integrity. The family of the Littleworths, however, were unfortunately educated. In point of religion they were tutored in all the high church notions of the day; so that the least deviation from the established church, was, in their esteem, more to be dreaded than a thousand deviations even from the common rules of morality; insomuch that even cursing and swearing was a much smaller offence than at tending a conventicle; and scarce any offence at all, provided people exereised their profane talents against the dissenters. Report also says, that old Mr. Simon Littleworth, with all his family, used to drink the Pretender's health after dinner, and that it was well he did not lose his life in the rebellion in 1745, for entertaining and encouraging the rebel army when in the North, against the present family upon the throne, by whom our civil and religious liberties were established. Mr. Simon Littleworth, the father of the present Farmer Littleworth, loved getting money to his heart, but could not bear to spend it even on a decent education for his children. He died about the year 1776, leaving a fortune among his children of about three hundred and fifty pounds each; entailing also upon them all the prejudices of an unhappy day and generation; conceiving higher notions of the religion of Dr. Sacheverell*, than of that of Jesus Christ and all his Apostles. "According, therefore, to all probable circumstances, Farmer Littleworth would never have submitted to have heard the gospel it he had not first heard it in a church. But the farmer, though still a churchman, was now happily delivered from the trammels of his former education, and be. gan to entertain equal love to Christians of all denominations: yet not so the rest of the family, which now consisted only of himself, and two sisters; his elder brother and a sister having been dead some years ago. "His elder sister Polly was the exact counterpart of Miss Polly, to whom she stood godmother. She was in her younger days so self-willed and perverse, that no person could ever venture to ask her the question if she chose to alter her state. Which also, by general report, will probably be the fate of the god-daughter, as well as the aunt. "The farmer's sister continued to live in the neighbourhood of Mapleton till she was near sixty, and on account of the pressure of the times, has lately removed further north to make a joint purse with another old maiden lady, known by the name of Madam Vixen. And though she was Miss Polly all the time she continued near her brother, yet since her remove she has submitted, though with some regret, to the graver appellation of Mrs. Mary. "Thus convenience has brought these two old ladies together; though they are the frequent cause of vex * Dr. Sacheverell was the high church champion in the days of Queen Ann: he was impeached by the commons, for his seditious high church principles; his sermon was ordered to be burnt, while he himself was suipended from his ministry for three years. ation to each other, yet hereby they are just able to keep a maid servant between them, who is generally changed about six times in the year. "Madam Vixen is often accustomed to boast that she has a superior education, and therefore attempts to correct Mrs. Mary for her vulgarity of expression, and also that her family was of much better blood than the family of the Littleworths. This is a frequent cause of mortification to Mrs. Mary, who plies her in return for her family pride and self-conceit. Thus alternately they irritate and vex each other, till they make themselves so peevish and fretful thereby, as that they scarcely exchange a word for several days together. During these intervals of ill humour there are frequent threats of separation; till these little fracas are settled by the neighbouring gossips bringing them some new tales of the affairs of the neighbourhood, which they delight to hear, retail, and exaggerate. Then an innocent game at cards again sets them a-quarrelling, and makes them guilty of the same sort of conduct against each other. Thus they rub on together from time to time; yet, if their dispositions are dissimilar in some instances, in others they are perfectly similar. In point of religion they are precisely agreed, for though they seldom trouble the church but when the weather is very fine, yet they do their duty in reading the psalms and lessons at home; while twice or three times a year they submit to the penance of a gloomy week in the preparation before they receive the holy sacrament, which is seldom done unless on the great festivals. But in nothing are they more similar than in their belief of different signs, and omens, and prognostications, on which they are ever exercising their minds, and tormenting each other, under the expectation of the most gloomy events. The prognostications of Moore's almanack are always received and read by them with prodigious avidity and glee, and though they are aware that the first Francis Moore, the original physician and astrologer, must long ago have been dead; yet they have no doubt but that the present Francis Moore is as much a real character, and a far wiser astrologer than his father; he being also the se venth son of his father, who was himself a seventh son: and how far it was done with a design to impose on the credulity of the old ladies, might be difficult to say; yet they seem fully persuaded that the present Francis Moore has also a seventh son, who, though but young, is now studying both physic and astrology in the town of Utopia, in the north of Ireland; and they have no doubt but that he is born to possess so supreme a degree of knowledge, by investigating the configurations of the stars, as that he will be able to read the history of all future events beforehand, both private and public, as plainly as he can now read his A, B, C; and that he will as far outshine these great luminaries, Count Swedenburgh, Mr. Brothers, and some other propheciers on our late public events, as the vast knowledge of a Newton outshines the intellectual powers of a goose *. *The pretended prognosticators, under the fictitious name of Francis Moore, have this year met with a terrible mishap. They could not discover, by the configuration of the planets, either the change in the ministry last year, or the preliminaries of peace which off before the latter event took place. In followed, their almanacks being all printedconsequence of which their predictions continue to be full of wars, and battles, and fruitless negotiations. As Mr. Moore prophecies in rhyme, as well as prose, my readers shall be favoured with some of his admirable predictions, for this year 1802, in his own excellent versification. "No one can wonder that these ladies, who are so fond of hearing and telling old wives fables,' and of attending to such absurdities, should also give way to all sorts of fears and apprehensions arising from other causes the most superstitious and absurd. Hence it is that they are kept in perpetual alarm, at one time by the death-watch, at another time by the croaking of a raven, or the screeching of an owl; then again by the winding-sheet in the candle, and a variety of such other absurdities, as though the all-wise God had given a commission to spiders, owls, and ravens, and even to tallow candles, April.-Wars renewed. "Saturn and Mars oppos'd, doth now dis prepare For all the cruelty that's bred in war; And so on with little variation to the end of the year; now what can Madam Vixen and Mrs. Mary think of their redoubtable prophet having signalized this year as being so bloody and tremendous, when lo! universal peace and tranquillity are so mercifully restored, and plenty also, provided monopolizers of every description would allow us to enjoy it. *Some naturalists are of opinion that the death-watch is not the spider, but another much smaller insect, and found in the wood of old houses. Then tell all your grannies it is a wood to instruct mankind in the knowledge of different future events. "This unfortunate turn of mind, however, had once proved nearly fatal, not only to the comfort, but the very life of Madam Vixen. She heard, three or four times, her chamber bell ring, as it was supposed, of its own accord. This brought to her recollection the story of her grandmother's death, which was foretold by some such an event three weeks before the time. She therefore positively con cluded that within that period she was to depart. This so worked upon her imagination as that it brought on a serious illness. The apothecary was sent for only out of form, as she concluded it would be of no avail. The lawyer attended to alter and finish her will; and the poor clergyman, though as ill liked as the rest of his brethren, was sent for to prepare her for her change, and to fit her for the final reception of the holy sacrament, which it was her design to have received a day or two before her departure; which seemed for a while more fully confirmed by another event dreadfully similar to the former. Madam Vixen and her nurse one night evidently heard a bell ring, as though it had been from under the ground; but the fears excited on this account were soon dispersed, as it was only a piece of Mrs. Mary's prudent attention, who muffled the hammer of the bell belonging to the clock, as its shrill sounding noise was found offensive to Mrs. Vixen; and a little while after this the whole of this supposed nelancholy event disclosed itself; for one night, while the nurse was sitting up, hearkening after deathwatches, screech owls, &c. and feeding upon these strange fears, the kitten stole into the room, for both the old ladies were very fond of cats. After the manner of that frisky generation, puss fixed her eyes upon her old plaything, the tassel of the bell, and consequently gave it a handsome ring. Mrs. Vixen takes the alarm, and asks if the bell did not again ring of itself. The nurse burst out with For sure as a gun they will give up the ghost, If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post : As soon as they hear it, it shortens their breath, And they speedily die, because frighten'd to death. laughing, and adds,-why, madam, it is nothing but the cat playing with the bell tassel, and I dare say this was the reason why it rang before. However, the ringing of the bell brought Mrs. Mary into the room, who, when she heard of the event, joined with the nurse in a laugh on the occasion, while Mrs. Vixen immediately took heart, and consequently began directly to recover The nurse told the apothecary on his next day's visit that the cat had done more for her mistress's recovery, by ringing the bell, than he could do with all the drugs in his shop. She then told him the whole of the story, which before was known alone to the family. A message also was soon afterwards sent to the minister, that he might be informed a repetition of his visits would. not be needed, and the lady herself soon recovered, on the removal of the causes of her disease. "The reader may suppose that he had not been presented with a detail of these little events, had it not been with a design to expose the folly of those superstitious fears which are so very injurious to the minds of all who have not sufficient sense and resolu tion to resist them. Where there is but a little real religion, the want of it is too frequently supplied by an abundance of superstition. The human mind is prone to run into extremes on every occasion: some are for believing too much, others for believing too little. Happy are they who, being blessed with that wisdom which is from above, are preserved in the middle path, and saved from every extreme." p. 29-36. CXXXVIII. THE CALEDONIAN HERD BOY, a Rural Poem. By D. SERVICE, 12mo. T HE preface to this little piece will be necessary to give the reader its true character. "The author of this poem was a herd-boy for five years on the North banks of the Clyde: he was afterwards an apprentice at Greenock, to a shoemaker, and has followed that employment for six years in Eng. land: he is now in the twenty-seventh year of his age, with a wife and family: he has nothing to offer in de. fence of his publication, but that it was written of mornings before his business commenced, and of evenings after the labour of the day was finished: that he never received a common, much less an academical education; for deficiency in grammar or style, he therefore hopes some allowance will be made by the candid reader. Many of the circumstances which occurred to the author during his herding are brought together as the business of one day." p. 5, 6. As a specimen of the author's talents we give the following lines, which we doubt not will be sufficient. "Oh Deniston, thy seat let us proclaim, The heart exults at sweet Camsaskine's stone, For ages past the boast of Cardross shone ; Here you behold order's true godlike plan, And shield this seat from storms and wintry skies, Forming a canopy of smiling green, See yonder fabric in the richest style Proclaims the lasting fame of great Argyle; Time's potent arm has nations great re mov'd, But time that fabric ever has improv'd. And throw an awful grandeur round the place; In winter's darkest nights, when frost and A COMPLETE LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS IN SEPTEMBER, Sold by T. WILLIAMS, STATIONERS' COURT, and W. CLARKE, Nɛw BOND STREET. By a New Regulation at the Stamp Office, the Names of the respective Publiskers cannot be inserted, without each Article being paid for as a distinct advertisement. An Historical Account of the British Ex pedition into Egypt. By Robert Wilson. History of France. By Alexander Ranken, D.D. The History and Antiquities of Reading. By the Rev. Charles Coates, LL. B. Vicar of Osmington, &c. F. A. S. and Chaplain to the Prince of Wales, royal 4to. 11. 11s. 6d. French Revolution. By Frederic Gentz, Part I. containing a View of the King- |