THE

CONNOISSEUR.

BY MR. TOWN,

CRITIC AND CENSOR-GENERAL.

........ Non de villis domibusve alienis,
Nec male necne lepos saltet; sed quod magis ad nos
Pertinet, et nescire malum est, agitamus........

TED FOR SAMUEL F. BRADFORD, NO. 4, STHIRD STREET,
AND JOHN CONRAD AND CO. NO. 30, CHESNUT STREET.

1803.

A

I.

SURVEY of the TOWN. Characters at Garra-

way's, Batson's, St. Paul's, and the Chapter

Coffee-houses; at the Temple, the Bedford Cof-

fee-house, White's, and other places..........Mr.

Town's design in these papers.

20

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

On the different branches of Virtu. Letter con-

taining a catalogue of pictures collected abroad

by an eminent Jew. Letter from a gamester,

advising the author to undertake a defence of

gaming.

The Ocean of Ink, a dream.

Account of a new order of females, called Demi-

Reps.

Letter from a Physician, with the account of a

Plague newly broke out in London. Different

Appearances and effects of it on a great man; on

members of parliament; on land and sea officers;

on a common councilman, and an alderman of

the city; on the club at White's; on the ladies,

particularly a maid of honour; and others.

Education of the Muses, a fable; with its applica-

tion to authors. Progress of an author exem-

plified in Mr. Town's own life.

Letter, on married people fondling before compa-

ny. Behaviour of a loving couple at dinner.

Indecency of modern plays censured.

On the external ornament used by writers. Ad-

vantages arising to them from the arts used in

printing.

On Free-thinking. Abuses committed by the vul-

gar in this point. Free-thinking debates at the

Robin Hood Society. The Unbelievers Creed.

Mr. Town's address to both houses of parlla.

35

40

46

51

57

63

67

NUMBER,

Χ.

X1.

XII.

PAGE.

79

On the want of learning in land-officers.

On the excursions of young academics to London.

Steele's character of young Bookwit, an Oxo-

nian. Conversation between two in the Bedford

Coffee-house, and a set of them at the Shaks-

peare. Journal of a week's transactions of an

Oxonian in town. Ode, imitated from Horace,

sent by a fellow collegian to one of these aca-

demical rakes.

Absurdity of Lord Bolingbroke representing Mo-

ses as making beasts accountable for crimes.

Trial of Beasts, a vision.

83

Indictment against

an hog, a cat, a parrot, a milch-ass, a monkey,

a lion, and other animals.

88

XIII.

XIV.

Letter from Mr. Village, concerning elections.

Account of a borough town divided into two

parties, Christians and Jews. An Anti-Judaic

entertainment. Character of a country knight,

a violent enemy to the Jews.
Letter, complaining of the Whisperers and Gig-

lers among the Fair-sex. Instance of their rude

behaviour during a visit. Whispering and Gig-

ling improper at church, in the play-house, and

93

other places.

98

XV.

XVI.

XIX.

On bets: particularly on the custom of pitting, as

practised at White's; i.e. staking one man's

life against another. Character of Montano a

noble gamester.

Letter from Oxford, on the story of Shakspeare's

Merchant of Venice. Copy of an original bal-

lad, (preserved in the Ashmolean Museum)

from which Shakspeare is supposed to have

borrowed part of his plot.

XVII. Letter, proving the city of London to be an Uni-

versity. Arts and sciences taught there in great-

er perfection than at Oxford or Cambridge.

XVIII. On the dishonesty of Connoisseurs. Instances of
it, and punishment proposed for it. Story of a

Virtuoso's design to rob a church.

Letter, on the different tastes in eating. Luxury
at White's. Difference between the taverns
about St. James's and the 'Change. Of the
taverns about Covent-Garden. Story of a cook
at one of them, tossing up the shoe of a fille
de joye in a ragout. Characters to be met with
at chop-houses, &c....... Letter from Goliah Eng-

103

108

116

122