I promised in the next place to consider the language of this excellent author, who I find takes himself for an orator. In the first page he censures several for the poison which they "profusely scatter' through the nation; that is, in plain English, for squandering away their poison. In the second he talks of "carrying probability through the thread of a fable;" and in the third, of " laying an odium at a man's door." In the fourth he rises in his expressions; where he speaks of those who would persuade the people, that "the G-1, the quondam T and the J-to, are the only objects of the confidence of the allies, and of the fears of the enemies." I would advise this author to try the beauty of this expression. Suppose a foreign minister should address her majesty in the following manner (for certainly it is her majesty only to whom the sense of the compliment ought to be paid), " madam, you are the object of the confidence of the allies;" or, "madam, your majesty is the only object of the fears of the enemies." Would a man think that he had learned English? I would have the author try, by the same rule, some of his other phrases, as page seven, where he tells us, "that the balance of power in Europe, would be still precarious." What would a tradesman think, if one should tell him in passion, that his " scales were precarious;" and mean by it, that they were "not fixed?" In the thirteenth page he speaks of" certain profligate wretches, who, having usurped the royal seat, resolved to venture overturning the chariot of government, rather than to lose their place in it." A plain-spoken man would have left the chariot out of this sentence, and so have made it good English. As it is there, it is not only an impropriety of speech, but of metaphor; it being impossible for a man to have a place in the chariot which he drives. I would, therefore, advise this gentleman, in the next edition of his letter, to change the chariot of government into the chaise of government, which will sound as well, and serve his turn much better. I could be longer on the errata of this very small work, but will conclude this head with taking notice of a certain figure which was unknown to the ancients, and in which this letter-writer very much excels. This is called by some an anti-climax, an instance of which we have in the tenth page; where he tells us, that Britain may expect to have this only glory left her, "that she has proved a farm to the bank, a province to Holland, and a jest to the whole world." I never met with so sudden a downfal in so promising a sentence; a jest to the whole world," gives such an unexpected turn to this happy period, that I was heartily troubled and surprised to meet with it. I do not remember in all my reading, to have observed more than two couplets of verses that have been written in this figure; the first are thus quoted by Mr. Dryden : in Not only London echoes with thy fame, The other are in French, Allez vous, lui dit il, sans bruit chez vos parens, But we need not go farther than the letter before us for examples of this nature, as we may find page the eleventh : "Mankind remains convinced, that a queen possessed of all the virtues requisite to bless a nation, or make a private family happy, sits on the throne." Is this panegyric or burlesque ? To see so glorious a queen celebrated in such a man ner, gives every good subject a secret indignation; and looks like Scarron's character of the great queen Semiramis, who, says that author, “was the founder of Babylon, conqueror of the east, and an excellent housewife." The third subject, being the argumentative part of this letter, I shall leave till another occasion. No. 3. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28. -Non defensoribus istis Tempus eget. VIRG. I WAS once talking with an old humdrum fellow, and, before I had heard his story out, was called away by business. About three years after I met him again, when he immediately reassumed the thread of his story, and began his salutation with, “but, sir, as I was a telling you." The same method has been made use of by very polite writers; as, in particular, the author of Don Quixote, who inserts several novels in his works, and after a parenthesis of about a dozen leaves, returns again to his story. Hudibras has broke off the Adventure of the Bear and Fiddle. The Tatler has frequently interrupted the course of a lucubration, and taken it up again after a fortnight's respite; as the Examiner, who is capable of imitating him in this particular, has likewise done. This may serve as an apology for my postponing the examination of the argumentative part of the Letter to the Examiner to a farther day, though I must confess, this was occasioned by a letter which I received last post. Upon opening it, I found it to contain a very curious piece of antiquity; which, without preface or application, was introduced as follows: "Alcibiades was a man of wit and pleasure, bred up in the school of Socrates; and one of the best orators of his age, notwithstanding he lived at a time when learning was at its highest pitch: he was likewise very famous for his military exploits, having gained great conquests over the Lacedæmonians, who had formerly been the confederates of his countrymen against the great king of Persia, but were at that time in alliance with the Persians. He had been once so far misrepresented and traduced by the malice of his enemies, that the priests cursed him. But after the great services which he had done for his country, they publicly repealed their curses, and changed them into applauses and benedictions. "Plutarch tells us, in the life of Alcibiades, that one Taureas, an obscure man, contended with him for a certain prize, which was to be conferred by vote; at which time each of the competitors recommended himself to the Athenians by an oration. The speech which Alcibiades made on that occasion, has been lately discovered among the manuscripts of King's college in Cambridge; and communicated to me by my learned friend Dr. Bley; who tells me, that by a marginal note it appears, that this Taureas, or, as the doctor rather chooses to call him, Toryas, was an Athenian brewer. This speech I have translated literally, changing very little in it, except where it was absolutely necessary to make it understood by an English reader. It is as follows: "Is it then possible, O ye Athenians, that I, who hitherto have had none but generals to oppose me, must now have an artisan for my antagonist? That I who have overthrown the princes of Lacedæmon, must now see myself in danger of being defeated by a brewer? What will the world say of the goddess that presides over you, should they suppose you follow her dictates? would they think she acted like herself, like the great Minerva? would they now say, she inspires her sons with wisdom? or would they not rather say, she has a second time chosen owls for her favourites? But, O ye men of Athens, what has this man done to deserve your voices? You say he is honest, I believe it, and therefore he shall brew for me. You say is he assiduous in his calling and is he not grown rich by it? let him have your custom but not your votes: you are now to cast your eyes on those who can detect the artifices of the common enemy, that can disappoint your secret foes in council, and your open ones in the field. Let it not avail my competitor, that he has been tapping his liquors, while I have been spilling my blood; that he has been gathering hops for while I have been reaping laurels. Have I not borne the dust and heat of the day, while he has been sweating at the furnace? behold these scars, behold this wound which still bleeds in your service; what can Taureas show you of this nature? What are his marks of honour? has he any other wound about him, except the accidental scaldings of his wort, or bruises from the tub or barrel? Let it not, O Athenians, let it not be said, that your generals have conquered themselves into your displeasure, and lost your favour by gaining you victories. Shall those achievements that have redeemed the present age from slavery, be undervalued by those who feel the benefits of them? Shall those names that have made your city the glory of the whole earth, be you, |