difcourfe are the pranks of drunkards, and the tricks But my curiofity has been moft engaged by the recital of his own adventures and atchievements. I have heard of the union of various characters in fingle perfons, but never met with fuch a conftellation of great qualities as this man's narrative affords. Whatever has diftinguished the hero; whatever has elevated the wit; whatever has endeared the lover, are all concentered in Mr. Frolick, whofe life has, for seven years, been a regular interchange of intrigues, dangers, and waggeries, and who has diftinguished himself in every character that can be feared, envied, or admired. I question whether all the officers of the royal navy can bring together from all their journals, a collection of fo many wonderful efcapes as this man has known upon the Thames, on which he has been a thousand and a thousand times on the point of perishing, fometimes by the terrors of foolish women in the fame boat, fometimes by his own acknowledged imprudence in paffing the river in the dark, and fometimes by fhooting the bridge, under which Cc4 which he has rencountered mountainous waves, and dreadful cataracts. Nor lefs has been his temerity by land, nor fewer his hazards. He has reeled with giddinefs on the top of the monument; he has croffed the street amidit the rush of coaches; he has been furrounded by robbers without number; he has headed parties at the playhoufe; he has fcaled the windows of every toaft of whatever condition; he has been hunted for whole winters by his rivals; he has slept upon bulks, he has cut chairs, he has bilked coachmen; he has refcued his friends from the bailiffs, has knocked down the conftable, has bullied the juftice, and performed many other exploits, that have filled the town with wonder and with merriment. But yet greater is the fame of his understanding than his bravery; for he informs us, that he is, at London, the established arbitrator of all points of honour, and the decifive judge of all performances of genius; that no mufical performer is in reputation till the opinion of Frolick has ratified his pretenfions; that the theatres fufpend their fentence till he begins the clap or hifs, in which all are proud to concur that no publick entertainment has failed or fucceeded, but because he oppofed or favoured it; that all controverfies at the gaming-table are referred to his determination; that he adjusts the ceremonial at every affembly, and prescribes every fashion of pleasure or of drefs. With every man whofe name occurs in the papers of the day, he is intimately acquainted; and there are very few pofts, either in the state or army, of which he has not more or lefs influenced the difpofal. He has been very frequently confulted both upon war and peace; but the time is not yet come when the nation fhall know how much it is indebted to the genius of Frolick. Yet, notwithstanding all these declarations, I cannot hitherto persuade myself to fee that Mr. Frolick has more wit, or knowledge, or courage, than the rest of mankind, or that any uncommon enlargement of his faculties has happened in the time of his abfence. For when he talks on fubjects known to the reft of the company, he has no advantage over us, but by catches of interruption, brifknefs of interrogation, and pertnefs of contempt; and therefore if he has stunned the world with his name, and gained a place in the first ranks of humanity, I cannot but conclude, that either a little understanding confers eminence at London, or that Mr. Frolick thinks us unworthy of the exertion of his powers, or that his faculties are benumbed by rural ftupidity, as the magnetick needle lofes its animation in the polar climes. I would not, however, like many hafty philofophers, fearch after the caufe till I am certain of the effect; and, therefore, I defire to be informed, whether you have yet heard the great name of Mr. Frolick. If he is celebrated by other tongues than his own, I shall willingly propagate his praise; but if he has fwelled among us with empty boasts, and honours conferred only by himself, I fhall treat him with ruftick fincerity, and drive him as an impoftor from this part of the kingdom to fome region of more credulity. I am, &c. RURICOLA NUMB. 62. SATURDAY, October 20, 1750. Nunc ego Triptolemi cuperem confcendere currus, OVID Now would I mount his car, whose bounteous hand First fow'd with teeming feed the furrow'd land: That fwiftly bore her from Corinthian plains; To the RAMBLER. F. LEWIS. I SIR, AM a young woman of a very large fortune, which, if my parents would have been perfuaded to comply with the rules and customs of the polité part of mankind, might long fince have raised me to the highest honours of the female world; but fo ftrangely have they hitherto contrived to waste my life, that I am now on the borders of twenty, without having ever danced but at our monthly affembly, or been toafted but among a few gentlemen of the neighbourhood, or feen any company in which it was worth a wifh to be diftinguished. My father having impaired his patrimony in foficiting a place at court, at last grew wife enough to cease his pursuit, and, to repair the confequences of expenfive expensive attendance and negligence of his affairs, married a lady much older than himself, who had lived in the fashionable world till fhe was confidered as an encumbrance upon parties of pleafure, and as I can collect from incidental informations, retired from gay affemblies just time enough to escape the mortification of univerfal neglect. She was, however, ftill rich, and not yet wrinkled; my father was too distressfully embarraffed to think much on any thing but the means of extrication, and though it is not likely that he wanted the delicacy which polite converfation will always produce in understandings not remarkably defective, yet he was contented with a match, by which he might be fet free from inconveniencies, that would have destroyed all the pleasures of imagination, and taken from foftnefs and beauty the power of delighting. As they were both fomewhat difgufted with their treatment in the world, and married, though without any dislike of each other, yet principally for the fake of fetting themfelves free from dependence on caprice or fashion, they foon retired into the country, and devoted their lives to rural bufinefs and diverfions. They had not much reafon to regret the change of their fituation; for their vanity, which had fo long been tormented by neglect and disappointment, was here gratified with every honour that could be paid them. Their long familiarity with publick life made them the oracles of all those who afpired to intelligence, or politenefs. My father dictated politicks, my mother prefcribed the mode, and it was fuf 5 ficient |