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woolfack. It may not perhaps be quite fafe to detail thefe jokes in this place; but it is no fecret that frequent burts of laughter accompany the names of Attorney and Barrifter when the epithet honeft" happens to be joined with them; and that tees, briefs, parchments, gowns, and wigs, have been never-failing fources of mirth to our forefathers, and that thefe jokes are likely to be perpetuated to the lateft pofterity by frequent repetition, and traditionary animolity, heightened perhaps by fome degree of experience. But ftill truth obliges me to fay, that the gentlemen of the Bar are somewhat to blame, in cultivating wit themfelves, as an effential branch of their profeffion. I allow of their writing (comedies, and prologues, and fuperintending the bufinefs of the Theatre, becaufe that may be pardonable when they have nothing elfe to do. But when I read fo frequently as of late, that the Court has been thrown into a fit of laughter," at a time when property and character are at fiake, I hope 1 fhall be forgiven for hinting, that they who are fo witty in themfelves" mut not complain if they are now and then "the caufe that there is wit in

other men."

time, that as foon as the patient begins to be witty on the " quizz of an Apothecary," or the "prig of a Doctor,” with their confounded flops" and “ repetatur hauftafes," all his relations hail the happy omen, and proclaim him "out of danger;" the return of wit being generally accounted better for the confiitution than any kind of repentance.

It from thefe learned profeffions we pafs to the mechanical branches, to trade and conmmerce, we fhall experience a wonderful flow of humour; and many ftanding jefts bandied from trade to trade, each man thinking there is fomething particularly ridiculous in his neighbour's trade, while his neighbour holds exactly the fame opinion of his. Taylors have been time immemorial the butt of all wits, and their occupation is coupled with the frequent mention of a little dappled animal that would not otherwife be mentioned in genteel company without direfpect, if not fome unpleafant fenfations. The benevolent Mr. Jonas Hanway tells us of a mafier chimney-tweeper, who, inftead of correcting his boys with the accustomed feverity of the footy trade, terrified them into good behaviour by threatening to make them Taylors an object of abhorrence which never failed to produce an effect.

The grave profeffion of Phyfick, one would imagine, might fereen its profeffors from ridicule, the natural Why Taylors, against whom nothing tendency of fickuefs and death being to more ferious has been alleged, than a make men ferious. But, alas! no- predilection for a certain vegetable, thing can refit the impulfes of wit; and and fome fmall defects in the art of we have perhaps a larger collection of horsemanship, and that principally on ftanding jokes upon Phyficians, Sur- the Brentford road, fhould be thus atgeons, and Apothecaries, than on any tacked by all ranks, from the comedyother clafs of men. One would fup- writer, to the chimney-fivcep; from pofe, indeed, that they were a plague Shakspeare, to the morning papers; is inflicted by Providence for the fins of a quetion of which, I have never feen mankind, or an army fent out by Go- any fatisfactory folation. If we convernment with orders to give no quar- fider their usefulness in fociety, we ter, or spare man, woman, or child. muft be fenfible that they are very unThe coarfeft of thele witticifins are ge- jutily treated. The adorning of the nerally fquirted at the Apothecaries; perfon is to much their study, and fo but the Doctor in his carriage has no eminent is then kill in improving, or protection. They are, fays a wit, like hiding the defects of nature, and even the antient Britons in their mode of of education, that not a beau or fine warfare, fome flay in chariots and gentleman in the kingdom could exift fome on fost:" and when a dramatic a month without them. From the writer withes for a character to relieve King's levee, to the City ball, how exthe dulnefs of his original invention, tenfive is their influence, and what a he generally goes to Warwick lane, or grandeur fplendour, and neatness, do Black-friars. Sicknefs, indeed, it is they every where diffufe! And when obferved, puts an end to thefe jokes, we confider the various means by which and we hear no more fallies at the ex- love enters the fufceptible mind, and particularly the well-known attractions of a fearlet coat, is it faying too much

pence of the phial or the prefeription; but it may be obferved at the fame

that

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hat the Taylor is an extenfive contribuor to the tender paffion, and that his occupation is justly termed an and mytiery." I know, therefore, of no reason why thefe fedentary friends to beauty and gallantry fhould be expofed to ridicule, and even denied their fair proportion of manhood; unlets we may impute their treatment, to that unthankfulness and ingratitude of which the human fpecies may be fometimes guilty. In France, we know that Stage-players, however flattered, admired, and enriched in their lives, were denied Chriftian burial, and inuch as we affect to prize, and pride our felves on dramatic entertainments in this country, it is notorious that until of late, the principal frequenters of our Theatres harboured prejudices against the Players, as ftrong as thofe who never entered their doors. But as a more liberal spirit feems now to prevail, and a player is thought a Chriftian; let us hope that in time a Taylor may be accounted a man.

I have dwelt too long on this fubject, to enter minutely into a confideration of the wit which belongs to other trades, or to hint at the many pleafantries of our fhops and warehoufes. My readers may, however, probably recollect most of the witticifms that are circulated, within the bills of mortality, behind the counter. But I mutt not omit that, in this general propagation of jokes, no exemption is made in favour of Corporations, and Corporate Bodies. I fpeak it with regret, but it must be fpoken, that the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London, have not been able to efcape the ridicule of wicked wits, who crack their jokes upon these right worshipful Magiftrates, without the leaft refpect for the chair, the mace, or the gold chain; and even the gentlemen of the Livery have been known to fimile in each others faces, at fome unlucky hit of pleafantry. Wits, of all men, have the least notion of fubordination; other wife we fhould not hear fo much ridicule directed against fuch grave fubjects as Magifirates, fatisfying the wants of • nature, and exercifing the privileges of office, on venifon and turtle. Yet this licentioufnefs is but too obvious in our newspapers, which have long ferved up a collection of jefts half-yearly, on thefe refpectable perfonages, namely, on the eve of Lord Mayor's Day, and on Eafter Monday. Veneration furely ought to

be kept up for high offices, and men in high offices; but what veneration can be expected from wits, whofe notions of merit are fo contuted, that they look to nothing in a Magiftrate but his appetite, and who, with the ignorance of the blind man, who fancied that fearlet was like the found of a trumpet, can conceive no higher of an Alderman's gown, than by fuppofing it refembles a perpetual dinner?

Anidft this general difpofition to be merry at each other's expence, there yet remains one clafs to be mentioned, who are in a very pointed manner, the fubjects of certain ftanding jokes-I mean Projectors, of the order of the quill. On their fufferings, however, it is incumbent that I should speak with delicacy; they are fometimes them felves Wits by profeflion, and may therefore expect that fome of the goods they fend out may be returned upon them, to their lofs. They are notwithstanding a poor perfecuted clafs, and continually expofed to the taunts and jeers of the rest of the world. Of this, I was very fenfible lately, when," in perufing a treatise on the tranfmigration of fouls, no punifhment was devifed for bad Authors in that system, becaufe it is thought that no fituation can be worse than theirs. And while they are thus befet with witticifms, from those who muft borrow them to make up the defects of their own wit, or steal them rather than not have a hit at the tenants of Grub ftreet, they are deprived of the ordinary refources of perfons in a fate of perfecution. They cannot even be proud in their own defence: for who will take pride at their hands? Not the fervants of their

patrons: for they underfiand no pride but that of riches, and ftare at a live author, as they would at any of the animals in the Tower.

It is pleafant, however, upon the whole of this fubject, to reflect, that the publick is provided with fuch an infinite fund of Wit, depofited in the hands of men of all profeflions, trades, and callings, and of all parties, for none are to witty as Tories and Whigs, inns and outs, high church and low church. We have only to be apprehenfive, that Wit, by being thus feattered abroad fo extenfively, will lose fome of the virtue it has when concentrated, and iffued only at proper times and feafons, and in fuch quantities as the publick wants require. Perhaps

it

it is owing to this, that what was once faid of the learning of a certain Northern nation, may be applied to our Wit. "Every man has a mouthful, but none a bellyful." It is certain that we have pulpit jokes, and bar jokes, and thopkeepers jefts, and warehoufemen's repartees; but in the theatres which had once a monopoly of the article, we should fit with as much gravity as in the church, if it were not for the facetioufhefs of the carpenters and fcene-fhifters, and the friking humour of Harlequin and the clown. The breaking up of the theatrical monopoly was certainly fatal; for, although fome of our dramatic writers have collected from jeft books, a cargo fufficient to fet up with, it is rare that they can carry on trade long, by furbishing up fecond-hand articies; and when they depend on their own ftock, they never fail to break.

But while we have thus adverted to general application of Wit to all things, and all perfons, it cannot be concealed that, in the opinion of fome very good judges, it is high time to call in much of our old humorous coin, and make a freth itfue for the advantage of modern times and circumftances. All that refpects the vices of the age, and all that touches with a fneer on the religion of the country, may be fpared, in cafes where both appear too ferious for fuch a mode of treatment. On the other hand, the novelties imported, or likely to be imported, from a neighbouring nation, and the vafi commerce of levity nearly effablished, as it will foon be too great for the coin now in circulation, fo it will demand a paper currency, fome few notes of which may probably pats through the hands of my good friend Mr. Sylvanus Urban.

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Nimpartial review of the lives of

father, hufband, and friend, it must be allowed, that he was kind, tender, and affectionate: as the landlord of a numerous and well-regulated tenantry, his treatment of them was exemplary. In the station of Chancellor, he was truly the guardian of the widow, the orphan, and the oppreffed, whose wrongs he uniformly redreffed, and whole rights he confiantly and carefully preferved. He was appointed to prefide in the firft Court of Equity in his country, at a period, when his mind was matured by profeffional experience, without being enfeebled by years or infirmity. From the advanced age of his amiable and upright predeceffor, and a number of circumstances not neceflary to relate, the number of caufes remaining without being heard, at the time of Lord Clare's appointment. amounted to nearly one hundred; the difpofal of thefe was the firft object that engaged his attention, and to which he applied with patient and unwearied affiduity. In the courfe of four months, he was enabled to discharge this judicial arrear, and his continued labours were rewarded, not only by thofe who profeffionally attended him, but by the publick, who were fo feriously interested in, and benefited by fuch unusual and unexpected dispatch.-Minors and their properties were objects of his anxious and parental care; guardians were obliged to account regularly, and by fuch means prevented from applying the fortunes entrusted to their care to any private purposes of their own. He next directed bis attention to a very ferious grievance, one that had continued too long, and if permitted to prevail mult be a great oppreflion of the fubject: we allude to the practice of obtaining and continuing injunctions; by means of which, juft creditors and claimants were prevented, for years, from proceeding at law for recovery of

A men, particularly of their fair demands, until, terrified with

thofe who have filled high fituations, an apprehenfion of the "law's delay," is a duty to the dead, and to the living; they might be induced to enter into by exhibiting fuch virtues as ought to an unreasonable compromize, or en, be admired, and may be imitated, with tirely abandon the justice which they out attempting to conceal thofe faults found to difficult to obtain; fo that it that should be made known and cen- might be faid of fuch proceedings, in fured, and by fuch means corrected in the language of Lord Bacon, "that others. This is our fole inducement they were calculated to deceive men, for making fome obfervations upon the with refpeét to their just and reasonable character of a Nobleman, whofe recent rights, the creditor of his debt, and the death has given rife to many, and widow of her thirds." Lord Clare very probably various opinions, refpecting foon corrected this mifchief; and as he his private and magifterial life.-As a feldom adjourned the Court of Chan

cery

Cery while there was a caufe to be heard, the occurrence of it was effectually prevented, during the time that the feals were in his cuftody.He difcouraged all thofe motions fo well known to the profeffion by the epithet experimental, which always proti act a fuit, are attended with heavy expence, and in events rarely difcover any thing, but the ingenuity and dexterity of the advocate and the pleader. Thefe experiments he not only difcountenanced, but feverely cenfured, if they did not appear to be indifpenfably neceflary; for with him, it was an invariable rule to do juftice to every man, with the leaft poffible expence and delay; and any thing that did not lead to the equity and juice of what

was under his confideration, rendered him irritable, and apparently impatient. This will probably account for his being cenfured, for not hearing every counfel concerned in a caufe, and for a precipitancy of determination with refpect to fome of his decrees. Certainly, when, from a clear and candid fiatement of facts, he difcovered the principle, that he conceived ought to govern his decifion, he was not difpofed to encourage the difplay of talents, however eminent, when he imagined that they could be only exercifed, by attempting to make "the worfe appear to be the better caufe." As we do not mean to conceal his faults, it must be admitted, that neither fatigue from bufinefs, nor his ardour for juft and fpeedy determination, can be 'offered as an excufe, for his not attending to gentlemen who were prepared to addrefs him, and to this inattention, rather than to any particular preference, may be attributed the fufpicion of his profeffional favoritifm. His quick and ready conception of facts, his juft diferimination, and his accurate and concife arrangement of them, were delivered in frong and appropriate language, but not always with that chafe expreffion which fhould convey the refult of temperate and dignified deliberation: however, it must be confeffed, that to discharge great magifterial duties, without in any infiance offending or interfering with the tender and refined feelings of the individuals concerned, is a rare felicity, and for that reafon we fhould be cautious of feverely cenfuring those who are not fo eminently gifted. Let the refpectable perfons, who at prefent enjoy the high judicial fituations in this

country, be warned and inftructed by the occafional infirmities of this incorruptible judge; and as to the practical energy of his mind, and the better affections of his heart, manifefied as they confiantly were in the exercise of his office, by an invariable adherence to truth and juftice, let us indulge in the well-founded hope, that his fucceflor will move in thole ways that are fo clearly marked out for him, so that. he too,

"When he has run his courfe, and fleeps in blettings, [on h m. May have a tomb of orphan's tears wept AN I. B.

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THE late Alderman Cadell, as adif

tinguifhed Bookteller, was fuch a friend and patron of literary merit, that it is fincerely to be hoped that

fome of the numerous Authors who had dealings with him will do justice to the liberality and benevolence of his character, by affording the publick a full account of his life, his amiable ! manners, and literary tranfactions. I know that it would furnish much interetting matter. He would do away, as much as man can do away, the mean infinuation against Bookfellers, that they reap the harveft while the authors farve. Some of the firft characters among Authors could contradiét this on their own knowledge; and as far as I, an individual and an Author, have had dealings with Bookfellers a s to copy-right, they have rewarded me beyond even the fanguine expectation of a young Author. Mr. Alderman Cadell was a great friend to many of our public charities. He was on the Committees of the Foundling, the Magdalen, the Philanthropic, and the Afy lum. Mr. Cadell was a fincere Chriftian; a friend to the Eftablished Church without being bitter or fevere againti the numerous clafs of Diffenters. He was particularly firm in his loyalty to his King, and ever flood forward to refift defigns and the violence of Jacobins and Whigs. To him, the publick were partly indebted for the establifhment of the Society for moral and religious Tracts, which once did so much good, that its difcontinuance must be fincerely lamented, particularly in this age when the people mutt read. No velty will always have charms; and there it was well and wifely applied.

Mr. Cadell was particularly profpe

rous

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