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SIR,

Paris, April 22d, 1784.

I send you herewith a bill for 10 louis d'ors. I do not pretend to give such a sum. I only lend it to you. When you shall return to your native country, you cannot fail of getting into some business that will in time enable you to pay all your debts. In that case, when you meet with another honest man in similar distress, you must pay me by lending this sum to him, and enjoining him to discharge the debt by a like operation when he shall be able, and shall meet with such another opportu nity. I hope it may thus go through many hands before it meets with a knave so mean as to stop its progress. This is a trick of mine of doing a deal of good 'with a little money. I am not rich enough to afford much in good works, and so am obliged to be cunning and make the most of a little.

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Quin's Fish Sauce. Quin, who came annually to Plymouth, to worship the John Dory, with truly Egyptian devotion, is said to have composed, his celebrated Fish Sauce of the following ingre dients:-of walnut pickle half a pint; of mushroom ketchup half a pint; sixcloves of garlic bruised; ten anchovies thoroughly washed; horse radish root scraped one ounce; add some Cayenne pepper and a little Indian soy. These ingredients stood together for a week, frequently shaken, and then strained off for use. Mix it to your palate with

melted butter.

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War with the Devil, is the title of a very pious, but a very silly drama which we once read in our younger days; but we did not anticipate ats resurrection at this distance both of time and place.

B.J., R. §. T.;- and Murat's Ghost, are too incorrect for the public eye, though each contains some smar thoughts and occasional felicities of expression: we shall be glad to hear from the authors of them at a future time.

Some of our friends complain of an undue preference given to the articles of certain indiri duals: but we assure them we endeavour to do justice to all in proportion to their merits. Our conduct in this respect arises from no invidious motive, nor from any sacrifice at the shrine of Mammon. Were it decorous we' could easily prove it.

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Leeds: Juted and Published by John Barr, and sold by him and J. Heaton, T. Inchbold and He and Robinson; sold also by Sherwood & Co. London; Mr. Royle, Maneliester; C. Wright Nottingham Wilkins, Derby; E. & S. Slater, Shefeld, G. Harrison, Barns ey; Hartley, Rochdale R. Hurst, & B, Tute, Wakefield; J. Fox, Pontefract; Lancashire, Huddersfield; J. Simpson, P. K, Holden, Halifax; W.H. Blackburn, Bradford; G. Turner, Hull; P. Whittle, Preston, Lyon, Wigan;-Bentham, Lancaster; R. Aked, Keigh ley;-Douglas, Blackburn; Thomas & Hunsley, Doncaster; to whom a regular supply will be forwarded on the day of publication.

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Communications addressed to the Editor and forwarded to the Printer, will be duly attended to. No letters received, unless post-paide

Or, Weekly Literary and Scientific Intelligencer.

"Imitatio vitæ, speculum consuetudinis, imago veritatis."-CICERO

Price 31d.]

TUESDAY, APRIL 9.

[No. 24. Vol. I.

Grateful for the very liberal and unanticipated support with which the Babbler has been honoured both by Subscribers, and Correspondents; the Editors desire to show the sense they entertain of the public confidence, by exerting themselves to render it one of the first works in the kingdom of its kind and price. They contemplate some additions to their present plan, so as to afford a larger portion of the Work to the Original Correspondence, than is at present practicable; to effect this more completely, they have determined at the conclusion of the present Volume to publish the Work every fortnight, enlarging it to double its present quantity of pages: and to render it still more interesting, every other number will be embellished with an elegant Engraving from the burine of one of the first artists in the Country. Price Seven Pence, stitched in a coloured cover.

The Editors will feel obliged for any suggestions to improve the Work that may arrive before the 23rd of April, on which day the present Volume will be completed.

** The first Number of the second Vol. which will be published on the 30th April, will be enriched with a fine Portrait of the highly respected MR. JUSTICE BAYLEY, in his Robes, together with a Memoir of his Life, Subscribers' Names will be received by the respective Agents.

it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends, without which the world is
but a wilderness; and, even in this scene also of solitude, whosoever in the frame of
his nature and affections is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not
from humanity.

To be without friends, is certainly to
be without a principal cause of earthly
happiness; and to be callous to the
warm feelings of friendship, or to re-
fuse it to our fellow-mortals, is surely
to be a stone-hearted wretch, and a
selfish and inhuman monster. The
world would be as a dislocated system if
this generous fervour did not extend its
influence through the breasts of man-
kind; it would subsist no longer con-
pected by the ties which now unite it;
but every one would look upon his
neighbour as his foe, and viewing him
as such, would withhold every kind act
of protection or intercourse, and pursue
him with bitter anger to destroy and
annihilate him.

Where friendship reigns, bitterness and animosity cease to work within the bosom: every effort of the heart is then made to effect alone the benefit and welfare of others. No selfish and unkind principle impels us to prosecute anothers injury, or to attempt his downfall and degradation; but as brethren of the same family-as creatures seeking our mutual happiness-we strive to move in a similar sphere, and share our joys for the participated-whilst we 3 B

VOL F.

Bacon.

lighten the burden that oppresses our friend by generously bearing a part thereof.

We'

Friendship is as a sun whose genial rays prosper our existence, and raises us from despondency, danger, and fear, into cheerfulness, safety, and fortitude. We look on mankind with a brotherly and affectionate eye-having nothing to tremble for, being in the possession of their esteem and favour. We cease to be jealous of those around, and putting aside suspicion, we throw ourselves and our fortunes within their power. repose upon their kindness and protection, with all becoming simplicity and ingenuousness, and where friendship exists in its purity, our confidence will never be abused, or our reliance illtreated. Knit together by the firmest bonds we shall reciprocate in all affairs, and if by mistake or oversight, we may chance to give offence, our open and peaceable disposition will hasten to close up the breach, by confirmed and in creased urbanity and kindness. Nothing will be so much dreaded as a quarrel or misunderstanding, and nothing will be so greatly guarded against. Our conduct will be adopted with prudence and

circumspection, lest we inadvertently create dissension and disagreement.Every pain that is experienced by our friends will be, as it were, transplanted into our own bosoms; and will there be felt in all the poignancy of sympathetic aflection. To dispel the gloom that hangs on the brow of another, will always be our endeavour; and to witness the distress of a fellow creature, will be to endure a similar sorrow.

It is, however, deeply to be lamented that friendship should be so much abused amongst mankind. Under its name and cloak, the greatest villains often exist; and creep into our confidence by specious pretences of affection. They learn our secrets and our opinions, and then make a shameful use of them. After their own private and sinister ends are satiated; after they have fathomed our souls and drunk up every emanation of trust and esteem, they throw off the mask that hid their vile purposes, and with all the baseness of human nature betray us to ruin and misery. False friends assume a complete covering of hypocrisy this hides them from the detection of scrutiny, and serves to secure their admittance into our full and unreserved openness of heart. They laugh at our joy and weep at our sorrow; they seem to strive with willing and ardent exertion to effect our enjoyment, though it be at the sacrifice of their own. Disinterestedness appears to be the striking feature of their whole conduct. Without urging the developement of our bosom secrets, with an anxious curiosity that might be suspected and despised; they draw us into confession and denouement by art and wile, and by an adopted sympathy and congeniality with every sentiment dearest to us. A man will too frequently be duped by such fraudulent wretches. He will often have to mourn over his own simplicity, and weep at the weakness of his nature, that thus is led to confide in designing men, who court his communion and intercourse for the furtherance of deep and guilty schemes, and who after having consumated their black projects,

Leave their false vows with him,
Like empty purses picked; and his poor self,
A dedicated beggar to the air

With his disease of all-shunn'd poverty,
Walks, like contempt, alone.

It is almost-nay, I may safely say it is impossible to live without retaining

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about us, some person whom we can adopt as a confidant; and who, like the private secretary of a monarch, will hold our dearest secrets, and feel with us, and advise with, and plan with us, in all our undertakings, and in all our speculations. We cannot exist apart from this intercourse without being enveloped in the greatest sorrow. Every difficulty, under such circumstances, will carry a double weight of perplexity, because we shall have all the woe to bear ourselves, and all the means of relief to advance, without the aid or counsel of another, whose affection might otherwise assuage our grief, and whose efforts, conjoined with our own, would be better able to contend against the evil. And who knows, but those who have had the blessed experience what a true friend will do in an hour of trial? In him a heart will be found that trembles at no privation-at no trouble. He will seek, at the risk of his earthly peace, to reinstate our lost enjoyment. He will wade cheerfully through difficulty, and even brave death itself to effect our happiness, and to preserve us from fresh misfortune. His prayers will be for our welfare; his exertions will all be to achieve this object. His words will be replete with comfort, whilst they fix our fluttering minds, and teach us to be manly in the midst of affliction; his advice, his means, his time, his efforts, his labour, his life, he will lay down at our service. This wonderful prolixity in kindness will not arise from hidden and selfish motives, but will be prompted by an open and burning ardour for our enduring and unbroken peace. A true friend will feel himself as knit to us by links of affection, tantamount to consanguinity. Our joy will be his joy; our pain will be his pain. Reciprocal in wishes; mutual in acts; we shall ever thirst after our connected delights. Every selfish principle will be disbanded from the bosom; and we shall never take a resolution, or commit a deed without weighing well the consequences that they will have with regard to our bosom-companion.

An old adage says" a friend in need is a friend in deed." A time of distress is truly the best period for our presumed friends being put to the test, as to the value of their kindness. It too often happens that when affliction and misfortune press upon us, our neighbour s

LEIAN

7 MAR 1969

and acquaintances withdraw themselves, and if they do not become entirely our disavowed favourers, they assume an uncongenial reserve, and by degrees leave us to our forlorn state.. Distress and vicissitude in fortune might be vices. Instead of calling down the sympathy of the world, and invoking its aid and protection; calamity receives our aggravation of its pains from the slights to which it is subject. Many a heart has cracked in its agony, when a fostering paraclete, an affectionate word of compassion, or an outstretched hand of bounty, might have snatched it from poverty, from misery, from death. Misfortune, that ought to rouse and increase, generally enervates, and diminishes kindness. A man may throw his arms about our necks, and swear and protest he loves us beyond all others; but that love must be tried ere its real value can be ascertained. If in sorrow it prove ardent and glowing as in prosperity and success, then we may term it true affection; but when we find it shrink from the touch of grief, it betrays a meanness that should be visited by our contempt.

Friendship when it burns pure, is often warmer than the love that subsists in relationship. A man will frequently devote himself more entirely to please another towards whom he has a great partiality, than he will to a brother, a sister, a father, a mother, and sometimes a wife. He will open his heart with more ingenuousness, and ask his friend to reciprocate with his various feelings. He will tell of his joys, and unfold his sorrows with unreserved openness, and for this confidence he will receive in return the counsel, the comfort, and cordial agreement of his confident. When the bosom becomes replete with grief and swells with pain, there can be no greater luxury or refreshment than the pouring out of the same in an affecting recital to the ear and sympathy of another. Though, strictly speaking, the misery is not one iota lessened, yet our narrative often excites pity and commands aid, which have their due influence upon a diseased mind. By such conduct we as it were, throw off part of our burden, which is kindly borne by our friend. -Nor is it pleasing only to recite our tales of sorrow; we sustain exquisite delight in narrating the joys that we inwardly

partake, and those of an external nature, we spread as we should a feast, and ask others to the banquet. This reciprocation of feeling- this sympathy which reflects in one the whole train of joys or of sorrows that may centre in, and affect another, is the grand feature and striking quality of friendship. It, as it were, thus produces a unity in plurality, by making us as one household, whose members are all affected alike, by the same circumstances, whether they be of delight or of grief.

Damon and Pythias, as two friends, exhibit to us in the strongest light, what affection and indissoluble ties of esteem may exist between man and man. Where was ever warmth of love, the effect of consanguinity, so great as was displayed by these individuals. This friendship, to some people, may be supposed to be unnatural and romantic; but such individuals must be totally unconscious of the real nature of friendship-its refinement, its growing quality, its fearfulness of giving offence, its kindness in the hour of distress, its punctuality in the fulfilment of promises, and its carefulness to preserve truth and to avoid deceit-or they would not thus attempt to cast a shade upon the illustrious and glowing merits of that affection which united them so closely in life, and which, whilst it serves us as a theme for admiration, may be cherished in our breasts as a becoming virtue fit for our imitation.

The counsel of a friend will be found cool and undisturbed when our minds are fevered and distracted; we shouldtherefore, apply for advice in cases of emergency, to our bosom companion. As he loves us his words will be just, and whilst he directs our actions, he will lend his assistance to consummate our schemes. Through joy or distress he will walk with us uninflated or unperturbed the mild, the gentle, the generous, and soothing individual, who is rejoiced at our success, grieved at our distress, and yet never losing that proper poise of steadiness which will render him a safe pilot to guide us through storms of adversity, or over the quicksands of extravagant mirth and good fortune. After death the remembrance of friendship is soothing and fraught with beautiful images. The thought is pleasing and we foster it; we think occasionally on our past conduct-our

faded happiness on that departed spirit that used to fill us with bliss--and all our losses seem for the while to be embodied in our reminiscences. The death bed scene of those whom we love, is of infinite and undying interest-we

o'er our dying friends in anguish hang, Vipe the cold dew, or stay the sinking head, Number their moments, and in ev'ry clock Start at the voice of an eternity; See the dim lamp of life just te bly lift An agonizing beam, at us to gaze, Then sink again, and quiver into death.

T. S. D. IN REPLY TO COMMON SENSE,

ON AMUSEMENTS.

Ye reckless upes who hither wend your way
To gaze on puppets in a painted dome,
Pursuing pastimes, glittering to betray,
Like falling stars in life's eternal gloom;
What seek ye here? Joy's evanescent
flooi ?

Woe's me! the brightest wreaths she ever gave

Are but as flowers that decorate a tomb. Man's heart, the mournful urn o'er which they wave

Is sacred to despair, its pedestal the grave."

"Has life so little store of real woes'

That here ye wend to taste fictitious grief,
Or is it that from truth such anguish flows
Ye court the lying drama for relief?
Long shall ye find the pang, the respite
brief."

HE who has Common Sense for an opponent, has to contend with fearful odds; and he must certainly possess no common share of ingenious sophistry, or he has no chance of success. When I threw down my glove of mail, I little thought to find so powerful a rival to tilt a lance with me in our chivalrous enterprize; but as the combat is inevitable, I must do the best I can to make my fellow acknowledge the superior claim of my "lady-love," my adopted child, my antipathy to the theatre. But, as self-confidence is of the first importance in every case where the decision is poised up in personal prowess, I shall buoy my spirits up with the persuasion that my adversary is a fictious character: for I cannot, will not believe that my ancient and trusty friend, Common Sense, to whom I am unconscious of having ever given any offence, and whose friendship I have cultivated with an apostolic assiduity, would ever enter the lists against me without notice, and without truth on his side-for

surely, Sir! you will not suppose I look upon myself as not having truth on my side!

To avoid any protracted discussion, I shall enumerate my opponent's positions, and reply to them as briefly as possible."

He contends that the theatre, the dance, the oratorio and the masquerade, are the consequences of pre-existing dis. positions, rather than the causes of the improprieties and vices which I have charged the theatre with giving birth to. This is the main point at issue between us, and deserves a particular consideration; and such, with your leave, Mr. Editor! it shall have.

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He takes for granted the old Metaphy sico-theological sophism, that there are in the human bosom two sets of passions essentially distinct from each other, and each inherently independent of all relation to the other the one essentially virtuous, the other essentially vicious. Upon some piece of sophistry like this, he builds his system of native virtue," and "natural vice" but upon a princi ple so unfounded in experience, truth, and philosophy, it is vain to build theo. ries and to establish systems. Every one who has paid the least uninfluenced attention to the state of his own heart, and to the workings of his own disposi tion, must see that our passions, emotions, and intellectual tendencies are good or evil, not according to any inhe rent quality, but according to the particular mode in which that passion or emotion is exercised,—according to the fitness of purpose and degree of intensity which chasacterizes its operations. What is to a certain intent virtuous, becomes vicious if extended a single step beyond, or when exercised in a manner varying from it in the least degree: indeed, as I shall elsewhere illustrate and prove, vice differs from virtue only in one thing-an improper application either in kind or degree of a principle in itself essentially virtuous.

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This being the case then, and I cannot see how any one who looks around and within himself, can controvert or even doubt it: let us come to the point in dispute between us.

Suppose one of the inexperienced beings I referred to in my former letter, to have his feelings excited to a degree not exceeding virtuous, either in direction or degree-suppose this excitation to be produced by music, exercise,

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