absence of the pale dismal young man, who had lately enlisted in his service. The description immediately figured to his imagination his dejected friend ;-tremblingly alive with this idea, he eagerly inquired his lodging, determining immediately to satisfy the fearful curiosity which his late absence had inspired. His first emotions a little subsided, he resolved previously to apply for medical assistance; that in case of any urgent necessity, it might be at hand. For this purpose he visited the late Dr.; and it was by his advice, that he determined to spare his friend's weak and exhausted spirits the agitation of a sudden interview.

It was not without considerable emotion that Edmond entered a a dreary hut, whose very ap pearance was calculated to inspire misery; it was from the hag who owned this mansion that he learned, that her lodger had for sometime kept his bed; and was so reduced by three days' almost total abstinence, as to be frequently deprived of understanding. Shocked as he was at this information, he saw the propriety of the physician's advice sufficiently to take his stand at the door of the apartment, in order to watch the most favourable opportunity for an interview.

Frederic's strength had been that evening so

far exhausted by a preceding delirium as to afford him for a short time the wretched possession of his faculties. He was kneeling, with great apparent agony, before a bible, and grasping, with a convulsive gripe, the foot of his bed, as if, by the exertion of his nerves, to awaken his fainting soul from the torpor which seemed to be gathering on it at every interval of impassioned frenzy. There is, in solitary misery, a comfortless horror in brooding over misfortunes, which far exceeds the cutting pangs we feel when those we love are involved in our calamities. In the latter situation we have a pleasing object to rest the external sense on; and the very gratification of our feelings, on such an occasion, diffuses a tranquil luxury over our sorrows; in the former, all is dark and comfortless, and a gnawing horror perpetually suggests ideas, which the gangrened imagination, while it trembles to nourish, is unable to resist the indulgence of. Such was the situation of Frederic, when the recollection of the past, the horror of the present, and the prospect of the future, drew from the bottom of his soul, "Oh! that I had the wings of a dove, then would I fly away and be at rest." Edmond could, at this ejaculation, no longer contain himself, but rushing into the room, and hanging over his

fainting friend," All may yet be well," said he;

66

we may yet live to renew our pleasures; to pursue those fond projects which your too delicate generosity has so cruelly interrupted!" The well-known voice sounded on Frederic's dying senses, and recalled a momentary exertion of his languid spirit; "Never, never; it is past! Oh! Edmond, it is past!" then, darting a look of despairing agony to heaven, he exclaimed, in a trembling voice, "My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me?" and, sinking into the arms of his friend, groaned out his soul, and expired.

MICROSCOSM, No. 19, March 19, 1787.

I FEEL myself so much obliged by the continued notice of my correspondents, that I should consider myself as highly ungrateful, if I did not sometimes leave wholly to them the entertainment of my readers.

Ἡδὲ τρίτηγε καὶ ΜΕΣΗ τῶν ειρηνων δυοῖν Αρμονιων ἦν ΚΟΙΝΗΝ καλῶ σπανείτε κυρία καὶ ΚΡΕΙΤΤΟΝΟΣ Ονόματος, σκῆμα μέν ἴδιον ἐδὲν ἔκει, κεκεραται δὲ πως ἐξ ἐκείνων μετρίως. ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΕΚΛΟΓΗ ΤΙΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΕΚΑΤΕΡΑ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΝ. ΔΙΟΝΥΣ. Περὶ ΣΥΝΘ. Τμ. κδ.

"But this third, and middle of the two styles already mentioned, which, from want of a better name, I call the common, has no peculiar dress of its own; but is composed equally of both the other, and is, as it were, a selection of the beauties of each."

σε Sir,

"As being commendably and successfully engaged in the same track, perhaps you will

accept this vindication of an illustrious predecessor in the province of a periodical essayist; the inventor of that happy mode of impart ing knowledge, of cultivating taste, and of recommending virtue.

I, therefore, make use of the medium of your paper, to entreat the public clemency in favour of an author, who, though more than passable for his day, is in danger of being absolutely eclipsed by the transcendant radiance of these modern luminaries; or, to speak with antiquated simplicity, whose supposed purity of style is falling into contempt, from a compa rison with the perfect models exhibited by the Johnsonian school; though of that school the more characteristic merit, perhaps, be turgid eloquence,' expressed in a style which no inferior genius could harmonise with such eloquence; a style refined to a degree of immaculate purity.' You see, sir, that when deviating into the silly plainness of the unpolished days of Anne, I exalt my phrase, and reinforce my style, by calling in auxiliaries of a nobler port and gigantic elevation; auxiliaries, who, by the union of incompatible qualities, may, consistently, be accounted potent beyond the limits of possibility. But till a perfect uniformity of style be established among men, till