have a hand to serve you, the frowns of fortune; and if that should fail, let us encounter poverty together, and die as we have lived, united.''No, Edmond, my pride forbids me to live a dependant even on your generosity; my misery shall never be a burden to you. The wide world is before me; my life has not been so blackened with guilt, but I shall somewhere find an asylum, however wretched, to exchange a miserable existence for a tranquil dissolution; may you run that race of glory which is denied to me; and may the recollection of your lost friend sometimes diffuse a pleasing melancholy over the moment of reflection; but never, never imbitter that uninterrupted felicity which your virtues are so amply entitled to.' Edmond had scarce strength to urge his request, till Frederic, foreseeing that the execution of his gloomy purpose might be prevented by the jealous vigilance of his friend, appeared by degrees to soften into compliance, and relieved his present anxiety by a momentary affectation of tranquillity. He was scarce however retired to his chamber, when, having directed a small note to Edmond, he threw himself into a chaise, and arrived late in the evening in the metropolis. Regardless of the objects around him, and solely enveloped in the contemplation of the scene he had just quitted, he threw himself on a bed in the inn at which he alighted; and with partial dozes, which only served to render his situation more horrible, he reflected on his miseries till morning. As soon as it was light, he determined to hire a lodging in some obscure part of the town, where he might elude the prying generosity of his friend, and endeavour to protract a miserable existence, which an enthusiastic sense of religion alone prevented him from sacrificing to his despair. For this purpose he fixed on a miserable garret, in those gloomy regions, at sight of which even adversity recoils; here, with the assistance of

a few books which he had brought with him for the purpose, he endeavoured to beguile that hollow misery which continually preyed on his vitals. And that no neglect of religious duty might imbitter his reflections, determined to apply himself to some means of supporting life. Still therefore cherishing the idea of independence, however wretched, he determined to enlist himself among a tribe of translators employed by an eminent bookseller; vainly hoping, that while he earned his miserable pittance, by a return of labour, the obligation would be considered as mutual. But he soon found that there is not so abject a slave as a hireling scribbler, nor so tyrannical a despot, as an illiterate churl, who pays for learning and potatoes with the same remorseless stupidity. The imperious arrogance of this bashaw, and the gross adulation and vulgar merriment of his fellow-servants, was little suited to the proud sensibility of Frederic. He endured, however, the insults of the one and jests of the others, till a fever, brought on by his continual agitation of spirits, actually deprived him of this means of earning a subsistence, and stretched him on his truckle-bed amidst all the horrors of famine, indigence, disease, and despair.

In the mean time, Edmond, whose violent affliction for the departure of his friend, had for some time reduced his life to a precarious situation; as soon as he found his health in some degree re-established, determined to abandon a spot which only presented to his mind a gloomy recollection of the days that were gone, and to follow the fortunes of his friend. Having accordingly laid the circumstances before his father, he obtained a full permission to gratify his inclination. He repaired to London, as supposing Frederic would abscond in some obscure spot of a labyrinth in which he was most likely to be effectually concealed.

After a fortnight's fruitless search, when a settled gloom had began to throw a damp on all his hopes of success, happening one day to enter the shop of Frederic's late employer, he overheard the literary monarch enforcing his daily rebuke with sundry oaths and ejaculations; and among other particulars, bitterly complaining of the absence of the pale dismal young man, who had lately enlisted in his service. This 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 dreary hut, whose very appearance was calculated to inspire misery; it was from the hag who owned this mansion, that he learned, that her lodger had for some time 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 even 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, '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.-C.

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NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

TOGATUS must have entered very dully into the spirit of the numbers he objects to; I shall exemplify my power of rejection, in the non-insertion of

N° 20. his letter. I shall be happy in the future correspondence of SIMON SNUBNOSE; at present I fear he glances too much on politics for admission.

N° 20. MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1787.

Fratrem facere ex hostibus.-PLAUT.

To make a brother of a foe.

HAVING Occasion lately to refer to a chronological epitome, I accidentally cast my eyes on the name of Julius Cæsar; and it was not without some emotion, that I read the following account of so extraordinary a character:

Julius Cæsar, Emperor of Rome, born July 10, 100, invaded Britain, landing at Deal, August 26th, 55, killed in the Senate-house, March 15, 44, A. C. after having fought fifty battles, slain above 1,192,000 men, and taken by assault 1000 towns.'

Whether the compiler of this work has thus briefly given this list of destruction, without mentioning its causes, with a view to stigmatize Cæsar as an execrable tyrant, or that he really considered these exploits as the most striking instances of his greatness, is not for me to determine; certain it is, that a selftaught philosopher would form but an indifferent opinion of mankind in general, should he, from this sketch, derive his knowledge of a hero, whose name is idolized as the standard of human greatness; whose actions command the admiration even of his enemies; and whose imitation terminates the most extensive prospects of ambition.

In this paper, therefore, I shall endeavour to prove, that it was not on the sacking of a thousand towns