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the siege of Gaza, exasperated at the obstinate resistance of Betis, the Eunuch of Darius, he inhumanly insulted that virtue, which even in an enemy claims respect, by dragging him round those walls he had so gallantly defended; quoting the cruel treatment of Hector, though he had not even the plea, insufficient as it was, which palliates this piece of barbarity in his great model of excellence.

But if we turn with horror from this instance of weakness, we cannot but smile at the ridiculous servility of the famous Pyrrhus, who afterward carried his imitation of Alexander to such lengths, as to affect even his deformities; and we are told, that a happy similarity to his predecessor, in a wry neck, was no uncommon topic of flattery among his courtiers.

When we see men who are held up as the pageants of human grandeur, upon whose decisions, nay almost ideas, depended the revolutions of empires, so subject to the failings of human nature, we cannot be surprised at finding a faithful transcript of the passions by which they have been biassed, in the heroes of our little republic; and a similar imitation of those, whose characters or abilities have procured them the admiration of their fellow-citizens.

When I call it a republic, I speak at random on a subject on which in some future lucubration I may dwell longer; and introduce to the politicians of the great world, a system of government which is consistent with none which the power of legislature has hitherto been able to regulate: a government, which though founded on the law of the strongest, is so tempered with the principles of equity, as to have subsisted for centuries without any material revolution-an aristocracy of such gradual progression from despotism to slavery, as to render the distance less oppressive, though not less awful:-and honours and offices of state so equally divided, as to

hold out to every individual a certainty of one day enjoying them.

Nor however has this uninterrupted sameness proceeded from a want of geniuses to conduct a revolution; we too have had our Catilines and Clodii, the daring incendiaries of the most threatening commotions; and our De Witts and Barnevelts, the patriotic opposers of illegal oppression. Many a Cooke has been employed in the regulation of our birthnight navy; and the order of a Montem given rise to the most interesting debates in our senate house.

In this, however, as in all other governments, the character of the community will vary with that of the most distinguished members. The Gymnasium, the Mall, the Lyceum, and the Dilettanti, have by turns prevailed, and each produced extraordinary originals, whose imitation has for a time been the ambition of their disciples; till in a few generations it has of itself grown obsolete, or been superseded by some new object of fashionable amusement.

Acanthio was of that sect of philosophers which the generality of mankind term oddities; and by nature formed to answer Democritus's idea of a poet. The mad enthusiasm of genius forced him so far from the centre of common sense, that his character unconsciously comprehended all those singularities which Horace ascribes to the affectation of the Roman poetasters. His beard was not cultivated as the badge of wisdom, or testimony of stoicism; on the contrary, he made frequent attempts to get rid of so unfashionable a companion; and would certainly have effected his purpose, but for the constant interruption of some impertinent idea between the resolution and the operation. When seized with the spouting mania, he gave loose to the rapture of his imagination, in the oratorical artillery of puffs, stamps, and roars, with so formidable an action on his natural crabbed severity of phiz, as frequently to

entertain the spectators, not without some mixture of terror.

It was fortunate for him, when he had full space for the overboilings of this frenzy; but as he was never entirely secure, very dangerous symptoms of it often attacked him in the narrow compass of his apartment. Upon these occasions, a chorus of Rowley seldom subsided without the demolition of a set of china; the bard of Morven frequently furnished a week's work for a carpenter; and the Dircean swan has been known to commit open acts of hostility against his peaceable neighbours of the shelf, till actually checked in his mid career by the seasonable interposition of a prostrate table.

Being one day earnestly engaged in an argument with Plato, he was so enraged at the obstinate insensibility of a mahogany elbow chair, which was the temporary representative of that philosopher, that in the height of his resentment, he sprang forward to enforce conviction by the argumentum baculinum, and fell over the object of his vengeance on the floor. Finding himself grievously discomfited by a violent contusion on the forehead, while his hard-hearted antagonist still maintained his point with the same · phlegmatic coolness, he began to express his sensations, by dancing round the room, and roaring lustily for wet brown paper, in a yell, between pain, rage, and disappointment. Upon the timely application however of this remedy, a dispute was settled, which might otherwise have terminated in an open rupture.

These, and many other peculiarities, constituted a character of which Soricius is a professed imitator. But unhappily the affected singularity of the latter, has not the excuse of genius, which palliates the capricious eccentricity of the former. In short, he attempts to effect by art, what nature alone can render agreeable; for an oddity is an animal, whose

innate and unconscious qualities are his only recommendation; the moment therefore he has any assumed virtues, he becomes disgusting. Soricius, it is true, has the appearance of absence, but he takes care to inform you that it is real. If you remind him of having forgotten any thing, he will exclaim with a simper, he, he, he, laud I am so forgetful!' but is sure upon search to find it carefully deposited: and if ever he ventures a sousing or a broken shin in support of his character, has always clean linen and plasters in readiness for a thorough repair.

But as no part of an oddity's apparatus is so conducive to his success as his collection of rhapsodies, he has provided himself with a very ample classical budget; and that he may add the recommendation of novelty, has stored it from those treasures of elocution which no dabbler in the art has ever entered on, such as the interesting narrative of Homer's catalogue; the glorious extravagances of Lucan's battles; and the instructive softness of Virgil's directions for sowing wheat, and breeding bullocks. Nay, he has even attempted a higher excellence, and undertaken to model the worn-out trifles of Anacreon and Catullus, into novelty, with the assistance of a heroic deep bass; and to deceive the most competent judges, with Pindar's Olympiads, in a charming piano.

Many such portraits might be drawn, and perhaps from the life, of servile imitation; but I should hope it was sufficiently evident to every one, whose reason will tell him that he is an independent being, that the imitation of errors is the most glaring proof of a weak understanding. And that the affectation of that eccentricity which is allowable in true genius alone, is in any thing below mediocrity, like an attempt at the bold animation of a Raphael in the Saracen's-head; or the venerable gloom of a Salvator, in the foliage of the royal oak.-C.

NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ANTISUPERBUs I would advise to lay down the pen he has so hastily assumed; or if the scribendi cacoethes has taken such strong hold of him that he finds that impossible, let him throw his abilities into some other channel, as at present, I fear, he has mistaken their bent. The same hint, taken in time, might save the reputation of his unintelligible associate.

Much as I am obliged to a BARRISTER for his elegant extract, as the circumstances wear an air of truth, and my lucubrations might possibly fall into the hands of the parties, I fear it would too deeply wound the feelings of a distressed family for insertion.

No 25. MONDAY, MAY 7, 1787.

Interdum populus rectum videt: est ubi peccat.
the people's voice is odd,

It is, and it is not, the voice of God.-POPE.

PROVERBIAL expressions and received opinions, have usually been considered as an abridgment of national wisdom, and are perhaps the best guides to the character or genius of a people. And it is not improbable, that the extension of this method of inquiry, to the established opinions and received ideas of mankind in general, may lead us to a more perfect and general knowledge of them.

That the mind of man is not framed for happiness, is a principle, of the truth of which perhaps the most certain criterion is its popularity.

At the revival of learning, the idea of gradual and

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