a visit to him, and unthinkingly telling him a story of a ridiculous old dotard, and a brisk young damsel, he took the application to himself, called me an impertinent fellow, and discarded me.

'Many other misfortunes, Mr. Griffin, have attended this unlucky disposition of mine. They have had indeed, at last this good effect on me; they have brought me to my senses; and I begin to see, that had I possessed only wit enough to discover that I was a fool, I should have acted very differently in these cases, and have been now a happy

man.

'I am, sir, yours, &c.

'CHRISTOPHER CUTJOKE.

For the insertion of the following letter, I shall make no apology, but its own merit, and leave it to speak for itself.

DEAR SIR,

To GREGORY GRIFFIN, ESQ.

'AS the professed intention of your admirable work, is to treat of the foibles and follies of mankind in general, and our little world in particular, I presume, that (however other pursuits may have induced you to depart from your original plan) the following unfinished lines, on a subject which you have not yet taken in hand, will not be totally unacceptable.

"I shall omit troubling you with the hackneyed apology of an unfledged muse," however apropos it may be to

the present case. This however I may be allowed to say, that they were written carelessly and in a hurry; and may possibly stand in need of much correction and defalcation. If however on any future occasion they shall be deemed worthy of a place in your paper, it will be the highest honor that can be aspired to, by

"Your constant reader and admirer,

'IRONICULUS.'

ARS MENTIENDİ;

OR,

THE ART OF LYING.

• WHEN sordid man by justice unrestrain'd
Rang'd the wild woods, and food by plunder gain'd ;
Yet unenlighten'd by mild reason's ray

Coarse nature rul'd with undisputed sway.
But when some sage's great aspiring mind,
By bonds of mutual interest link'd mankind,
Then art restrain'd her sister's wide domain,
And claim'd with nature, a divided reign.
Yet still distrustful of her own success,
She sought to please by wearing nature's dress.
'So that great art, whose principles and use,
Employ the pen of my unworthy muse,
Though great itself, in these degenerate days
Is forced to shine with adscititious rays,
Nor ever can a lasting sceptre wield,
Unless in robes of purest truth conceal'd.`

"Hear then whoe'er the arduous task will try, Who wish with sense, with skill, with taste to lye;

Ye patriots plotting ministers' disgrace,

Ye ministers who fear-a loss of place;
Ye tradesmen, who with writs the fop entrap,
Ye fops, who strive those tradesmen to escape;
Ye rev'rend Jews, enrich'd by christian spoil,
Ye parsons who for benefices toil :

No longer hope by open war to win,

Cease, cease, ye fools, to lye "through thick and thin.”
But know this truth, enough for rogues to know,
Lyes ne'er can please the man who thinks them so.

'Would you by flatt'ry seek the road to wealth?
Push not too hard, but slide it in by stealth.
Mark well your cully's temper and pursuit
And fit to every leg the pliant boot.

Tell not the spendthrift that he hoards with sense,
Tell not the miser that he scorns expence ;
Nor praise the learning of a dunce profest,
Nor swear a sloven's elegantly drest.

Thus, if by chance, in harmless sport and play,
You coolly talk a character away;

Or boldly a flat perjurer appear,

Nor gallows dread, nor lacerated ear;
Still let your lyes to truth near neighbours be,
And still with probability agree.

So shall you govern with unbounded reign,
Nor longer cringe, and toil, and lye in vain ;
While truth laments her empire quite o'erthrown,
And by a form usurp'd so like her own.'

No. 16. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1787,

Usus

Quem penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi,

Use is the judge, the law, and rule of speech.

Ir

T is a favourite amusement with me, and one of which in the present paper I shall invite my readers to participate, to adopt a maxim established in any single instance; to trace its influence where it has operated undiscovered; to examine the secret springs by which it has worked; and the causes which have contributed to their concealment. In the course of this pursuit, I may boast, that there is scarce one of these miniatures of experience and observation, from the moral maxims of Grecian Philosophy, to the pru dential apothegms of Poor Robin, which has not been successively the object of my observation and discussion. I am however aware, that in the opinion of their importance, I may perhaps be singular,

That "life is short," that the generality of "mankind are vicious," seem ideas that might have suggested themselves to a mind undistinguished for peculiar sagacity, or an uncommon share of experience.-But to carry further the former of these maxims, and to consider that life is short, when compared with the multiplicity of its business and the variety of its pursuits; that it is too much so for the purposes of honor and ambition; that to draw a conclusion from the attempts of men, we should imagine it lon

ger, is an observation not so entirely unworthy of a philosopher. And by pursuing the latter of these thoughts, though on the first view it may not appear the result of any extraordinary observation, it may be found on a narrower inspection, to convey a strong argument of the impropriety of popular government. The scrap of Latin, which, in con, formity to established precedent, is prefixed to my paper, exhibits an example of the influence of fashion beyond those limits, which are usually assigned to its prerogative, For were we to accept the definition of it, the most usually accepted, we should consider it only as the director of diversion and dress; of unmeaning compliment, and unsocial intimacy. And however evidently mistaken such an opinion might appear, we must look for its source in one of the most prevailing principles of the human mind ; a prin» ciple, (the excess of which we stigmatize by the name of pedantry) of deducing the illustrations of every subject of enquiry from the more immediate objects of our own pursuits, and circumscribing its bounds within the limits of our own observation. On the contrary, we shall find, that all our attempts to prescribe bounds to the activity of this so powerful agent, will end only in surprise at the extent of its authority; in astonishment at the universality of its influence. Its claim to an undisputed empire over language, is asserted by the author from whom I have taken the motto of this paper; with what justice, the testimony of a succeeding age may declare; when a Cæsar who made and unmade the laws of the world at his pleasure, found the smallest innovation in language beyond the utmost limits of arbitrary power. Nothing indeed but the highest vanity, nourished by the grossest adulation, an idea of the infinitude of sovereign authority, and servile obedience, could have given birth to such an attempt.