them by Anacreon, whofe lyre was feldom tun'd to pfalmody, but in honour of deities whofe worship did not admit of the ferious or fublime. It is probable therefore, that this expreffion refers only to the effect which harmony is known to produce, in softening the extravagance of joy, as well as the pangs of affliction; and that this may be ranked among those many errata, which in fome measure pervert the original intention of these inimitable writings; undoubtedly calculated to unité a fimplicity adapted to the meaneft capacities, with an elegance capable of pleafing the most refined.

C

'I

FIND, most unfortunately for myfelf, that I come under the de' nomination of a quiz. As it is \x{8}k# • your peculiar province to apply the lafh to the little world out of the library, it 'will be totally unneceffary to offer an apology ' for this letter, which, it is my most earnest requeft, may be circulated, especially through the lower school, with all poffible expedition.

But before I proceed, it may be thought neceffary to give fome defcription of a figure which

'my

'my own confcience but too frequently informs me is not, at first fight, by any means agreeable.

I am now forty-nine years of age, and mea'fure four feet eight inches in height. My ufual

drefs is a dark wig without powder, a round 'gold laced hat, a light blue coat and waistcoat, a pair of black everlasting breeches, and a large ⚫ muslin neckcloth, which, indeed, has lately been adopted by, and feems the conftant ornament of the macaronies of the age.

6

In my childhood the nurse who took care, or rather who did not take care of me, let mafter

Jacob (for that is my chriftian name) fall upon the fender, which circumftance fhe, of coarse, ⚫ concealed from my parents. Some time elapfed 'before the discovery was made, and all medical 6 affiftance was then ineffectual. The family furgeon looked very grave, and emphatically pronounced that the bones were distorted, and, ' although I was not yet an adult, it was by no " means a recent injury; and that there would be

6

a gibbofity, a preternatural incurvation of the 'fpina dorfi for the remainder of my existence.

'Notwithstanding, to please my mother, he gave me a steel machine, made to prefs princi

pally

6

pally upon the gibbous part, and afterwards tried a cross and ftrengthening plaifter of oxycroceum and opodeldock, but without effect.

The boys in the village foon began to call me humpy, and in a very short time, I was dig'nified, by general confent, with the title of my • Lord. My father, judging perhaps that my 'companions at School might banter and make 6 game of my perfonal defects, procured a clergyman to live in the house in the capacity of tutor; but being himself an excellent claffick, he gave up much of his time to fuperintend the education of his only fon. Notwithstanding his 'paternal fondness and good intentions, I have but too frequently fince felt the disadvantage of not having early enjoyed a public introduction ⚫ into the world. Had my ear been a little more ' accustomed to the word quiz, I should have no ❝ occafion now to intrude myself upon your notices

But for the fake of perfpicuity, it will be ne 'ceffary to finish the defcription of my perfon, before I enter into a detail of the grievances it has caufed. It has been already prefaced, that I was doomed to have a hump-back; at the age of twenty-four a fcrophulous humour disfigured a

• face

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⚫ face not naturally resembling that of Adonis. A little time before I reached my twenty-fifth year, ' two fore teeth were knocked out by a chamber'maid in Yorkshire, whom I, after having drank too much, attempted to kifs; and what made this circumftance much more painful, she had a little before, patiently, I might say willingly,fubmitted her lips to be faluted by a young Officer, 'who was quartered at that time in the town. My nose foon after began to increase to an ⚫ enormous fize, and is now perfectly unnatural. • You may fee in it all the colours of the rainbow; • but red and purple are particularly confpicuous, and, like rivals, are plainly feen to contend for • the fuperiority. In fhort, Sterne's trumpeter, • when he entered Strafburgh, had a fhub to mine in point of size, and an aquiline in point of beauty, for I exceed Bardolph, the Knight of the burning Lamp.

'Riding through Eton about a week ago, with my nose before me,

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Nefcio quid meditans, nugarum, et totus in illis. 'Meditating, indeed, on I know not what, I was awakened from my reverie by feveral pro'vincial words, the meaning of which were to me, at that time, almost unintelligible; although by • the