And, though before he no attention drew,
He never now folicited in vain.

Still he declar'd his gratitude how great!
Hoping the mighty honour of a feat;
And if by them to this lay cure inducted,
Would by themselves at all times be inftructed.

Briefly the mufe relates what was to follow-
Th' election came! 'Squire Doughty had it hollow!
Next morning early, Mifter May'r

Approach'd with magisterial air,

Bringing a paper with instructions cramm'd,

At which the Member cried, "Pho! this be d

-d!"

"Sir," quoth the May'r," how oddly you condu&t you!
Did you not promife us we fhould inftruct you?"
"Sir," faid the 'Squire, "I properly conduct me,
And, as I promis'd you, you shall inftruct me:
You know I fcarce could get a fingle vote,
Nay, fcarce a civil bow dye do, unbought:
This has inftructed me; and now I tell you,
Rafcals, I bought you, and, by, I'll fell you!"

DEA

A MARINE PICTURE.

EAR girl, from noise and London city,
I'm here among the blithe and witty;
Where young and old, from ev'ry clime,
Like adepts, learn to murder Time!
If you've the doldrums or ennui,
Forfake the town and come to me.
Here Stult lives on meagre fare,
To drive his curricle and pair;
To bounce, to glitter, and affume,
He ftarves his guts, to-pay his groom:
While others, far more brief in pow'r,
Blaze, die, and stink, within the hour;
Juft cling awhile to Fashion's tail,
Then drop and perish in a jail.
Hither the race of hoaxers come,
With heads of wood, and cue de plomb:
Of all the fish that here are dreft,
Your gudgeons are in most request.

Here

2

Here Fashion makes poor Reason hate her,
And Luxury's the alma mater.-
Now, while the fervid Sirius reigns,
Fiffures bifect the droughty plains;
St. Vitus maddens all the cows,
And apples roaft upon the boughs;
E'en files gafp, and plunge, and fret,
And lobsters through their jackets sweat!
We reek beneath the folar beam,.
Like hot potatoes in the steam :
While others, fecrambling up the hill,
Fry like pork-steaks upon a grill;
Redden and writhe, and smoke and blister,
Like Proferpine, when Dis had kiss'd her.
To raife your fpirits, I fhould like

To drive you to the Devil's Dyke;

Or to the gibbet near the ftrand,

Which proves we're in a Chriftian land ;.
To Lewes, in a gig, we'll trust

Our frames, and gorge a-peck of duft;
Or near the precipices drive,

Where Terror ever is alive.

Ah! let us wander on the Steine,
Yet not to fee, but to be seen ;
;

Where Strephon, from his pate fo doughy,
Whispers foft nonfenfe to his Chloe;
Where faucy dolts, and ftriding fluts,
Advance, and brave each other's guts;
Where Folly prates with ceaseless din,
And fea-mifts wet us to the skin.
Or at the ebb, 'mongst oafs and drabs,
Cut fhoes and hofe, and hunt for crabs ;
Or fwill a gallon of the ocean,
To fet the curfed bile in motion
While the Moon laughs above to know
How fhe has addled us below.-
Your cits believe, like beef they eat,
Bathing in brine will keep them fweet;
So in they plunge, or great or small,
Or bull or heifer, horns and all:
You'll fmile to see them, ev'ry tide,
Washing the cobwebs from the hide;

2.3

That

That form, in filth, an annual rind,
With incruftations undefin'd.
Thefe delights, if thou wouldst prove,
Come live with me, and be my love.

ANTHONY PASQUIN.

From my Attic Story, at the Red Cow,
Brighton, Sept. 8, 1802.

GRAND CITY STATE BED.

[From the Morning Poft.]

EVER fince an account of the Marquis of Exeter's grand ftate bed appeared in the fashionable world, grandeur in this article of furniture has become quite the rage. Among others the Lord Mayor (Sir John Eamer), feeling for the dignity of the city of London, has petitioned the corporation for one of great fplendour to be placed in the Manfion-house, at the city's expenfe.

We have been favoured with a defcription of this magnificent ftate bed, the choice of his Lordship. The body is formed by the callipee, or under fhell of a large turtle, carved in mahogany, and fufficiently capacious to receive two well-fed people. The callipath, or upper fhell, forms the canopy. The pofts. are four gigantic figures richly gilt: two of them accurate copies of Gog and Magog; the other two reprefent Sir William Walworth and the last man in armour. Cupids with custards are the fupporters. The curtains are of mazarine purple, and curioufly wrought with the feries of the Idle and Induftrious Apprentice from Hogarth, in gold embroidery. But the valances exceed defcription: there, the various incidents in the life of Whittington are painted: the mice in one of the compartments are done fo much to the life, that his Lordship's cat, who is an accurate judge of mice, was deceived. The quilt is of fashionable patch-work

figures,

figures, the defcription of which we shall not anticipate, as we understand Mr. Birch has obtained a fketch of it for his large twelfth cake. The whole is worthy of the taste of the firft magiftrate of the first city in the world.

MEDICINE ACT.

MR. EDITOR,

[From the Morning Chronicle.]

NOTWITHSTANDING the reveries of certain philofophers on the means neceffary to increase population, we know by the hiftory of all nations, that governments and legislatures have ever found it neceffary to keep down a growing population, that there may not be a greater number of people than there is food requifite for their fubfiftence. Why our Miniftry should have ventured to act contrary to the ufual practice, I know not; but certain it is, that, not content with putting a stop to war, which is one of the principal methods of thinning population, they have lately, whether by defign or blunder is not very clear, checked another caufe by which population has always been kept within bounds: I mean medicine. At the moment I write, an entire fufpenfion of difeafe has taken place, because no prescriptions can be adminiftered without a ftamp, which no man thinks himself ill enough to afford; the cheering founds of pestle and mortar are no longer heard in our streets, and the temple of Hygeia, in Warwick Lane, is fhut.

The confequence of this interruption to business is, that thousands are recovering for want of affiftance; and Nature, whofe rights and privileges have long been buried in a cargo of juleps and draughts, of mixtures and tinctures, boluffes and electuaries, is now refuming her functions; already her intentions and her indications begin to be understood; large families of children are

growing up without any reftraint; and notwithstanding the promifing appearance of the harveft, fuch will be the additional number of mouths to fill, if the Medicine A&t is not fpeedily repealed, that I fhould not wonder to hear that the quartern loaf reaches again to two fhillings, or perhaps half-a-crown. Are our minifters provided for this incrcafed confumption, or by what logic will they repel the cries of those who want bread, and who will now be joined by the indigent members of the faculty, a clafs of men who in the worst of times have contrived to live comfortably, who have flourished even in the midst of a plague, and who have been known to fet up their carriages on the strength of an epidemic? Nor is this all. Another very induftrious order of men are thrown entirely out of bread, men who have become opulent, not only by adminiftering to the neceffities, but even to the vanity of the public-I mean the company of undertakers. Indeed the connexion between their profperity and that of the faculty is fo ftrikingly obvious, that nothing but the most obftinate blindnefs on the part of our Miniftry could have afforded them a plea for ignorance. I am affured by a very refpectable member of this trade, that many wealthy citizens who have long had one foot in the grave, by the help of advice, have even got that out, and walk about with a firm ftep. Indeed," continued my friend, "I know not what we fhall do: our bufinefs is reduced to a mere fhell; we have nothing to depend upon but a natural death now and then; fuch a terrible death-blow was never given in my time; the Minifter ought to have confidered that we fuffered pretty handfomely during the war, and loft a vaft many jobs by his expeditions to the continent and the Weft Indies. But fuch a ftroke as this!-why, it operates on our trade like a fufpenfion of the Habeas Corpus. But let our'

Miniftry