tertain the officers at my 'hospitable mansion,' as they chose to call it. sure you But, Mr. PROJECTOR, you will perceive that with all the satisfaction I have been so happy as to afford to others, I have failed in every purpose I had proposed to myself. I have none of the comforts of a private gentleman, while I am renowned as the best of landlords. I have even lost one opportunity which I am will not undervalue, that of showing a proper example to my family and servants of regular attendance at church. I need not tell you, Sir, that Sunday is the day of all others, when I have principally to exercise the talents and patience of an innkeeper. I wish, therefore, you would endeavour to persuade my friends, many of whom are readers of the PROJECTOR, and have more than once drank his health in my best claret, to have some compassion on my case, and not leave me the alternative of breaking the Sabbath, or breaking up housekeeping. Endeavour, Sir, to persuade them that visiting on Sunday is extremely vulgar, and that being seen on the roads near London on that day, covered with dust, gives occasion to many of the worst suspicions to which a man of spirit can be liable. Tell them that persons so employing their time are sup posed to be apprentices or journeymen upon hired horses, or persons whose circumstances are so narrow or so embarrassed that they do not find it safe to travel any other day. I hope, indeed, Mr. PROJECTOR, that if you will write a good smart paper on this subject, it will soon be as unfashionable to ride out on Sundays, as to go to Bartholomew-Fair; and perhaps this good effect would have already taken place, if some of our leaders of fashion had not become tired of genteel amusements, and lately taken to those which are evidently borrowed from that place of vulgar resort. "It is certainly a very hard case that, in a land of liberty, a man cannot be master of his own time, and that every person should think he had a right to deprive him of a part of it. What is worse, these interrupters expect thanks for conferring the obligation of idleness, and breaking in upon the regularity of domestic tranquillity. But why this should be done with more impunity in the country than in town, and why the sacred privileges of an Englishman's castellum should not extend beyond the city of London, I am yet to learn. I may not perhaps be able to persuade my countrymen to be of my opinion; but if they have enjoyed the experience, of which I have given you a brief sketch, they will not think much of the privilege from arrest, while the privilege from visitors is denied. "I am, Sir, "Your humble servant, "PETER PLACID. "P. S. As I have written this remonstrance more with a view to serve others than myself, I think it necessary to add, whatever effect it may have, that I mean at the end of this season to quit the bustle of a country-life, and retire to Mincing-lane for the remainder of my days." THE PROJECTOR. N° 62. "Inter cuncta leges et percunctabere doctos; HORACE. October 1806. ONE of the first instructions given to young people is, how to behave in company. Parents consider this as an indispensable branch of edu of cation, and seem, more, perhaps, of late years than formerly, to be of opinion that it cannot begin too soon. For this purpose, they take much pains to inform their children of the proper way of entering a room, the proper way remaining in it, and the proper way of going out of it; and are not a little pleased when they behold their offspring perform those manœuvres in what they term a graceful style. Their first introduction is an æra of great anxiety it is like the first appearance of a player on the stage, encouraged by the support of his friends, but yet exposed to the criticism of the publick at large. Some parents, indeed, either unwilling to take the trouble, or conscious of their inability to give such lessons as may accomplish the candidate for his debut, send their children to dancing-schools, where they may acquire the several steps of walking, and degrees of bowing, that every movement may be in true time, and every inflexion performed according to the strict principles of fashionable mathematicks. And these instructions, whether acquired at home or abroad, are intended to answer the same important purpose, namely, to fit young people for company. The only difference I can remember between to old times and the present in this respect is, that in the former it was not thought necessary qualify young people for company quite so soon as now. And a very good reason was assigned for this by our grandfathers and grandmothers, namely, that young people should first be taught to keep company with themselves before they mixed with the world; and to cultivate the love of domestic society, before they were introduced into a promiscuous concourse of persons, who had no other object for meeting than their dislike of being alone, and no other wish in parting than that they might meet again. The fact was, however, for I do not wish to conceal the peculiarities of those times, that the life of man was then divided into several portions, some of which are now become obsolete. There was a portion, for example, which was called youth, and which was kept sacred as a period of probation. This has since been incorporated so nicely with manhood, as to render it impossible to say where the one ends, and the other begins; nor do we find any persons boast much of being young until they are considerably advanced in years, when, by marriage, intrigues, and other arduous speculations, they afford a pretty strong demonstra |