mer appearance; and, it is lamentable to add, meet with less pity than those who have had the misfortune to fall from a much less height.

Although the affairs of the political world seldom are the subjects of my Projections, yet I cannot conclude without remarking, in reference to the great business which has engaged the minds of the nation for the last month, that even in the vicissitudes of a general election, the benefits of upright walking may be very clearly demonstrated, although to some gentlemen, perhaps, very expensively. At the same time, I must own that when I have been perusing the addresses of many of the candidates, and beholding certain of the practices employed on this great occasion, it occurred to me that I might introduce those gentlemen with no great impropriety in this paper, not as men walking uprightly, or straight forward, but as creeping on all fours.

In a dissertation on Walking, the interests of the fair sex must not be overlooked. Perhaps some of them may be virtually included in one or other of the classes above-mentioned; but in whatever way they think way they think proper to walk, it behoves them to consider that the circumspection mentioned in my motto, is of more importance to them than to the other sex. I shall

quence

not, however, enlarge upon the subject, which I hope it is sufficient only to hint at. Long experience must have taught them the conseof one false step; and I trust that no more encouragement will be given to the race of female philosophers, who a few years ago, both by theory and practice, endeavoured to persuade their sex, that false steps were true ones; and that they did not deserve the name, until they had forfeited the character of women. But amidst all these peripatetic precepts, it

may

be asked, how do we PROJECTORS walk; we who are such observant criticks on the gait of others, and take upon us to regulate modes and forms? For myself, who have long had the honour to address a numerous class of readers, I can only say, that if their opinions and mine should coincide upon these topicks, and if they should comprehend my drift, and approve my hints, we shall be at no loss to ascertain the nature of our motion; for it must follow of course that wITS JUMP.

THE PROJECTOR. No 64.

Nothing pleaseth but rare accidents."

SHAKSPEARE.

December 1806.

HAVING AVING made an appointment a few days ago to meet a friend at a coffee-house much frequented by able and sagacious politicians, I was compelled for some time to listen to a very warm altercation on the present state of the war, during which one of the disputants retired to a corner of the room, and called for the map. This emphatical order being obeyed, he gravely pulled out his spectacles, spread the map on a long table, and continued examining a particular spot for above half an hour, after which he triumphantly returned to his companions, map in hand, pointed out the exact post which the regiment of occupied when it was surprized; and defied his antagonists to refute the opinions he had been advancing respecting the general conduct of the battle. All this, the inspection of the map,

and the exclamations on his success, with the silence of his antagonists, convinced me that the genuine breed of the QUIDNUNCS was not extinct; and, upon inquiry, I found that this worthy representative of the family, like his great predecessor, had been an Upholsterer; but by interfering too much with the affairs of the Continent during the last war, had injured his business so much, that he had now no other employment than to watch the arrival of the Hamburgh mail, and to discuss its contents. And such was his industry in matters of this kind, that a few old friends were glad to supply him with the decent necessaries of life, and defray his coffee-house and tavern expences, in consideration of his saving them the trouble of consulting Gazetteers, and examining maps, and of his occasionally supplying them with a happy conjecture or surmise, from which they might derive some credit in other places.

Curiosity is so firmly implanted in some men, that it would be vain to expect it should yield to considerations which others may think of greater moment. A man who has an eager appetite for news knows no happiness equal to the gratification of it; and we are not to wonder that the race of Newsmongers should in

crease, when we find the vehicles of intelligence not only multiplied both in town and country, but a kind of news introduced in their columns, which, until of late years, was never thought to merit public attention. It is during a war only, however, that a genuine Quidnunc can be said to live; in peace he drags on an uncomfortable existence, because such has been the character of our late wars, that nothing will gratify his appetite but great and tremendous events, violent revolutions, and concussions of the body politic, and the rise and fall of whole nations.

If the gratification, however, which Quidnuncs enjoy be attentively observed, it will be found to resolve itself, in most cases, into the indulgence of mere curiosity, without administering to any useful purpose, and without exciting any of the feelings which ought to accompany the vicissitudes of war, or the more calm progress of peace. The moment it is ascertained when a battle was fought, where it was fought, between whom, who were the victors, and how many were killed or captured on each side, the battle has done its duty. The Quidnunc derives no more from it, and thinks no more about it, except that he has an expectation that one battle may lead to another;