damned rot, and are entirely reduced to duft in less than twenty-four hours. To this purpose they tell you, That a Preacher of a different Order, having, in a fermon he delivered there, expreffed fome doubts, though very modeftly, concerning the happinefs of fuch a number of people, the whole. chapel began to fhake, and the bones to leave their places, apparently in order to knock the unbelieving Preacher on the head; who, feeing himfelf in imminent danger, quickly made a folemn recantation of his irreligious opinions, and by that means prevented the outrage of thofe vinvictive bones. I give you this ftory for a fable, as it is; the only truth in it is, that the work is very curious, and put together with great ingenuity.

SIR,

To the PRINTER. On Fashions.

Olofophers.

UR tafte is depraved: we are no longer a nation of phiFashions are as variable as the fun. In the years 1754 and 1755, our coats were to reach no farther than the middle of the thigh; our hats were not above three inches in the brin; fhoes that buckled to the toe; and, oh! sweet fashion, behold a wig, that was a preponderous rook's neft, combed and coaxed behind up to the top of these Petit Chapaus. In the year 1756 and 1757, make way. for a sweet young gentleman, only fix feet high, with his coat down to the ancle, his hat a fuperlative Kevhenhuller, and his fhoes that were parfaitement, pantoufles a Paris. But (1763) now, nou, Mr. Printer, here comes pretty Mafter Tape-and-Thread, from Cheapfide; his coat fleeve very neatly dragooned-shoes are laid afide----twig his half boots in their ftead, Mr. Printer; his hair is greafed and floured, till it becomes, with the help of a little brackish perfpiration, a perfect pudding: 0 Ja, and when my little Tetfy Band-box gives him her company to the White Conduit on Sunday, to drink tea and eat hotloaves, then they are (entre nous) Phænomina's.

What leads me to the above reflections is the abfurdity of the prefent fafhions: we have gone from this tafte to that afte; and from that tafte to this taste again. I would propofe the fashions to be made, use of in turn, then we should. never be at a lofs. About a month ago I bought me a new Kevlienhuller; but forfooth, I am no longer in taste, for fince the laft importation of French Shavers, hats are now in the other extreme. I tell you how it comes about. They, the French, at firft get large hats; they wear them for a ipace, then take them a deck lower; and fo, from deck to deck,

deck, they are at last reduced, when Monfieur comes to Englaud, to a jockey cap. And must I make a monkey of myfelf? No: I glory in being born a Briton İ love my King, &c. but I hate French Fashions, French Cooks, French Hair Dreffers, &c. &c. and fo I hope, (in the language of Mr. Heber) my great, great, great grandchil dren will.The ladies mult excufe me, but I intend to take them in turn. I am, Mr. Printer,

I

SIR,

Your very humble fervant,

FUNNIBUS.

To the PRINTER On a Party of Pleasure.

WILL venture to affirm, that there cannot be a greater mifnomer, than in what is commonly called, A Party of Pleafure: So many disappointments happen, fo many untoward eircumftances frequently occur, that a party of pleasure, as in fact, a party of mifery and vexation. Have you not often known a moft agreeable party, that propofed to themfelves vaft fatisfaction in going to Vauxhall, entirely difconcerted by an unexpected shower, or a cold night? Another party has been out of humour the whole time at a play, because they could get no other than the back feats in the gallery. Nay often happens, that one of the party fhall damp the joy, and disturb the comfort of the reft, by an ill-timed fore throat, or head-ach, or not being able to walk, or not able to ride; In fhort, according to Dryden,

Some bitter babbles up, and poifons all the draught:

I am just returned from a tour in the country upon one of thefe parties of pleafure; but I confefs, that I never pent three weeks together more miferably. There were four of use in all----two ladies in a poft-chaife, with a gentleman and myfelf, who rode on horseback. There were great difputes among us, before our fetting out, concerning what route it were beft to make, The ladies, who are accustomed to call any thing Pleafure, provided they have a jaunt, were indiffe rent to what point of the compafs we turned our nöfes; butį they wifhed us to go to fome of the public watering places, which have lately come into fo much vogue. Bristol, Tan bridge, Scarborough, Brightelmftone, Harrowgate, &c. were all cried up in their turns: My friend wanted us to go wel ward, for no other reason, than becaufe (he faid) the inns were very good upon the western road. However, I unfortu nately happened to mention the wonders of the Peak, and it was presently agreed, that we fhould make the tour of Derbyfhire, on purpofe to see them.

We

We accordingly fet out, the chaise loaded with hat-cafes, and bundles innumerable, belonging to the ladies. I fhall not trouble you with every incident that b.fel us in our journey; as how we were wet through and through; as how I got a fall from my horfe; as how the chaife was in continual dan ger, as the ladies apprehended, of being overturned; as how we went from the Bear to the Red Lion, from the Red Lion to the Black Swan, and fo on; as how, in fhort, we breakfasted, dined, fupped, went to bed, and got up again.

We had not been out four days, but it plainly appeared that the company were tired of each other. The ladies were under terrible apprehenfions about damp fheets and unaired beds; we curfed the provifion, and damned the liquor; all of us yawned. in our turns, fat filent, complained of fatigue, or of the weather; and our horfes themselves could not be more unwilling to proceed on the journey than we were.

One principal object of thefe jaunts of pleasure is to fee. fights, with no other intention than that the travellers might be able to fay, That they have feen them. How many Londoners have made a party to go to Oxford or Cambridge, and come away with no greater idea of the colleges and public buildings, than they have of the Charter-house or the companies halls! How many fober tradesmen have left their shops and compting-houses in the fummer, while business was flack, and dragged their wives and eldest daughters with them, to fee the house and gardens at Stowe, tho' they can have no higher relish for their beauties than they have for their villa's about Clapham and Camberwell, or the White Conduit House! You may be fure, Sir, that we did not neglect the material part of our fcheme: We went to all the remarkable feats in our way, not because we wanted to fee them, but because we had heard them talked of. This was more fatiguing to us than any other part of our journey. Sometimes we were hurried from apartment to apartment, without having leisure er inclination to examine either the building or the furniture. We stared at fine pictures, though we did not know the difference between a Rubens and a fign-painter. We admired the architecture, tho' we could not tell but it might be as heavy and difproportioned as the Manfion-house. At other times we were fweltered in the fun, or blown through with a north-eaft wind, while we traversed fhrubberies and ferpentine walks, and temples, and canals, with as much speed as if we were walking for a wager. Yet the ladies, Sir, never failed of faying indifcriminately of every thing they faw, or rather fhould have seen, That indeed it was vaftly pretty.

We

We at last came to the famous Wilds of Derbyshire, which is called the Peak. Not to dwell upon too many particulars ------You may have read, Sir,------perhaps you may have printed an account of that part of it, which is distinguished by too coarse an appellation for me to mention. If fo, you know full as much, or more of it, I affure you, than we do ------who, after having travelled above four hundred miles to and fro on purpose to fee it, came back just as wife as we went. The Ladies were too narvous to venture any further than the entrance of the cavern; and the Gentlemen, you know, were in good manners bound not to leave them. They were seized with the fame horrors at Poole's-hole, which is a cave of the fame nature: But I muft do them the justice to acknowledge, that they were charmed with the grand cascade at the Duke of Devonshire's house at Chatsworth, and declared it to be infinitely fuperior to thofe tin ones at Vauxhall, or either of the Play-houses.

Thus have I fquandered my time and my money, without reaping the leaft fatisfaction in return. And now I have mentioned the expence, give me leave to obferve to you, that I do not mean only what it cost me in ducks, chickens, &c. at the inn, in turnpikes, in fees to the chambermaid, oftler, and boots, or in fees for free ingrefs and egrefs at gentlemen's houfes, parks, and gardens; which latter, no traveller ought to grudge, as it is frequently the cafe, that the fervants have no other allowance, and fometimes the owner himself has a fhare in the perquifites; as fome ladies, who keep routs, go fnacks in the card-money. In my late tour, it coft me no inconfiderable fum, because we happened to go thro' Buckinghamfhire, when the ladies fell in love with fome very fine lace, for which that country is famous: This we men underftood as an hint for us to make each of them a prefent of ruffles, handkerchief, and lappets. At Derby they were put in mind, that no fuch filk stockings could be had any where as here; confequently we could do no lefs than defire their acceptance of half a dozen pair each. They wanted fadly to make Manchester in their way; but I objected to it as a place not worth seeing, because I fecretly knew that all ladies of tafte are prodigioufly fond of the Ginghams, manufactured there, which make the prettiest negligees for the fummer imaginable.

I fhall conclude, Sir, with telling you, that if I ever travel again upon a party of pleafure, it thall be alone, like an outrider, with no other incumbrance than my bags fwung across the horse's back, and my great coat ftrapt upon the faddle before me. I am, your humble Servant,

HUMPHRY GADABOUT.

To the PRINTER, &C.

The following Extract from a Petition of the Proteftants of Languedoc to the King of France, lately published, is fo replete with genuine, undiffembled piety, heroic Chriftian fortitude, and unfhaken loyalty, that it will, I dare fay, be acceptable to your readers. Would to GOD we were as zealous in the practice of a pure religion here in England, as thefe poor oppreffed Proteftants are in France.

SIRE,

THE

HE Proteftants of your Province of Languedoc throw themselves at your Majefty's feet, imploring your clemency. Their confidence in the paternal heart of their beloved King, is what alone can fupport them amidst the terrors which furround them, and the painful emotions under which they labour.

These unfortunate people, SIRE, lived in the most easy fecurity under the umbrage of a Toleration, which the prudence of the age, the intereft of the ftate, and chiefly the equity and humanity of their Sovereign, feemed to cement and ftrengthen for a lafting duration. In the fweet hope that henceforth every one might fafely rest under his vine and his fig-tree, they all, with one voice, bleffed your august reign; with joyful alacrity they indulged that propenfity which ties them to their native land; a propenfity natural to all, but particularly inviting to your fubjects; in their hands, trade and agriculture flourished; they peopled, they cultivated, they enriched the parts which they inhabit.

By an unexpected ftroke, this happy tranquillity is difturbed; terror and defolation overspread the Province. The husband terrified, holds in his arms his trembling spouse, fearing that he may be forced himself to diffolve thofe ties which nature, love, and religion, had confecrated. The agonizing mother hides in her bofom her fucking infant; every moment fhe fhudders with dread, left that dear part of herself fhould be torn from her. Our dwellings are filled with the fobs of affliction, and the cries of despair.

Such, SIRE, have been the immediate effects of the orders fignified to many of the principal inhabitants of your city of Nifmes. It is enjoined, that their marriages and the baptifm of their children be performed in the Roman church; that is, they must renounce that religion which they hold alone to be true; the priests refufing to do their office, unless they who apply to them, after having for fome time fre

quented