of the Police in Scotland. "Filling afr one Copy on Coal parts marking Carts be. and one phlet, entitled "Critical Strictures," against it. (1) That the mildness of Dempster's disposition had, however, relented; and he had candidly said, "We have hardly a right to abuse this tragedy; for, bad as it is, how vain should either of us be to write one not near so good!" JOHNSON. "Why no, Sir; this is not just reasoning. You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables." When I talked to him of the paternal estate to which I was heir, he said, "Sir, let me tell you, that to be a Scotch landlord, where you have a number of families dependent upon you, and attached to you, is, perhaps, as high a situation as humanity can arrive at. A merchant upon the What you're curious to know, on this tomb you shall see :- So sound was his bottom, his acquaintance all wondered How old Nick had got him, till he lived out the hundred. To his money concerns, he paid little attention, First selling his land, then pawning his pension. But his precious time, he much better did manage; — To the end of his line, from his earliest nonage, He divided his hours into two equal parts, And spent one half in sleeping, the other at cartes."* — C. [In 1790, Mr. Dempster retired from parliament, and devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture and the fisheries. He died in 1818, aged 82.]—B. (1) The Critical Review, in which Mallet himself sometimes wrote, characterised this pamphlet as "the crude efforts of envy, petulance, and self-conceit." There being thus three epithets, we, the three authors, had a humorous contention how each should be appropriated. — B. * The Scotch, in familiar life, retain many French words (tokens of their early intercourse with France), and among others cartes for cards. C. |