ly excel us in the article of velvets; and French filks are by many people far preferred for elegance to any of English manufacture. I appeal then to you, Sir, if these allufions would not be much more delightful to Britifh ears if they tended to promote fuch manufactures as are more pecu larly our own. The Georgics of Vir gil, let me tell you, Sir, have been, fufpected by fome people to have been written with a political as well as poeti cal view; for the purpose of converting the victorious fpirits of the Roman fol, diery from the love of war, and the feverity of military hardships, to the milder occupations of peace, and the more profitable employments of agriculture. Surely equally fuccefsful would the endeavours of our poets if they would boldly extirpate from their writings every fpecies of foreign manufacture, and adopt in their ftead materials from the prolific looms of their countrymen. Surely we have a variety which would fuit all fubjects and all defcriptions; nor do I defpair, if this letter has the defired effect, but I fhall prefently fee landscapes beautifully diver. fified with (all due deference being paid to alliteration) plains of plush, paftures of poplin, downs of dimity, vallies of velveret, and meadows of Manchefter. How gloriously novel would this, be how patriotically poes tical an innovation! which nothing but bigotted prejudice could object to nothing but difaffection to the interests of the country could difapprove. Excufe me, Sir, if I have detained you beyond the ufual limits of a letter on a fubject in which I am fo deeply interefted. Pardon, Sir, the partiality of an old man to the profeffion of his youth: and, O! Sir, may your paper be the means of refcuing from unme.. rited ridicule and illiberal contempt an art which has added a clearness and a polish to the remarks of criticifm, and has clothed the conceptions, of poetry in the language of metaphor; an art inferior to none but thofe which have fo frequently and fo fuccessfully. borrowed its afliftance; nor even to them, unless it can be proved that that which provides the neceffary raiment for the body fhould yield to thofe which are but the fources of amufe ment to the mind. Original Letters. Letter from Prince Maurice to Mr H Nov. 20, 1643- I am, Sir, Yours, &c... you have his recept for the fame; for pay ment whereof you fhall have his Majeftie's pryvi feale: and I hope that you will teftific your zeale to his Majeftie by accommodatinge him with and foe urgent in those that fume. And in cafe parts fhall refor the maintenance of his army heare, fufe foe to doe, then I fhall require. which hath binn occafioned partely by you to appeare before Sir John Bexyourfelfe and other of your freinds, hely, knt. and other of the commif that I am conftrayned to write thefe fioners for his Majeftie's affayres, or to you, for the borrowinge of two hun- any three of them, appoynteed to that dred pounds of you for his Majeftie, purpofe in the cittie of Exeter, to fhew which I fhall defire you to pay in un- caufe of your neglect of foe necellary to Edward Kirton, efq; treafurer of a worke. And foe I bid you farewell, the army, or his deputy, upon the thir- and fhall remain your loveinge friend, deth day of November next enfuinge, the cittie of Exeter, and you fhall MAURICE. You are to bringe the mony above mencioned mencioned att the daye above faide; or then, or uppon Fryday next follow inge, to thew caufe why you refufe or neglect. direction, and that fewed his fenfe, for I was born to travel out of the common road, and to get aside from the highway path; and he had fenfe enough to fee it, and not to trouble me with Letters from Dr Arbuthnot to Me trammels. I was neither made to be London, Oct. 10, 1721. THERE is great care taken, now it is too late, to keep Prior's will fecret, for it is thought not to be too reputable for Lord Harley to execute this will. Be fo kind as to fay nothing whence you had your intelligence. We are to have a bowl of punch at Beffy Cox's. She would fain have put it upon Lewis that the was his Emma; the owned, Flanders Jane was his Cloe, I know no fecurity from thefe dotages in bachelors, but to repent of their mif-fpent time, and marry with all fpeed. Pray tell your fellow-traveller fo. a thrill-harfe, nor a fore-horfe; in short, I was not made to go in a team, but to amble along as I liked; and fo that not or or any one, who, in the name of com mon fenfe, has a right to interrupt me?-Let the good folks laugh if they will, and much good may it do them Indeed, I am perfuaded, and I think I could prove, nay, and I would do it, if I were writing a book inftead of a letter, the truth of what I once told a very great ftatesman, orator, politi cian, and as much more as you please that every time a man fmiles-much more fo when he laughs-it adds fomes thing to the fragment of life. But the ftaying five days at Cambridge does not come within the im mediate reach of my crazy compres henfion, and you might have employ ed your time much, much better, in urging your mettlefome tits towards Coxwould. I may fuppofe that you have been picking a hole in the fkirts of Gibb's cumbrous architecture, or measuring the facade of Trinity College library, or peering about the Gothic perfec tions of King's College chapel, or, which was doing a better thing, fipping tea and talking fentimentally with Mifs Cookes, or difturbing Mr Gray with one of your enthusiastic vifitsI fay disturbing him, for with all your own agreeablenefs, and all your admiration of him, he would rather have your room than your company. But mark me, I do not fay this to his glo ry, but to his flame; for I would-be content with any room, so I had your company. But tell me, I beseech you, what you do with Scroop all this time? The looking at the heavy walls of muzzing of colleges, and gazing at the mouldy pictures pictures of their founders, is not alto- cally:-now I fhould like to know ‹ what is the nature of this diforder which you call Clafficality; if it confifts in a rage to converfe on ancient fubjects in a modern manner; or on modern fubjects in an ancient one; or are you both out of your fenfes, and do you fancy yourfelves with Virgil and Horace at Sinueffa, or with Tully and Atticus at Tufculum? Oh how it would delight me to peep at you from behind a laurel bush, and see you furrounded with columns and covered by a dome, quaffing the extract of a Chinese weed, and talking of men who boafted the infpiration of the Falernian grape! gether in his way; nor did he wander where I have whilom wandered, on Cam's all-verdant banks with willows crowned, and call the Mufe: alas! he'd rather call a waiter-and how fuch a milkfop as you could travel-I mean be fuffered to travel, two leagues in the fame chaife with him, I know not-but from that admirable and kind pliability of fpirit which you poffefs whenever you pleafe; but which you do not always please to poffefs. I do not mean that a man fhould wear a court-drefs when he is going to a puppet-fhow; but, on the other hand, to keep the best fuit of embroidery for thofe only whom he loves, tho' there is fomething noble. in it, will never do. The world, my dear friend, will not let it do. For while there are fuch qualities in the human mind as ingratitude and duplicity, limited confidence and this patriotifm of friendfhip, which I have heard you rave and. rant about, is a very dangerous bufinofs. I could preach a fermon on the fubject to fay the truth, I am got as grave as if I were in my pulpit. Thus are the projects of this life deftroyed. When I took up my pen, my humour was gay, frifky, and fanciful-and now I am fliding into all the fee-faw gravity of folemn councils. I want nothing but an afs to look over my pales, and fet up a-braying to keep me in countenance. Leave, leave your Lincolnshire feats, and come to my dale; Scroop, I know, is heartily tired of you. Befides, I want a nurse, for I am not quite well, and have taken to milk-coffee. Re member me, however, to him kindly, and to yourself cordially, for I am yours, most truly, L. STERNE. To W. C. Efq. Coxwould, Aug. 5, 1764. AND fo you fit in Scroop's temple and drink tea, and converfe claffi What a couple of vapid, inert beings you muft be?-I fhould really give you for loft, if it were not for the confidence I have in the re-invigorating powers of my fociety, to which you muft now have immediate recourfe, if you wish for a restoration. Make haft then, my good friend, and feek the aid of your physician ere it be too late. You know not the intereft I take in your welfare. Have I not ordered all the linen to be taken out of the prefs, and re-wafhed before it was dirty, that you may have a clean tablecloth every day, with a napkin into the bargain? And have I not order. ed a kind of wind-mill, that makes my head ach again with its clatter, to be placed in my fine cherry-tree, that the fruit may be preferved from the birds to furnish you a desert? And do you not know that you will have curds and cream for your fupper? Think on these things, and let Scroop go to Lincoln feffions by himfelf, and talk claffically with country juftices. In the mean time we will philofophize and fentimentalize :-the laft word is a bright invention of the moment in which it was written, for yours or Dr Johnfon's fervice,and you fhall fit in my ftudy and take a peep into the world as into a fhowbox, and amufe yourself as I prefent the the pictures of it to your imagination. Thus will I teach you to laugh at its follies, to pity its errors, and defpife its injuftice; and I will introduce you, among the reft, to fome tender hearted damfel, on whofe cheek fome bitter affliction has placed a tear;-and, having heard her story, you shall take a white handkerchief from your pocket to wipe the moisture from her eyes, and from your own :—and then you fhall go to bed, not to the damfel, but with an heart confcious of thofe fentiments, and poffeffed of thofe feelings, which will give foftnefs to your pillow, fweetness to your flumbers, and gladnefs to your waking moments. You fhall fit in my porch, and laugh at Attic veftibules. I love the claffics as well as any man ought to love them, but among all their fine verfes, their most enthufiaftic admirer would not be able to find me half a dozen stories that have any fentiment in them, and fo much for that. If you don't come foon I fhall fet about another volume of Triftram without you. Your's truly, Zohar. An Eaftern Tale. By Wieland. IN the infancy of the world mankind knew no other reftraints than thofe impofed by nature, No throne was erected on the ruins of liberty, and men had not learnt, like the beafts, to bend their necks to the yoke of men. Each took up his abode on the spot that moft pleafed him, without fear of being dif turbed, and the earth beftowed on him her fruits with liberality, which he did not abufe. In thefe happy times lived Zohar, on whom Fortune was prodigal of her gifts. She had placed him not far from the banks of the Euphrates, in a country adorned with unceasing verdure, where a thousand rivulets winded thro' flowery vallies and meadows covered with flocks. He poffeffed whole forefts of palm-trees, he enjoyed a numerous houfehold, and all the treasures of fimplicity. It is eafy to conceive how great might have been his felicity, for no man on earth will be unfatisfied, with his lot, provided he liftens to the voice of his internal inftructor. To be happy, the wife have no occafion for the abundance of Zohar. Though this young man had received from nature a benevolent heart and a chearful mind, yet the fervour of unreftrained youth foon made him quit the path of rectitude, led him into innumerable errors, and infpired him with innumerable extravagant defires. He found nothing but tedious uniformity in the happy ftate he enjoyed. New withes and new defires fucceeded to those he had but just formed, and thefe in their turn gave place to others in perVOL. VII. No 38. Τ L. STERNE. petual fucceffion. What was to be done in fuch a cafe? Notwithstanding the rich es of nature, fhe is always too poor to fatisfy the defires of the unreafonable. But difguft itself, by leading them to reflection, often frees them from the mifery of ceaseless craving. One day, as Zohar, tired with vain withes, had funk to fleep, a lively dream continued the train of his ideas. Fitnaz, the fpirit to whom the king of the Genii has fubjected our globe, undertook to cure this young man of his delufion. Zohar thought himself placed on the fummit of a mountain, from whence, reclined at the foot of a cedar, he furveyed the poffeffions of his ancestors extended far and wide. But, instead of viewing them with pleafure, he broke forth at the fight into bitter complaints. The meads were enamelled with flowers, the rivulets murmured through the palm trees, the hills were white with fheep, and thone like the marble of Paros; but they fhone not for Zohar. Affaulted by a thousand different defires, he was wandering with uncertain ftep, when his eyes were fuddenly daz zled by a light of unufual fplendor. A cloud of gold and azure defcended from the fky diffufing around the most grateful fragrance. On this cloud was feated a celeftial figure, whofe look and gra cious fimile prevented the difquiet which his appearance might have created. It was the friendly Firnaz, who, without making himfelf known, thus fpoke to Zohar: What melancholy vapours ob fcure foure thy discontented eye? what cares corrode thy heart? tell me, that I may remove them." Emboldened by the kindness with which the Genius addreffed him, Zohar thus replied: My condition is hateful to me; it is unvaried; the morning differs not from the evening, and every day is like another. My whole life feeins to me but a moment tedioufly lengthened out. The air I breathe is too thick; the forefts and the fields are deftitute of attractions. Even the beatties of Thirza have no charms for me fince the permitted me to enjoy them. The fymmetry of her limbs, the ringlets of her hair, the ivory of her forehead, her languishing eye, her kiffes, which I once thought enchanting, please me no longer; and yet it is but a few days fince we were united. My heart feels an im menfe void, and finds no where in nature any thing that can gratify its defires. O beneficent Genius, for fuch you appear, if you would make me happy, change this country, which appears to me fo faded, into a country like that which the Celestials inhabit. Let it concentre all the beautics which nature hath difperfed over the univerfe. Let every thing confpire to flatter my fenfes, and let my foul at laft be fatisfied with whatever imagination can invent of beautiful or voluptuous. His laft words had hardly escaped his lips, when he fell into a fwoon at the feet of Firnaz. At the fame inftant the country began to affume a new appearance. Nature in filence confeffed the power of the Genius that embellished her. She became beautiful as the Spring in the fancy of a poet when he dreams of love; when the violet, the crocus, and the hyacinth fpring under his feet, and zephyrs fan the bofom of the nymph of whom he is enamoured. The plains of Zohar were now poffeffed of all the charms which Homer and the Bard of Mantua, thofe favourites of the muses, adorned their defcriptions of Ida, where, by means of the fafcinating Ceftus, Juno deceived the Lord of the thunder. The crystal streams that laved the vacant Tivoli, the luxurious groves of foft Tarentum, the fragrant fides of the flowery Hymettus, and the bowers in which Venus and Adonis flept on beds of rofes, were faint reprefentations of the beauties that adorned this enchanted Elyfium. Zohar recovers from the fwoon; he looks round, and is aftonished. He finds himself feated on a bed of violets; the zephyrs kifs his cheek, and waft to him, from a thoufand flowers, the most ful perfumes. grate. In the enthufiafm, caused by fuch fudden metamorphofis, he walks with rapid pace thro' groves of orange trees and myrtles. Here the delicious ananas, there the tempting lotos invite his eye, which knows not where to reft. In the mean time, his ear is faluted by the amorous concert of the birds. What was the extafy of Zohar! Thus, after the toils and dangers of a tedious voyage, the worn out failor is filled with inexpreffible delight when the fortunate Canaries prefent themfelves unexpectedly to his view; when he fees from far the fplendor of their flowery hills, and when a breeze from the land conveys to him the aromatic odour of their woods, and the harmonious notes of their winged inhabitants. Zohar is in doubt whether what he fees is real. Sometimes he is all ear, fometimes all eye, and is loft in an extafy of admiration. He was treading with uncertain ftep the enchanted walks of this new world, when feven nymphs fuddenly appeared before him. They looked like the Graces when hand in hand they dance on the borders of Peneus to welcome the return of Spring. As foon as Zohar perceived them, the charms of the landscape faded in his eyes. The nymphs fled from before him to the neighbouring thickets. Zohar pursues them with all the eagerness of defire, nor does he long purfue in vain. Who now fo bleft as Zohar? The place of his abode, more delightful than the vales of Tempe, or the gardens of Alcinous, fupplies him with pleasures on every hand. More fortunate than the fon of Priam, his tranfports are not confined to the enjoyment of a fingle Helen. Seven beauties, adorned with all the graces of youth, allure him with various charms, and he has no longer to complain of the tedioufnefs of uniformity. Eight days were hardly spent in this dream of joy, when the minutes began to creep fluggishly along. New withes, more impetuous than the preceding, be gan to trouble Zohar in the midst of his tumultuous pleafures. He tore himself from the arms of his nymphs, and retired to darkfome fhades that he might vent his complaints to the folitary echo. "Unhappy Zohar! cried he, when shalt thou enjoy ferenity and peace? when will thy ftormy paffions be calm and allow thee to reft? Is there no pure felicity referved for thee, but muft languor infect thy fmiles and mingle with thy sports? What |