'man. We met at Naples, and afterwards we "Parma together. I gave him the genuine re for the Parmesan cheese, which I went purpose procure, while he was examining some statues ancient manuscripts. We were ever afterward the most friendly footing imaginable. I was him a few mornings before the marriage of Lor "W, this very Miss W's father. I rem ber it well; - it was at breakfast;-I often br fasted with him before he went to the house; 'always eat butter'd muffins; but when I was th he used to order dry toast; I always eat dry to -The bride was with us; I was intimately 'quainted with her too; she let me into the wh 'secret of the courtship. Her father's principal ⚫ducement to the match,-it was a long affair,estate was to be settled on the you folks at the marriage; no, not all-part of t B. -estate, with the manor in Lincolnshi -But, as I was saying, we were at breakfast Lord W's. His son and the bride were by Lord C. had velvet breeches, and gold clocks to stockings; the question was, whether this w 'proper? I put it to the bride; I made her blus I warrant you ;-she was a fine woman, a prodig ous fine woman; she always used my wash-ball: ' wrote out the receipt for her; it was given me a Vienna by Count O -; a very great man Cour O, and knew more of the affairs of the empir than any man in Germany. From him I firs learned with certainty, that the Dutchess of Lor raine's two fore-teeth were false ones. I remem ber he had an old grey monkey.-Sister Mary 'you have heard me tell the story of Count O.

monkey.'-But here it pleased Heaven that Wil liam called his master out of the room, and saved us from the Count and his old grey monkey.

The superficial knowledge of great men, and accidental acquaintance with some of the vocables of state business, has given him a consequential sort of phraseology, which he applies, with all the gravity in the world, to the most trifling occurrences. When he orders the chaise for his eldest sister, him. self, and me, the white pad for Sophy, and the old roan mare for her attendant, he calls it, regulating the order of the procession.' When he gives out the wine from the cellar, and the groceries from the store-room (for he does both in person), he tells us, he has been granting the supplies; the acceptance, or offer of a visit he lays before a committee of the whole house ;' and for the killing of the fat ox this Christmas, he called the gentlemen three successive mornings to a grand council of 'war.'

It were well if all this were only matter of amusement; but some of us find it a source of very serious distress. Your managing men are commonly plagues; but Mr. R. manages so much to a hair's breadth, that he is a downright torment to the other members of his family. It was but yesterday we had the honour of a ceremonious visit from some great folks, as we think them, who came lately from your town to eat their mince pies in the country. After a wonderful ringing of bells, calling of servants, and trampling upon the stairs all morning, Mr. R. came down to the drawing-room at a quarter before three, with all his usual fiddle-faddlation, but, as I thought, in very good humour. He had on his great company wig, and his round set shoebuckles. The servants had their liveries new whiteball'd, and the best china was set out, with the large silver salvers, and the embossed porter-cups on the side-board. The covers were stripped from

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the worked chair-bottoms, and his grandmother's little diced carpet was taken off the roller, and laid like a patch on the middle of the floor, the naked part of which was all shining with bees-wax. The company came at their hour; the beef was roasted to a turn; dinner went on with all imaginable good order and stupidity; supper was equally regular and sleepy; in short, every thing seemed quite as it should be: yet, next morning, I perceived foul weather in all the faces of the family; Mr. R. and his sister scarce spoke to one another, and he talked, all the time of breakfast, of female carelessness and inattention. Miss Sophia explained it to me when we were left alone. Oh! do you know,' said she, a sad affair happened last night; my brother and sister had such a tiff! You must un'derstand, before the company arrived yesterday, he had, as usual, adjusted the ceremonial of their 'different apartments; but he discovered, on attending them to their rooms at night, that my sister had put the gilt-china bottle and bason into 'the callico bed-chamber, and the ordinary blue and white into the pink damask.'-It is lucky this man is no guardian of mine; were he to watch me as he does his sisters, and see all the odds and ends about me-But what has he to do to be a guardian? Yet Nature, perhaps, meant him for something, if fortune had allowed it; he might have been excellently employed in a pin-shop, in sticking the rows in a pin-paper.

I fancy you have quite enough of my landlord. You used to say I was the best of your philosophers, your Democritus in petticoats. If I have an inch of philosophy about me, it is without my knowledge, I assure you; you are welcome to it, however, such as it is. Other folks may give you what

I have heard you call the great views of Nature and Life; it is enough for me if I can enrich your collection with a paper of insects.

Yours most truly,

V

C. F.

N° 94. SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1780.

AMONG the other privileges of an anonymous periodical author, is that of writing letters in praise of himself, which he is, now and then, obliged to insert on account of their merit, however offensive they may be to his modesty. This sort of correspondence, which I suppose is a very pleasant one, I have not ventured to indulge in. The correspondents whom 1 have personated, always talk of themselves instead of the MIRROR; and, on the other hand, several of the papers I have received, are written in the person of the author, a character in which it were improper to praise him, and which, when assumed, gives, perhaps, no great inclination to do it. Of this last sort is the first of two communication, to which I devote the paper of to-day; the second, containing one of the very few com. pliments which the MIRROR has exhibited of itself, is a genuine letter from London, written by a gen tleman in the very situation, the feelings of which he so naturally describes.

IN my first paper I took occasion to mention a few particulars of my situation and character, and my object in this publication. My design has been to afford an agreeable and innocent amusement; and by laying before my readers those characters I was acquainted with, and which presented themselves before me, I had some hopes, though I should not reclaim the completely vicious, that I might be able to guard the young and inexperienced, to alarm the inconsiderate, to confirm the wavering, and to point out, even to the worthy, some of those errors and imperfections, from which, perhaps, the finest minds are in the greatest danger of suffering.

How far I have been able to afford any amusement, I will not take upon me to say; but I am sorry to find, that many of the characters which I have presented to the public, with a view to point out men's errors and defects, have been considered as proper objects of imitation, and that some of my readers have so far mistaken the purpose I had in presenting such characters, as to be flattered by thinking that themselves bear some resemblance to them.

When I made my readers acquainted with my friend Mr. Fleetwood, I never meant to recommend that excessive delicacy aud false refinement which often prevents him from being happy; on the contrary, my intention was to point out the danger of that excessive refinement, and to guard such of my readers as should be disposed to indulge in it, against its fatal consequences; and yet I know a gentleman who is so desirous of being thought possessed of delicacy and refinement, that, the other day, I saw