the affidavit to be annually taken by the Clergy, and you know that an oath and a curse are often deemed synonymous: if this be so, and the word "résecrare” seems to confirm this opinion, for this must mean the "Observations" by the Author of the Bill, in which he curses the A- d- -n of Sy, from the be ginning to the end of them; but certainly takes off the curse at last, by giving up many of the objectionable parts of his Devotio-(" Bill or Curse.")" Mare," must be the Thames, as an arm of the sea (at least it is so at the Nore), and pars pro toto proves it. Præcipitate," implies a haste to destroy, as if the question would never again be agitated.

In the back ground is a large building of no order, and, I should conceive, not the work of an Architect, from its manifest irregularities, and numberless recent additions. It is as clear as Day-the original plan was not sufficiently capacious for its inhabitants. The inscription over the door is, at the beginning, entirely obliterated; what is legible is

"Dies! patet atri janua Ditis."

Here is apparently something wanted to complete. the sense; or is it-Alas! Mr. Day;-or does it mean that it is the house of Day?-or is Mr. Day to be in constant attendance ?—or only that this house is to be opened by Day. When I have your answer, you shall hear again from me. If I should in future put you to the expense of postage, you must excuse me; for since this Register Bill (that you probably have heard of) has confined me to the house five days out of the seven, and has, as some recompense for my trouble, deprived me of 60l. a-year, by taking my labours from me, and removing the fruits of theni to a distance, I have laid down my only horse; and, indeed, if I had not, I should not be easily tempted to repeat my application for a frank nine miles off, the

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nearest

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nearest Member of Parliament and Magistrate we have. He is quite altered since he has understood. that (as he is a Dissenter) he must answer, as he calls them, a parcel of impertinent questions, that any Parson chooses to put to him; he talked about my being a spy, and suspected the frank was merely an excuse to get into his house; and instead of an invitation, as formerly, to dinner, I was glad to get away as fast as I could. In great haste to save the post, your devoted,

Feb. 28, 1812.

EPITAPH ON FRIENDSHIP,

CLERICUS.

WHO WAS LATELY INTERRED IN THE CHAPEL ROYAL BY SPECIAL FAVOUR.

[From the Morning Chronicle, March 5.]

HERE Friendship lies; whose life pursu'd
A vain attempt at doing good;

Like others form'd of earthly mould,
She died, when grown extremely old.
Some former lethargies she 'd stood,
When people thought her gone for good;
But now she's dead, and none presume
To write "Resurgam" on her tomb!
Some people say, who us'd to hate her,
She was beheaded as a traitor ;
And there's some ground for the report,
For she has dar'd speak truth at Court.
Some say, an Ingrate Son's unkindness,
She'd nurs'd with all a Mother's blindness,
Whom she'd from many scrapes set loose,
And willing often shar'd abuse,
With which he else alone had smarted,
At last destroy'd her broken-hearted.
But know, what gave her Death's last shove,
Was the old feud 'twixt her and Love.
(Still through life's scene this note directs it,
When enter Love, then Friendship exit.).

She

She oft had troublous inroads stay'd,
By puny boyish Cupids made.

But now when sportive years were flown,
And Love to size mature was grown;
'T was hop'd he now, with gen'rous spirit,
Would bow to Friendship's long-tried merit.
But he, though half his life was o'er,
Was loose and silly as before;

In him all youth's unbridled rage
Was blended with the fraud of age.
Onward with headlong spite he rush'd,
And poor old Friendship wholly crush'd.

ON THE DEBATE OF TUESDAY NIGHT.
[From the same.]

OPPOSITION, through Brougham, have repeated their

scorn

Of the Orders in Council and Licenses' sway; While Ministers show us a Rose (without thorn!) To perfume Corruption, and stop their decay : Say, which shall the Nation in preference keep,

The Rose that would sweeten, or Broom that would sweep?

AUDITOR.

O! may he shun St. Stephen's fate,
And spare his prosey breath,
Lest, in a furious rage, the House
Stone Mr. Ste- to death.

TO FREDERICK REYNOLDS, ESQ
[From the same.]

SOME Virgins will to darkness run,
Yours is a "Virgin of the Sun;"
Though your bright Maid, the Critics cry,
Is but a Virgin"in your eye;"
But be this sober truth, or fun,
Pray have no Virgin-with a Son.

AMICUS.

PASQUINADE CIRCULATED IN DUBLIN,

ON THE DUKE. OF RICHMOND HAVING RECENTLY KNIGHT ED MR. CLARKE, AN APOTHECARY, AND MR. MORGAN, A YOUNG MEDICAL ATTENDANT IN THE FAMILY OF THE MARQUIS OF ABERCORN.

[From the General Evening Post, March 5.]

FORTUNE's not merely blind, but was blind in the dark,
When she knighted such Galens as Morgan and Clarke;
She'd have giv'n, if possess'd of the visual organ,
The Pestle to Clarke, and the Mortar to Morgan !

MR. EDITOR,

ECONOMY.

[From the same, March 7.]

THERE seems to be one point on which men of all parties are agreed, viz. the necessity of economy in our public expenditure; and, although I might congratulate the Public on so remarkable a circumstance as that men of all parties agree upon one point,

yet

yet my joy is considerably damped when I find that they agree in nothing but the simple proposition; and that, when they attempt to carry it into practice, men of all parties agree no longer. But for this, Sir, with what pleasure should I listen to the representations that are daily made about the pressure of the times, the vast sums raised from an impoverished and industrious people, the number of failures, bankruptcies, beggaries, &c. because such feeling and eloquent harangues must inevitably tend to the conclusion that economy is indispensable; yet, when we arrive at the end of a string of such speeches, we do not find that economy depends on eloquence, or that we are saving our money when we are spending our breath.

How comes it that men of all parties, when in power, have found it so difficult to carry into effect their own schemes of economy? This question is worth asking, at a time when it, I am afraid, wilk make little difference whether the present Ministers continue, or a new set succeed them. Yet who is to answer this question? Presumptuous as it may seem I have a great mind to try my hand at an answer, and I trust to your impartiality to admit it, and to the good-humour of your readers to bear with it.

I really then am of opinion, Sir, that one principal reason why we make such slow progress in public economy is, that we practise so little of the private kind. Some writers, I am aware, affect to make a wonderful distinction between public and private character, as things nowise connected; and do not, therefore, scruple to tell us, that a private spendthrift may make a good public economist; and they have carried this comfortable doctrine so far as to hold out a private tyrant for a man of public benevolence, and a private swindler for a right honest patriot. But owing, perhaps, to some imperfection in my mentaľ optics, I cannot see this wide distinction between

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public