and what noble leffons of morality efcaped from the mouth of this man while he was fimply defcribing to me the articles which furnished his fhop. I faw heaps of phyficians and apothecaries returning to their fhelves, and to the chambers of the fick, in the fhape of rials; nervous ladies in finelling-bottles; rich heirs blown into decanters, with their fathers ground into the unthankful capacity of ftoppers, foon laid afide; and a man whom I had formerly known, but who, for fome years before his death, had fallen into univerfal contempt for behaving ill to a young lady whom he had engaged to marry, I recognised in a piece of cut glafs. Gallileo hung up in a room, fecure from the Inquifition, and no longer an aftronomer, but a telescope; Lewenhoek, in the microfcope which had been made out of him, might have feen a thoufand animalcules in the leaft of the embryos he discovered in the milt of a cod-fifh: and I faw a parcel of boys taking fhocks and fparks out of an electrical machine, which, upon inquiry, I found to be the great Cavallo himfelf. Of politicians, fome were made into panes of ground glafs, quite impervious to the fight; others into excellent fpectacles, and moft eafily feen through; and I washed my hands in an Under Secretary of State, of whom I believe I might have still made a dirtier ufe, if I had been fo inclined. I amufed myfelf in this manner for fome hours, when I was informed that. there was one room I had not yet feen; and I had fcarcely time to inquire for it, before two folding doors opened, and fuch a blaze of light beat upon my eyes, that it was fome time before I could lift them to the object from which it- burit, which was an immenfe luftre, fufpended from the top of the room. Candles of courfe were needlefs, where the whole was phosphorus ; but the variety of the pieces, the different degrees and forts of light which they emitted, together with the art difplayed in the combination of them, produced a moft fublime sublime and transporting effect. Here the proprietor had been amusing himself with collecting fpecimens of all the great men this country ever produced, fo that this luftre might be faid to be a complete Biographia Britannica in glafs. There was one piece which might have been mistaken for a cryftal lamp, which was formerly animated by the foul of Milton; its fantástical neighbour, the phofphoric glafs of Shakespeare, fometimes vomited flames, of fire, while at other times it appeared almost extinguished. Addison burnt with a bright and beautiful light; Pope, with a flame more vivid, but hardly fo pleasant to the eye. The other poets and hiftorians were formed into the prettiest rows and circles of brilliants, and our military and naval heroes fhone with various degrees of luftre, according to their respective fhares of glory. Though the Ger man doctor will never forgive me, I muft inform you that the philofophers in general were rather dim. I was fo exceedingly delighted with this fcene, that I refolved to pass the reft of my life in the warehouse, if the proprietor would find a fituation for me in it he fmiled at my purpose. "It is fit, then," fays he, that you fhould fee me at work; and here is a new piece, which I will fet in your prefence." Upon which he pulled it out of his pocket; but it was of fuch amazing brightness, that my eyes were unable to ftand this fecond fhock; and I had but juft time to hear him pronounce the name of Howe, when I awoke, and found it was a dream." May 13. OLD SARUM: AN IMPROMPTU. FAME, blow the trumpet! T'other morn, Gave to the learned Parfon Horne H. P. Who Who fays, "I'll chatter wrong or right, That many a poor unhappy wight Shall curfe the borough of Sarum. Now I've the borough of Sarum.” THE OLD SARUM REPRESENTATIVE. QUESTION. SAYS John Horne Tooke unto the Chair, That you, Sir John, would now declare, REPLY. "The reafon unto all is clear, There are fo many preachers here, Su. Ess WHY. I ST. STEPHEN'S CHAPEL. MR. EDITOR, [From the Morning Chronicle.] AM not a politician, but I am much of a churchman, and fomewhat of an antiquary. I with our reprefentatives had not thought proper to queftion the eligibility eligibility of the clergy to fit in the Houfe of Commons. Starting queftions that have been at reft for many years, naturally drives us back-back, very far back, into antiquity, and I would fain whisper in the ears of our M. P.'s, that the farther they go, the worse they will fare. What, Sir, will they find? Neither more nor lefs than this, that St. Stephen's Chapel was confecrated to religious purpofes, as any other church or chapel, and that it can no more be unconfecrated by its own act and deed, or by the act and deed of any other perfon, than a clergyman can be unfrocked, unlefs in cafe of heinous delinquency. It is exprefsly ftated in the confecration fervice, that churches, &c. are "feparated from all profane and common ufes." Now, Sir, can you find in hiftory what crime this poor chapel was guilty of, that it fhould be depofed, and turned into a Parliament Houfe? For my part, I cannot difcover a fingle offence before it was employed in its prefent purpofes, We all know that profaning a confecrated edifice by civil ufes is a direct violation of law and one of the crimes of which we have often accufed the French is their turning their churches into drill-rooms for their foldiers, and ftables for their horfes; and yet drilling foldiers, and rubbing down horfes, are not in themfelves greater offences than making motions and amending bills. It is the place that conftitutes the crime, and why? Plainly because of confecration, which the power of the church only can give or take away, if it can be taken away, which T very much doubt. Stone and mortar are feldom guilty of thofe offences which would bring on depofition. They give no trouble to Doctors' Commons or the Court of King's Bench, and are content to refide on the spot where they were firft inducted. : I have therefore fubmitted thefe few remarks to you, rather in the way of doubts. Where hiftory is flent, 3 it it becomes us to be as little pofitive as may be: but I fhould very much with to hear a clever debate on the indelibility of churches. May 18. I am, Sir, yours, &c. GOTHICUS. MR. EDITOR, THE COFFEE-ROOM. [From the Oracle.] You must know I am in my feventieth year, and in my youth was fo particularly partial to theatrical amusements, that every new play was certain of my attendance. From the theatre I generally repaired to one of the neighbouring coffee-houses, where, in a refpectable and enlightened circle, the merits of the piece were liberally difcuffed, amendments or omiffions fuggefted, and the spirit of criticifm had free room for the exertion of its corrective powers. The laft thirty years of my life having been wholly spent in the country, you may eafily conceive my fatisfaction, when, on vifiting the metropolis a fhort time ago, with all my old propenfities as ftrong as ever, I was informed that a new comedy was to be reprefented on the very evening of my arrival. I hurried to the pit door, but, alas! too late! the houfe was full! What was to be done? To think of going to bed without fome information on the fubject was impoffible, and I at length determined to be content with an account of the performance at fecond hand; for which purpose I entered a coffee-houfe in the vicinity of the theatre, and expected the end of the play with the greatest impatience. I ordered coffee, read all the papers, wrote feveral unneceffary letters, deftroyed two or three toothpicks, and counted the tedious minutes, till at daft the clock ftruck ten, and a party of fashionable young men rushed from the theatre into the coffee room. |