cannot, at this laft place, infure your houfe from fire, or a fhip from the dangers of the feas, or the French, you may get largely underwrit on lives, and infure your own against that of your mother or grandmother for any fum whatfoever. There are thofe who deal as greatly in this practice of putting one life against another as any underwriter in the city of London: and, indeed, the end of infuring is lefs anfwered by the latter than the former; for the prudent citizen will not fet his name to any policy, where the perfon to be infured is not in perfect health; while the merchants at St. James's, who infure by means of bets inftead of policies, will pay you any fum whatfoever, if a man dies that is run through the body, fhot through the head, or has tumbled off his chair in an apoplexy; for as there are perfons who will lay on either fide, he who wants to infure need only choofe that which answers his purpofe. And as to the dealings of thefe merchants of fashion in annuities upon lives, we often hear that one fells his whole eftate, for his life, to another; and there is no other form of conveyance ufed between the buyer and feller, than by fhuffling a pack of cards, or throwing a pair of dice: but I cannot look upon this fort of traffic in any other light than that, when a condemned felon fells his own body to a furgeon to be anatomifed.

After all, there is no branch of trade that is ufually extended fo far, and has fuch a variety in it, as gaming; whether we confider it as carried on by cards, dice, horfe-racing, pitting, betting, &c. &c. &c. Thefe merchants deal in very various commodities, and do not feem to be very anxious in general about any difference in value, when they are striking a bargain: for, though fome expect ready money for ready money when they play, as they would blood for blood in a duel, many, very many, part with their ready money to thofe who deal upon truft, nay oftentimes to thofe who are known to be incapable of paying. Sometimes I have feen a gentleman bet his gold with a Indy who has ear-rings, bracelets, and

diamonds to answer her ftake: but e much oftener feen a lady play

against a roll of guineas, with nothing but her virtue to part with to preserve her honour if the loft. The markets, in which the multiplicity of bufinefs of this kind is tranfacted, are very many, and are chiefly appropriated to that end and no other, fuch as routs, affemblies, Arthur's, New-market, and the courfes in every county. Where these merchants trade in ready money only, or in bank-notes, I confider them as bankers of quality; where, in ready money against truft, and notes of hand of perfons that are but little able to pay, they must be broken merchants and whoever plays with money against a lady's jewels, fhould, in my mind, hang out the Three Blue Balls in a private alley; and the lady who takes her vira tue for gold, fhould take the house of a late venerable matron in the Piazza, to carry on her trade in that place.

But it is with pleasure I fee our merchants of quality neglecting several branches of trade that have been carried on with fuccefs, and in which great fortunes have been raised in former times by fome of their ancestors. What immenfe fums have, we know, been got by fome great men in the fmuggling trade! And we have heard of large profits being made by the fale of commiffions in the army and navy; by procuring places and penfions; and vaft fums received for quartering a lord's fifter, nephew, or natural fon on any one who holds a profitable poft under the government. Smuggling, furely, fhould be left to our good friends on the fhores of Kent and Suffex; and I think, he who fells commiffions in the navy or army, the free-gifts of the prince, fhould fuffer like a deferter, or be keel-hauled to death under a firft-rate man of war; and he who, like a Turkish vizier, levies contributions on those who hold pofts and places under his mafter, fhould, like him, be fqueezed in his turn, till the fpunge is dry, and then bow-ftringed for the good of the people.

I am your humble fervant, Sc.
B. Thornton.

$139. On Pedantry.

Sir, To difplay the leaft fymptom of learning,

learning, or to feem to know more than your footman, is become an offence against the rules of politenefs, and is branded with the name of pedantry and ill-breeding. The very found of a Roman or a Grecian name, or a hard name, as the ladies call it, though their own perhaps are harder by half, is enough to difconcert the temper of a dozen counteffes, and to ftrike a whole affembly of fine gentlemen dumb with

amazement.

This fqueamishnefs of theirs is owing to their averfion to pedantry, which, they understand to be a fort of muftinefs that can only be contracted in a reclufe and a ftudious life, and a foible peculiar to men of letters. But if a ftrong attachment to a particular fubject, a total ignorance of every other, an eagerness to introduce that fubject upon all occafions, and a confirmed habit of declaiming upon it without either wit or dif cretion, be the marks of a pedantic character, as they certainly are, it belongs to the illiterate as well as the learned; and St. James's itself may boaft of producing as arrant pedants as were ever fent forth from a college.

I know a woman of fashion who is perpetually employed in remarks upon the weather, who obferves from morning to noon that it is likely to rain, and from noon to night that it fpits, that it mifles, that it is fet in for a wet evening; and, being incapable of any other difcourfe, is as infipid a companion, and just as pedantic, as he who quotes Ariftotle over his tea, or talks Greek at a card-table.

A gentleman of my acquaintance is a conftant attendant upon parliamentary bufinefs, and I have heard him entertain a large circle, by the hour, with the fpeeches that were made in a debate upon mum and perry. He has a wonderful memory, and a kind of oratorical tune in his elocution, that ferves him instead of an emphafis. By thofe means he has acquired the reputation of having a deal to fay for himfelf; but as it confifts entirely of what others have faid for themfelves before him; and if he should be deaf during the feffions, he would certainly be dumb in

the intervals, I muft needs fet him down for a pedant.

But the most troublesome as well as most dangerous character of this fort that I am fo unhappy as to be connected with, is a stripling, who spends his whole life in a fencing-fchool. This athletic young pedant is, indeed, a moft formidable creature; his whole converfation lies in Quart and Tierce; if you meet him in the street, he salutes you in the gymnaftic manner, throws himself back upon his left hip, levels his cane at the pit of your ftomach, and looks as fierce as a prize-fighter. In the midst of a difcourfe upon politics, he starts from the table on a fudden, and fplits himself into a monstrous longe against the wainscot; immediately he puts a foil into your hand, infifts upon teaching you his murthering thruft, and if, in the course of his inftructions, he pushes out an eye or a fore-tooth, he tells you, that you flapp'd your point, or dropp'd your wrist, and imputes all the mifchief to the awkwardness of his pupil.

The mufical pedant, who, inftead of attending to the difcourfe, diverts himfelf with humming an air, or, if he fpeaks, expreffes himself in the language of the orchestra; the Newmarket pedant, who has no knowledge but what he gathers upon the turf; the female pedant, who is an adept in nothing but the patterns of filks and flounces; and the coffee-houfe pedant, whofe whole erudition lies within the margin of a news-paper, are nuifances fo extremely common, that it is almoft unneceffary to mention them. Yet, pedants as they are, they shelter themselves under the fashionableness of their foible, and, with all the properties of the character, generally escape the imputation of it. In my opinion, however, they deferve our cenfure more than the mere eft book-worm imaginable. The man of letters is ufually confined to his ftudy, and having but little pleasure in converfing with men of the world, does not often intrude himself into their company: these unlearned pedants, on the contrary, are to be met with every where; they have nothing to do but to

Fun

rün about and be troublefome, and are univerfally the bane of agreeable converfation. I am, Sir, &c.

B. Thornton.

§ 140. A Sunday in the Country. Sir, Aug. 8, 1761. As life is fo fhort, you will agree with me, that we cannot afford to lose any of that precious time, every moment of which fhould be employed in fuch gratifications as are fuitable to our ftations and difpofitions. For this reafon we cannot but lament, that the year fhould be curtailed of almoft a feventh part, and that, out of three hundred and fixty-five days, fifty-two of them fhould be allotted, with refpect to many perfons, to dullness and infipidity. You will eafily conceive, that, by what I have faid, I allude to that enemy to all mirth and gaiety, Sunday, whofe impertinent intrufion puts a check on our amufements, and cafts a gloom over our cheerful thoughts. Perfons, indeed, of high fashion regard it no more than the other part of the week, and would no more be reftrained from their pleasures on this day, than they would keep faft on a fast-day; but others, who have the fame taste and fpirit, though less fortunes, are constrained, in order to fave appearances, to debar themselves of every amusement except that of going to church, which they can only enjoy in common with the vulgar. The vulgar, it is true, have the happy privilege of converting this holy-day into a day of extraordinary Feftivity; and the mechanic is allowed to get drunk on this day, if on no other, because he has nothing elfe to do. It is true, that the citizen on this day gets loofe from his counter, to which he had been faftened all the rest of the week like a bad fhilling, and riots in the luxuries of Iflington or Mile-end. But what fhall be faid of thofe who have no bufinefs to follow but the bent of their inclinations? on whofe hands, indeed, all the days of their life would hang as heavy as Sundays, if they were not enlivened by the dear variety of amufements and diverfions. How can a woman of any spirit pafs her time on this difmal day, when the playhouses,

and Vauxhall, and Ranelagh, are shut, and no places of public meeting are opened, but the churches? I talk not of those in higher life, who are fo much above the world, that they are out of the reach of its cenfures; I mean those who are confined in a narrower sphere, fo as to be obliged to pay fome regard to reputation. But if people in town have reafon to complain of this weekly bar put upon their pleasures, how unhappy muft they be who are immured in the old manfion-houfe in the country, and cloistered up (as it were) in a nunnery? This is my hard cafe: my aunt, who is a woman of the last age, took me down with her this fummer to her houfe in Northamptonshire; nor fhall I be released from my prison till the time of the coronation, which will be as joyful to me as the act of grace to an infolvent debtor. My time, however, is spent agreeably enough, as far as any thing can be agreeable in the country, as we live in a good neighbourhood, fee a good deal of company, pay a good many vifits, and are near enough Aftrop-Wells for me to play at cards at all the public breakfastings, and to dance at the affemblies. But, as I told you, my aunt is an old-fashioned lady, and has got queer notions of I know not what. I dread nothing fo much as the coming round of Sunday, which is fure to prove, to me at least, a day of penance and mortification. In the morning we are dragged, in the old family-coach, to the parish-church, not a ftone's throw off the house, for grandeur-fake; and, though I dress me ever fo gay, the ignorant bumkins take no more notice of me than they do of my aunt, who is muffled up to her chin. At dinner we never fee a creature but the parfon, who never fails coming for his customary fee of roaftbeef and plum-pudding; in the afternoon the fame dull work of churchgoing is repeated; and the evening is as melancholy as it is to a criminal who is to be executed the next morning. When 1 firft came down, I propofed playing a game at whift, and invited the doctor to make a fourth; but my aunt looked upon the very mention of it as an abomination. I thought there

could

could be no harm in a little innocent mufic; and therefore, one morning, while fhe was getting ready for church, I began to tune my guittar, the found of which quickly brought her down ftairs, and the vowed fhe would break it all to pieces, if I was fo wicked as to touch it; though I offered to compromife the matter with her, by playing nothing but pfalm-tunes to pleafe her. I hate reading any thing, but efpecially good books, as my aunt calls them, which are dull at any time, but much duller on a Sunday; yet my aunt wonders I will not employ myfelf, when I have nothing to do, in reading Nelfon on the Feasts and Fafts, or a chapter in the Bible. You must know that the day I write this on is Sunday; and it happens to be fo very rainy, that my aunt is afraid to venture herfelf in the damp church, for fear of increafing her rheumatism; fhe has therefore put on her fpectacles, ordered the great familybible into the hall, and is going to read prayers herfelf to the fervants. I excufed myself from being prefent, by pretending an head-ach, and ftole into my closet in order to divert myfelf in writing to you. How I fhall be able to go through the reft of the day, I know not; as the rain, I believe, will not fuffer us to ftir out, and we fhall fit moping and yawning at one another, and looking ftupidly at the rain out of the Gothic window in the little parlour, like the clean and unclean beats in Noah's ark. It is faid, that the gloomy weather in November induces Englishmen commonly to make away with themfelves; and, indeed, confidering the weather, and all together, I believe I fhall be tempted to drown myfelf at once in the pond before the door, or fairly tuck myfelf up in my own garters.

I am your very humble fervant,
DOROTHY THURSDAY.
B. Thornton.

$141. On the Militia. Sir, Aug. 9, 1761. The weather here in England is as unfettled and variable as the tempers of the people; nor can you judge, from the appearance of the fky, whether it

will rain or hold up for a moment together, any more than you can tell by the face of a man, whether he will lour in a frown, or clear up in a fmile. An unexpected fhower has obliged me to turn into the firft inn; and I think I may e'en as well pass my time in writing for your paper, efpecially as I have nothing elfe to do, having examined all the prints in the room, read over all the rhymes, and admired all the Dear Miffes and Charming Miffes on the window-panes.

As I had the honour to pay my fhilling at the ordinary in this town with fome of the officers of the militia, I am enabled to fend you a few thoughts on that fubject. With refpect to the common men, it will be fufficient to obferve, that in many military practices, no body of regulars can poffibly exceed them. Their prowefs in marauding is unquestionable; as they are fure to take prifoners whatever ftragglers they meet with on their march, fuch as geefe, turkies, chickens, &c. and have been often known to make a perfect defart of a farmer's yard. By the bye, it is poffibly on this account, that a turkey bears fo great an antipathy to the colour of red. Thefe fellows are, indeed, fo intrepid, that they will attack any convoy of provifions that falls in their way; and my landlord affures me, that as foon as they come into a town, they immediately lay clofe fiege to the pantry and kitchen, which they commonly take by ftorm, and never give any quarter; as alfo, that they are excellent miners, in working their way into the cellar.

I little imagined that I fhould have met with my old univerfity acquaintance Jack Five Bar in this part of the country, as I could not but think we had been at least two hundred miles afunder. Indeed I did not know him at his firft accofting me, as he approached flowly to me with a diftantly-familiar air, and a fliding bow forward, and a "Sir, your mot humble fervant," inftead of fpringing upon me like a greyhound, and clapping me on the fhoulder like a bailiff, fqueezing my four fingers in his rough palm, like a nut-cracker, and then whirling my

arm to and fro, like the handle of a great pump, with a blunt "How doft do? I am glad to fee thee"-and an hearty Damme at the beginning and end of it. Jack, you must know, by being a militia captain is become a fine gentleman; fo fine a one, indeed, that he affects to defpife what he never knew, and asked me, if I had not, as well as himself, forgot all my Greek.

It is true, that my friend Jack (I beg his honour's pardon, I fhould fay captain) has had the advantage of an Oxford education; and therefore it is not wonderful, that he has been worked, kneaded, moulded, fine-drawn, and polished into a better kind of pipe-makers clay than the clods of which fome of his brother officers were compofed. Yet thefe, I found, had in fomie meafure caft their flough, and put on the martial gentility with the drefs: fuch are the furprising effects of a red coat, that it immediately dubs a man a gentleman; as, for inftance, every private man in his majesty's foot-guards is dignified with the title of gentlemanfoldier.

To the honour of the militia be it fpoken, their officers have made noble advances in the military arts, and are become as great proficients in them as any of the regulars; I mean thofe arts particularly, which will render them an ornament to their country in the time of peace. First then, with respect to drefs and politenefs of behaviour. The red coat, the cockade, the shoulderknot, and the fword, have metamor. phofed our plain country 'fquires into as arrant beaus as any on the parade. The fhort jerkin, ftriped waistcoat, leather breeches, and livery of the hunt, are exchanged for an elegant laced uniform; the bob-wig has fprouted to a queue; the boots are caft off for filk tockings and turned pumps; and the long whip has given place to a goldhilted fword, with a flaming fwordknot. They have reconciled them felves to ruffles, and can make a bow, and come into a room with a good grace. With thefe accomplishments, our bumkins have been enabled to fhine at country affemblies; though it must be confeffed that thefe grown gentlemen

stand fomewhat in need of Mr. Duke's inftructions. Some of them have alfo carried their politenefs fo far as to decide a point of honour with their words; and at the laft town I paffed through, I was told, there had been a duel between a militia officer and the furgeon of the place, when the former being pricked in the fword-arm, his antagonist direaly pulled out his falve-box, and kindly dreffed the wound upon the field of battle.

Another neceffary qualification of a foldier is, curfing and fwearing; in which exercife, I affure you, our mili tia gentry are very expert. It is true, they had had fome practice in it before they left their native fields, but were not difciplined in difcharging their oaths with right military grace. A common fellow may fwear indeed like a trooper, as any one may let off a gun, or push with a sword; but to do it with a good air, is to be learned only in a camp. This practice, I fuppofe, was introduced among our regiments, and tolerated by the chaplains, that it might familiarize them to the moft fhocking circumftances: for, after they have intrepidly damned one another's eyes, limbs, blood, bodies, fouls, and.even their own, they muft certainly be fearlefs of any harm that can happen to them.

Drinking is another abfolute requifite in the character of a good officer; and in this our militia are not at all deficient. Indeed they are kept to fuch conftant duty in this exercife, that they cannot fail of being very expert at it. No ve- . terans in the fervice can charge their glaffes in better order, or discharge them more regularly at the word of command. By the way, this is the only duty that is expected from the chaplain; and he is commonly as ready to perform it as any of the corps.

Intrigue is as effential to a foldier as his regimentals; you will therefore imagine the militia do not fall short of the regulars in this military accomplish-. ment. Every woman is regarded by them as lawful plunder; fome they beficge by fecret fap and undermining, and fome they take by affault. It has been frequently a practice in the most

civilized