dexterous enough at the awl and needle, but could not mend the government.

Perhaps even the patriotifm of individuals among the ancients has got more than its due fhare of praise; and upon a fair estimate it might be found, that the moderns could produce equal, if not fuperior examples of the fame heroic virtue. What is there, for instance, fo remarkable in the boafted example of Themistocles and Ariftides? They were bitter enemies, but forgot their quarrels when their country was in danger, and joined their interests to prevent its falling a prey to the Perfians: fo our modern ftatefmen, who the one day declare the most rooted abhorrence and deteftation of each other, both in their public and private characters, the next day shake hands for the good of their country, agree in every meafure, and profefs for each other the moft fincere efteem and veneration. Decius, it is true, devoted himself for his country, and, by facrificing his own life, won a great victory over the enemies of Rome: but our commanders go much farther; for they devote whole armies, from a pure spirit of patriotifm. In fhort, it may be confidently afferted, that all those bright examples we read of in ancient ftory, may find their parallels in a modern.

news-paper.

And

And now, Sir, that I have mentioned a newspaper, allow me to obferve, that those brief chronicles of the times afford every day numberless proofs of the fuperiority of the moderns to the ancients, in many of the moft ufeful arts and fciences. In that most noble of all arts, the art of healing, fo great is the perfection to which the moderns have attained, that one of your predeceffors has very juftly expreffed his astonishment at reading in the bills of mortality the great number of people who chufe to die of fuch and fuch diftempers, for every one of which there are infallible and fpecific cures. To be fure, there is no helping the folly of some people, who will persist in refusing a cure till they are in a manner in articulo mortis (in the laft agony); but it is to be hoped we shall hear no more of fuch determined fuicide, when we read, that some of thofe modern Efculapiufes choose only such patients as are precisely in the fituation of incurables, to be the subjects of their` practice. One of thofe excellent physicians profeffes, in his advertisements, that he wishes none (his words are ftrongly exclufive) to apply to him, but such as have been deemed incurable, or made fuch by the faculty; thereby encouraging the difeafed of all kinds firft to take every poffible means to render themselves incurable, that they may thus be qualified for being perfectly cured by him.

Somewhat

Somewhat analogous to the fcience of medicine, is the art of repairing the human figure. And here, Sir, the pre-eminence of the moderns is equally diftinguifhed. In this most useful art, the fkill of the ancients went no farther than to give a little exterior embellishment to the countenance. They knew nothing of that creative power which extends to the making of limbs and organs as well as features. The parchmentcalves, the cork-rump, and bolfter'd fpring boddice; the making of glafs-eyes, and the transplantation of teeth, are all inventions abfolutely modern. And fince we know for certain, that mechanifm is now fo perfected, that a wooden man can be made to perform a solo on the violin, play a game at chefs, walk, and even utter articulate founds; I fee no reafon to doubt, that in process of time we may have artificial men currently walking the ftreets, performing all the functions of life, and discharging their duty in fociety juft as well, and more peaceably than the real ones. When the art of making automatons has attained to this perfection, which we may reasonably hope will happen in a very few years, we may congratulate ourselves on the very great political benefits which muft arife from this admirable invention. As there is no doubt that the merits of this clafs of men will entitle them to the highest promotions, it is then we may expect every department of the ftate to

be

be fupplied by a set of upright and inflexible magistrates: the great machine of government will be most ably conducted: judges will adminifter justice with the moft rigid impartiality; and (what is the great defideratum of the present age) a wooden king may fit at the helm of affairs, who will support the dignity of the crown with no expence to the nation, and relieve them at the fame time of all their anxious fears about the extenfion of his prerogative.

I could eafily, Sir, draw out this estimate to a much greater length; but believing I have already faid enough to produce a thorough conviction of the truth of my propofition, I fubfcribe myself, with great refpect, yours,

PAUL PASQUIN.

N° 20. SATURDAY, June 18, 1785.

Decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile.

HOR.

NO fpecies of compofition is more generally read by one class of readers, or more undervalued by another, than that of the Novel. Its favourable reception from the young and the indolent, to whom the exercise of imagination is delightful, and the labour of thought is irksome, needs not be wondered at; but the contempt which it meets from the more refpectable clafs of literary men, it may perhaps be entitled to plead that it does not deferve. Confidered in the abftract, as containing an inte resting relation of events, illustrative of the manners and characters of mankind, it surely merits a higher ftation in the world of letters than is generally affigned it. If it has not the dignity, it has at least most of the difficulties, of the Epic or the Drama. The conduct of its fable, the fupport of its characters, the contrivance of its incidents, and its developement of the passions, require a degree of invention, judgment, taste, and feeling, not much, if at all, inferior to those higher departments of writing, for the compofition of which a very uncommon portion of