you will greatly oblige many of your readers, particularly your admirer,

M. CAREFUL.

'There is fuch an air of goodness in Mrs. Careful's letter, and I confider her morning's employment as of so very important a kind, that I would do much to afford her relief; but really that branch of our family of which the complains is fo numerous, and fo difficult to deal with, that I am afraid the attempts of any individual for their better regulation or difpofal would be fruitlefs. With regard to our fex, fome benevolent young gentlemen have already tried feveral projects fimilar to that fuggefted by Mrs. Careful, but apparently without fuccefs. They fet afoot a cock-pit to give play to our minds, and in the froft, a drag-hunt to give exercise to our bodies but the only effect thofe paftimes produced, was to furnish additional subjects for the idle to talk of, and to plague the bufy with hearing them.

The fet of people of whom my correfpondent complains, are a fort of vagrants, or sturdy beggars, whom, like others of the tribe, idlenefs fets afloat, to the difquiet of the industrious part of the community, and whom it should be

a matter

a matter of public police not to suffer to moleft our houses. A short clause in the new bill for the improvement of Edinburgh, might provide a work-house for thofe fashionable mumpers, who fo importunately folicit a fhare of our time and attention, and whom unluckily, as Mrs. Careful obferves, those doors only can shut out whose owners would suffer least from their getting in. None but people of a certain rank can always prevent those unwelcome vifitors from " beftow"ing (as Dogberry in the play fays) all their te"dioufnefs upon their honours."

Such an inftitution as I hint at would be of great ufe both to the community and to the objects of it, who might be affembled in the different wards, as in the Spin-house of Amfterdam, each employed in the occupation most congenial to their former manner of living. For young Ladies Poupées might be provided, on which to practise the invention of caps, the fuiting of ribbands, the pofition and fize of curls, and the grouping of feathers. Ladies a little more advanced might be employed in the working up of Novels, or the weaving of Rebuses and Enigmas. At a still maturer age, they could be employed in making matches; and at the inner end of that ward, there might be a close one, for the fabrication of Scandal.

The

The male Idlers might have another wing of the building, where the places of reception and employment should be analogous to the female. The fame genius that goes to the dreffing of a female figure, would fuffice for the undressing of a male one; for inventing the bushy club and whiskers, the knotted handkerchief round the neck, the powdered back, the colours for three or four under-waistcoats, the fhort bludgeon,. and the hanging boot. Certain Magazines and Novels, with the Sportsman's Kalendar, might fupply the literary wants of the fecond clafs ; Hazard and Pharo might employ the third; and Politics would be the natural occupation of the fourth. For Ladies like Mrs. Qualm, mentioned in Mrs. Careful's letter, and for gentlemen of fimilar temperaments, a fick-ward must be provided, where the nervous, the rheumatic, and the bilious, might find names and confolation -for their disorders. But as their chief comfort arifes from having patient lifteners to their complaints, I would propose their being accommodated with attendants from the Academy for the deaf and dumb.

As to what the players call the property of the House, several articles would ferve indifcriminately for both divifions. Snuff-boxes, tooth-picks, and mirrors, would be of equal use in both; lap-dogs might be diftributed in, one,.

pointers

pointers and spaniels in the other; the crack of fans might enliven the female, and that of whips. the male ward. At battledore and fhuttlecock 'they might meet, like the two houses of Parliament in the Painted Chamber, and make a noise in conjunction. Tea would of course be furnifhed to the Ladies, and wine to the Gentle

men.

Such an inftitution would ferve both as an hospital and a school;-both as a place of retreat for paft fervices, and of instruction for services to come. Here, from the lower orders, great men might find cork-drawers, butts, and hearers; great ladies might procure humble companions, tea-makers, and tale-bearers. If from the higher ranks any one should chuse a wife or a husband, they would at least have the advantage of chufing them under their real and undisguised characters, and, like dealers at open market, would know their bargain before they purchased

it.

V

I

N° 9. SATURDAY, April 2, 1785.

To the AUTHOR of the Lounger.

SIR,

AM the defcendant of an ancient and refpectable family. The eftate which I inherit was once reckoned a good one; but it has, comparatively, funk much in its value by the late inundation of fortunes from the East and Weft Indies. My father beftowed upon me the best education which this country could afford; and it was his plan, after I had finished my ftudies at the Univerfity, and had arrived at that age when I could fee and judge for myself, that I should make the Tour of Europe. The period deftined for this purpose approached, and I was taking meafures to prepare for it. Almost the only difagreeable feeling I had in leaving my native country for a few years, was the taking leave of a young Lady for whom I had formed the most fincere and warm attachment, Afpafia was beautiful in her person, and not less lovely in her mind. Endowed with the most tender fenfibility, fhe poffeffed at the fame time a purity and an ingenuoufness of character, which

to