siness which, though subject to the greatest abuse, requires more attention than almost any other. I find the city of London very dull; it however improves upon me. My acquaintance is but thin as yet of that number however is one, as an acquaintance only; for I do not by any means look on him in the light of a friend. I agree with you that he is a complete buck, and with your permission a true coffeehouse lounger.

"I generally go to the theatre once or twice a week at half-price. I have therefore an opportunity of seeing most of the new farces, and some of the new plays, which (though I do not pretend to the talent of criticism) I think are for the most part very bad.

"I have been once or twice to the disputing clubs, where I have met with two or three good speakers. I suppose James furnishes you with Bristol news. I think his situation there a very comfortable one;

indeed I have no reason to complain of my

own.

"I begin to enter by degrees into the spirit of my business, and though I meet with a great deal of what Shakespeare calls the insolence of office, I console myself with the reflection, that it is impossible to arrive at knowledge in any profession, without being in some measure a slave to it. The office I am in abounds with business, sufficient to keep ten of us constantly employed."

"Friday, September.

"In spite of the mutual promises we made, our correspondence has already begun to droop. I believe I can explain this matter Better than you. By a letter of yours to (whom I saw on Sunday last), I understand you were in daily expectation of receiving an answer to your last, which I was surprised to find you had not; as I not only wrote you a very long one, but

put it myself into the hands of the postman who comes round. I shall now proceed without any ceremony, to acquaint you with all the news I know. I expect Jim in town every day; he is going to spend some time with a gentleman at Kingston. I have some thoughts of returning with him to Bristol. I assure you I must admire the old thesis of dulce est desipere in loco, and hope to unbend my bow very soon, and to keep him very loose great part of this present long vacation. Pray, how do you go on with regard to clerk's fees? We have very few. I am at present laid up with a slight fever and sore throat, or else perhaps you would have had an intelligible and legible letter; it arises from a cold, and serò medicina paratur cum mala per longas invaluere moras. I have not much considered since I left school, but I must now lay down my pen to take a dose -of what? faith, I know no better than you; suffice it to say, it is a dose of apothecary's

C.

stuff. To proceed, pray do you hold any communication at present with Homer and Virgil? I assure you I often regret that I have no time to improve the little knowledge that I already have of those authors; for, as to the rest, I look upon them merely as understrappers; or, to give you a home simile, they are no more to be compared to Homer or Virgil (Horace excepted), than a poor attorney's clerk is to the lord high chancellor of Great Britain. My head begins to swim; indeed, from my letter, I am afraid you will think it was rather light when I began. As this is the case, I shall conclude with my old friend's adage, sit mihi mens sana in corpore sano."

From these extracts it might be suspected that the writer already directed his thoughts to the stage. In the tone of his strictures he evidently discovers something of the spirit of the author by anticipation, who is roused to exertion by the

perception of errors he hopes to avoid, or provoked to competition by the feeble though successful efforts he expects to surpass. Our poet, like many juvenile students, appears to have been almost an exclusionist in his literary predilections; and whilst he cherished Pope and Dryden with ardour, he was but little sensible to the beauties of Thomson and Cowper. In comedy his beau ideal was formed on Sheridan and Congreve: in riper years, although he continued to admire those great masters, he reserved his profounder homage for Shakespeare and Nature. Nor was it only on literary subjects that he learned to distrust the accuracy of his first impressions; he ceased to anticipate with complacency his future advancement in a profession in which he discovered nothing to satisfy the mind or interest the heart; externally, however, he was diligent and active in the details of business; he regularly attended the courts, but his spirit went not