as you? Aye Mr. Pinch, replied he, I fay you have fcandalously imposed on me, and hang me,

if I will bear your ill usage. Then hang me, "faid Pinch, but you shall bear a great deal " more before I have done with you. What, shall "such a fellow as you pretend to talk to me? "You who are the offspring of a chimney-fwee

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per and a cynder-wench, begot on a dunghill, "and littered in a hog-ftye. Did I not take you "Sirrah, from a garret in Hockly in the Hole, na"ked as you came into the world, where you " fubfifted on sheep's liver, which you got for "writing ballads, bloody murders, and wretch"ed conundrums, which you bawled out your" felf in the dusk of the evening at the corner of

every lane and alley? Did I not bring you in" to genteel company, rascal, by recommending "you to write bell-men's verses, lamp-lighters "new-year gifts, terrible battles, fea fights and "dying speeches; by which means you picked " up cash enough to purchase a suit of eloaths in "Monmouth-ftreet, and a perriwig in Middle-row;

to hire a room in Black-Friars, and to dine " with gentlemen in a cellar on the best for three" pence a day? Did I not, to cultivate your genius, lend you Rochester's poems, Gildon's Art of Poetry, Haywood's Novels, the Pilgrim's Progress;

nay, truft you with a large collection of old "Plays, by the help of which you were enabled " to write Songs for Sadler's-Wells, Drolls for Bar"tholomew-Fair, and Prologues and Epilogues for "Charity-Benefits? These performances introdu"ced you into polite life; and now because you " have strutted at the Bedford, scraped acquain"tance with two or three under actors, and got " a second floor in Covent-Garden, you fly in my "face. But by Jove I will reduce you to your " original state, before I have done. I'll work "you, you ungrateful rascal, till you are as rag"ged as OTWAY's Hag, and obliged to lame and " blind beggars for your dinner: or neceffitated " to fubfift on sausages made with the flesh of "some of your gibbetted brethren, thrown away " by the surgeon; and when your feeding is "lower'd, you'll write better. You are pamper'd, " lazy and luxurious now, but I warrant when

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you are half starved you won't be at a loss for "a Simile. Your invention will then be as keen " as your appetite. A sharp-fet author scribbles "like a devil." - Here Blot could not help checking Mr. Pinch in the midst of his career."Why, why, faid he, do you treat me, fir, in " this abusive manner? what have I done to ex

tort fuch Billingsgate language from you? But I

66

mall

1

is,

"shall be even with you - I shall make some
" discoveries to the world, which will not be agree,
"able to you.- What do you think of those let
"ters, written by Dr. Libel, which you design-
"ed to print for original ones by the late lord;
" and that paltry collection of poems, which you
" intend to publish as foon as the earl of
"dead, with a preface, to make the town believe
"they were composed by his lordship. - Not to
" mention the old novel which you reprinted with.
" a new title, and new names, the posthumous
"works of Charles Sock, Esq; which were.
"cook'd up for you by Tom Stravelling for half a
"crown; and the volume of maxims, which
"the same Gentleman stole from the writings of
"TEMPLE, DENNIS, GORDON, and several
"other essayifts. - Come, come, Sir, I shall blow

you, if you won't be quiet." -By this refolute speech of Mr. Blot's his paffionate Antagonist was greatly disconcerted: it affected him indeed so much, that he immediately lost all his leonine ferocity, and made the following reply to it with the ferenity of a quaker: "Well, well, "Mr. Blet, I own I have been to blame-I am

apt to be hafty sometimes you must make al, "lowances. If you will dine with me to-morrow, you shall have your copy-money-But say no

"mora

more about this affair, Mr. Blot, we must not "betray each other." -S'death, cried Blot, did " not you begin first? I am fure I have had plague " enough: but you are mistaken, Mr. Pinch, " if you think I can make a Simile whenever I' " please."" Well, well, my good Friend, faid Pinch then take your own time, and make one "when you can but pray confider, that if you " are not foon in a cue for Similies, the season " will be over." At the close of this Speech he advanced to the door, with so much rapidity, that I was under a neceffity of making a precipitate retreat from my peeping-place.

NUMB. IX. Saturday, May 8, 1756.
Who, who would live-just to breathe
This idle air, and indolently run
Day after day the still-returning round
Of life's mean offices, and fickly joys?
But in the service of mankind to be
A guardian God below; still to employ..
The mind's brave ardor in heroic aims,
Such as may raise us d'er the groveling Herd,
And make us shine for ever, that is life.

THOMSON'S Sopohnisba.

HAVE often observed, that persons of a

IH

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addicted to meditation out of doors, as well as within, usually carry their profound contemplations with them from the closet to the street. There amidst the busy hum of men, the rattling of wheels, and the smacking of whips, these serene beings, abstracted from every occurrence around them, rivet their unmoving eyes upon the pavement, and seem to be rather poring after old iron, crooked pins, or the philosopher's stone, than reflecting on the business which summons them abroad. People of this cast are, I apprehend, sectaries of that class of geniusses, who were known to the ancients by the name of Περιπατή.. τίχοι, or peripateticks. I have the honour to be one of this order, and have more than once, by a constant attention to the objects beneath my feet, discovered something of value, which by reason of its humble situation had escaped the notice of those who gaze aloft on high-raised signsy and cloud-cap't steeples: though I muft own, that studies of this fort are not to be pursued with safety in the streets of London; for it requires a very quick and penetrating eye to avoid the collision of passing and repaffing bodies, and to remove expeditiously from the threaten'd shock of porters, chairs, and wheel-barrows. I have fuf