consider, that the principal ingredient in the food of our principal nobility is essence of swine.

The Egyptians, who were a wise nation, thought so much depended upon diet, that they dieted their kings, and prescribed by law both the quality and quantity of their food. It is much to be lamented, that those bills of fare are not preserved to this time, since they might have been of singular use in all monarchical governments; but it is reasonable to be conjectured, from the wisdom of that people, that they allowed their kings no aliments of a bilious or a choleric nature, and only such as sweetened their juices, cooled their blood, and enlivened their faculties, if they had any.

The common people of this kingdom are dieted by laws; for, by an act passed about two years ago, not less advantageous to the crown than to the people, the use of a liquor which destroyed both their minds and their bodies was wisely prohibited, and, by repeated acts of parliament, their food is reduced to a very modest and wholesome proportion. Surely, then, the robility and gentry of the kingdom deserve some attention too; not so much, indeed, for their own sakes, as for the sake of the public, which is in some measure under their care: for if a porter, when full of gin, could not do his business, I am apt to think a privy counsellor, when loaded with four courses, will but bungle at his.

Suppose, for instance, a number of persons, not over lively at best, should meet of an evening to concert and deliberate upon public measures of the utmost consequence, grunting under the load and repletion of the strongest meats, panting, almost in vain, for breath, but quite in vain for thought, and reminded only of their existence by the unsavoury returns of an olio; what good could be expected from such a consultation? The best one could hope for would be, that they were only assembled for show, and not for use; not to propose or advise, but silently to submit to the orders of some one man there, who, feeding like a rational creature, might have the use of his understanding.

I would therefore recommend it to the consideration of the legislature, whether it may not be necessary to pass an act to restrain the licentiousness of eating, and assign certain diets to certain ranks and stations. I would humbly suggest the strict vegetable as the properest ministerial diet, being exceedingly tender of those faculties in which the public is so highly interested, and very unwilling they should be clogged or incumbered.

But I do most seriously recommend it to those who, from their rank and situation in life, settle the fashions, and whose examples will, in these sorts of things, always be followed, that they will, by their example, which will be more effectual than any law, not only

put a stop to, but reform, the ridiculous, expensive, and pernicious luxury of tables: they are the people whom all inferior ranks imitate, as far as they are able, and commonly much farther. It is their fatal example that has seduced the gentry, and people of smaller fortune, into this nasty and ruinous excess. Let their example, then, at last, reclaim them; let those who are able to bear the expense, and known not to grudge it, give the first blow to this extravagant folly; let them avow their own natural taste, for nature is in every thing plain and simple, and gratify it decently at a frugal and wholesome table, instead of purchasing stupidity and distempers at the expense of their time and their estates; and they may depend upon it, that a fashion so convenient, as to the fortunes and the constitutions of their fellow subjects, will cheerfully be followed, and universally prevail, to the great advantage of the public.

THE MANNER OF READING HISTORY.

A judicious reader of history will save himself a great deal of time and trouble, by attending with care only to those interesting periods of history, which furnish remarkable events, and make eras; going slightly over the common run of events. Some people read history as others read the Pilgrim's Progress; giving equal attention to, and indiscriminately

loading their memories with every part alike. But I would have you read it in a different manner: take the shortest general history you can find of every country; and mark down in that history the most important periods, such as conquests, changes of kings, and alterations of the form of government; and then have recourse to more extensive histories, or particular treatises, relative to these great points. Consider them well, trace up their causes, and follow their consequences.

THE SPURIOUS MAN OF HONOUR.

Those, who attack the fundamental laws of virtue and morality, urge the uncertainty of them, and allege their variations in different countries, and even in different ages in the same countries. Morality, say they, is local, and consequently an imaginary thing, since what is rejected in one climate as a vice, is practised in another as a virtue; and, according to them, the voice of nature speaks as many different languages as there are nations in the world.

The dangers and ill consequences of this doctrine are obvious, but surely the falsity of it is not less so; and the most charitable opinion one can entertain of those who propagate it is, that they mistake fashion and custom for nature and reason. The invariable laws of Justice and morality are the first and universal

nga menya mnie tem..

The Jergie of as má östeTION,, 11. ZVERY very palet ne jeme ojst

- 1 z dey ste ze jsium. Fasteat wavesting henseites u die ws hey are measc der own agueroes and juve, ad then make laws in them: *** ***, Fongh texter formbed in justice, wa wote vya legal anacrity, too cden prevail over, and menit, both justice and anThority. This is fasttion.

In this light, I have often considered the word honour in its fashionable acceptation in this comitry, and must confess, that, were **** the universal meaning of it throughout