and it does not seem unreasonable to expect, that the same candour, in judging of their productions, should be extended to authors, which is readily conceded to the ingenious artist or handicraftsman.

With regard to the personal feelings of the INSPECTOR, in what has been advanced, I may be allowed to observe, that as my preceding number. has not, to my knowledge, received either excessive praise or extravagant censure, so neither has it fallen from the press totally without notice. The choice of a mode of publication which insured it an extensive circulation, has been productive of advantages superior to those possessed by others ushered into the world in a detached form, and obtained for it a much greater number of readers, than otherwise could have been expected. Several correspondents have favoured me with communications, some of which will, in due time, be laid before the public. In answer to others, it may be necessary to state, that the INSPECTOR is not meant to be made a vehicle for personal satire or virulent abuse. Whatever tends to promote the interests and happiness of society, the love and practice of virtue, or a salutary detestation of vice, will be sure to meet with attention. He who is unable to write a book, may here have an opportunity of trying the extent of his literary

acquirements in a short essay: and under the mask of secresy, be enabled to ascertain the opinion of his contemporaries respecting his real or imaginary qualifications, without subjecting himself to such mortifications as envy and personal dislike are ever ready to inflict on him who openly avows himself a candidate for public approbation.

NUMBER 3.

THE speedy and extensive communication which, within the last century, has been opened between the metropolis and the most distant parts of the country, has led to the adoption of many customs and modes of life, in the latter, which in old time were supposed to belong exclusively to the former; and it seems no deviation from truth to assert, that however contemptible the inhabitants of a provincial town may appear to a thorough-bred cockney, our present state of society will not be found inferior to that which prevailed in London itself, forty or fifty years ago.

Perhaps in no point of view is this assimilation more conspicuous, than in the eagerness with

which all classes in a country town seek to participate in the pleasures of rural life, or the delights of a watering place. In the metropolis, it has long been customary, at this season of the year, to fly from the hurry and turmoil of business, either to some place of comparative seclusion, or to one of those well-known situations which fashion has pointed out as fit retreats for her votaries. For a villa at Edmonton, or Turnham Green, our ingenious imitators have substituted a cottage, or perhaps a couple of rooms, at some of our neighbouring hamlets; and the pleasures of Hornsea, Bridlington, or Scarbro', are sought after with as much avidity, and as highly relished by them, as the rival scenes of Margate, Cheltenham, or Bath, by the more polished Londoner.

Various are the motives of this emigration in quest of what are generally considered, even in this part of the kingdom, as rural scenes and rural pleasures. Want of health, partly perhaps occasioned by too close an imitation of the enervating pursuits and hours of a modish life, affords one very frequent and justifiable reason. Another prevalent one is undoubtedly to be found in the example of the fashionable world, and a wish to imitate the conduct of our superiors. The ambitious man may hope to obtain, by that facility of intercourse which a place of

public resort affords, an introduction to some person of rank or fortune, whose interest may prove the means of elevating him to the summit of his wishes; or the familiar use of whose name, at least, may excite envy or admiration at his intimate connexion with so distinguished a character. The gamester, who has been assiduously employed, during the rest of the year, in practising his arts on his unsuspecting neighbours, may perhaps be stimulated to try his proficiency among those with whom he is more equally matched in point of skill, or who are likely to repay his labours with a richer harvest. In the exquisite viands under which a public table groans, the epicure may seek for a more complete gratification of his appetite than home could have afforded; while the debauchee, weary of those easy triumphs which the lax manners and morals of cities have yielded, may probably place before him, as an object worthier his attention, the conquest of a simple country maiden, and the seduction of unsuspecting innocence. Bachelors may be induced to resort to such places, for the sake of obtaining wives; and let me not be accused of a want of charity, by the loveliest part of the creation, if I add, that single ladies may possibly follow their example, in the hope of procuring husbands.

C

To point out the manner in which these different characters ought to act, in order to secure their eventual success, would be a needless task. Their own feelings, and the consciousness of their particular motives, will sufficiently indicate the plans they are to pursue. The gamester, for instance, could never think of associating with the epicure, and spending his precious moments in listening to encomiums on turtle or venison, in preference to the rattling of the dice-box, or the music of "six to one." Nor would the ambitious man care to have his dreams of imaginary exaltation disturbed by the perpetual "memento mori" of the valetudinarian. What bachelor need be told, that his chance of procuring a consort, will be increased by cultivating the acquaintance of the single ladies: or what fair lady is ignorant, that her exquisite charms will procure her a larger and more gratifying portion of flattery and homage from the young and disengaged of the other sex? Where large assemblages of people, and their different views and

pursuits, form the objects of undivided attention, it were folly to dwell on the sweets of retirement, or the benefits to be derived from a contemplation of the scenes of nature.

There are many persons, however, who are led, at such a season, to similar places of resort, in