heartily forgave him; and as my predecessors have frequently exercised the privilege of dreaming for the amusement of the public, I thought I could not do better, in the absence of other matter, than present my readers with the result of my own visions. I hereby protest against all sneers and cavils, on account of my dreaming, from those small wits who are apt to jingle words as children do bells, merely for the sake of making a noise; and who, out of their abundant charity, are

"Sleepless themselves, to give their readers sleep."

WHENEVER I see a number of " playful children just let loose from school," capering and frisking about with all the wild thoughtless joy that the season of youth naturally inspires, I feel a melancholy gloom, prophetic of the difficulties

which they will have to contend with in their progress through life. Without pretending to any superior sagacity, and setting aside despondence on the one hand, and vain expectation on the other, one may safely foretel, that but very few of these youths will rise to eminence; that many, hurried by impetuosity of temper, will launch into the stormy ocean of life, without ballast, chart, or compass, and will perhaps be shipwrecked the first adventure ;-some of a more thoughtful and calculating turn, timorous, and fearful of miscarriage, will sit quiet spectators of the bustle, afraid to engage in a scene that presents so many difficulties, and thus doze away their lives in idle or frivolous inactivity; whilst others, by attempting to perform parts for which they are not qualified, will close a life of long struggling and adversity, just where they began. Perhaps the principal reason of the many disappointments and miscarriages in human undertakings, is the foolish vanity of parents, who place their children in situations for which they are unfit; and fix upon a mode of life opposite to the bent and force of their genius. For my part, when I consider how easy it is for a man to succeed in any undertaking for which nature and genius have fitted him, I never witness any great disappointment in human affairs without

concluding that the party has made some attempt inconsistent either with his talents or his particular circumstances. Many a man would have made a good pulpit, who cuts a sorry figure in it; and many a mealy-mouthed, silent lawyer, without either brass in his face or copper in his pocket, would have sneaked through life well enough as a journeyman taylor. A friend of mine who has an only son of that description, commonly called a fine sharp lad, has lately sent him to one of the Universities to study physicthus a chattering barber is spoiled. I have been led into these remarks by two letters which I have just received, the one from my friend David Dulbard, and the other from an unknown correspondent, both of which I shall now lay before my readers.

TO THE INSPECTOR.

SIR,-Yesterday being one of those "murky days of the month of November, wherein Englishmen are apt to hang or drown themselves," I who am a valetudinarian, stirred up the fire, lighted my pipe, and resolved to divert my sulky thoughts with the dancing days of my youth. In order to bring those days more immediately to view, I opened my Lilly's grammar, and found

L

carefully pinned to one of the leaves, a list of the boys who were then my school-fellows, with their rank in the school, all ranged in regular columns under the different heads, optime, bene, and male. I observed my own name cut a very conspicuous figure in the column male, (you see, sir, I have always been a Dulbard.) However, bad as I then was, I have now great reason to sing Ọ be joyful! for on reviewing the list, and tracing the events which have since happened amongst us, I find that full one half of the companions of my youth, (and some of them my juniors,) have been long in their graves; and amongst the survivors, I can trace curates of villages, missionaries for the East, and martyrs for the Indies; but I do not find a single bishop, dean, archdeacon, or even one prebendary. But what of that? thought I to myself; are we not rich or poor, good or bad, happy or miserable, by comparison? I had no sooner made that reflection, and taken a whiff or two of my pipe, than I began to feel the gloom of my mind disperse, and an exaltation of spirit succeed, which for a moment made me perfectly satisfied with my own station of life; for I considered that I had the odds of so large a portion of my school-fellows. Poor lads! I pitied them to be sure, but I had rather that misfortunes should befal them, than myself-which was very queer,

but I believe very natural, in spite of all that your sentimental folks may say to the contrary. In pursuing these thoughts, I could not help taking particular notice of a boy that stood at the bottom of the list male, and who I very well remember groaned under the constant chastisement of the master, who tried, and tried in vain, not only to preach, but to flog, Latin into him; but the lad was so oddly constructed that he could not admit it either at the head or tail. That boy now fills, with great emolument to himself and advantage to the public, a very eminent station, and is a living instance that a superior capacity and a more extensive knowledge are not the steps by which a man can always mount either to favour or wealth. Since then riches cannot be secured to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill, and as in our progress through life it is absolutely necessary that we should either shape our conduct in such a way as to satisfy the injudicious majority, or acquire some trivial qualification that may amuse and divert the great mob of mankind; I would exhort all parents and guardians of children to teach them such a behaviour and address, as will, upon all common occasions of life, prejudice people in their favour. For instance, Sir Archy's method in the play, "booing and booing," is a useful trick, when pro