serviceable at this time; and I would earnestly recommend an attentive perusal of it to all of them whose muses are engaged in compositions of the epic kind. I am very much afraid that I may run into the error, which I have myself pointed out, of becoming too local, but where it is evidently intended for the good of my fellow-citizens, it may, I hope, be now and then pardonable. At the present juncture, as many have applied for my assistance, I cannot find in my heart to refuse it them. Were I to attempt fully explaining, why, at the present juncture, I fear it would be vain. Would it not seem incredible to the ladies, were I to tell them, that the period approaches, when upwards of a hundred epic poems will be exposed to the public view, most of them nearly of equal length and many of them nearly of equal merit, with the one which I have here taken into consideration; illustrated moreover with elegant etchings, designed either as hieroglyphical explanations of the subject, or as practical puns on the name of the author?—And yet, in truth, so it is,—and on this subject I wish to give a word of advice to my countrymen.

Many of them have applied to me by letter, to assist them with designs for prefixing to their poems; and this I should very willingly have

done, had those gentlemen been kind enough to subscribe their real names to their requests: whereas, all that I have received have been signed Tom Long, Philosophus, Philalethes, and such like. I have therefore been prevented from affording them the assistance I wished; and cannot help wondering, that the gentlemen did not consider, that it was impossible for me to provide typical references for feigned names; as, for ought I know, the person who signs him self Tom Long may not be four feet high; Philosophus may be possessed of a considerable share of folly; and Philalethes may be as arrant a liar as any in the kingdom.

It may not however be useless to offer some general reflections for all who may require them. It is not improbable, that, as the subject of their poems is the Restoration, many of my fellow citizens may choose to adorn their title-pages with the representation of his majesty, Charles the Second, escaping the vigilance of his pursuers in the Royal Oak. There are some particularities generally observable in this picture, which I shall point out to them, lest they fall into similar errors. Though I am as far as any other Briton can be from wishing to "curtail" his majesty's wig" of its fair proportion;" yet I have sometimes been apt to think it rather im

proper, to make the wig, as is usually done, of larger dimensions than the tree in which it and his majesty are concealed. It is a rule in logic, and, I believe, may hold good in most other sciences, that" omne majus continet in se minus," that, "every thing larger can hold any thing that is less," but I own, I never heard the contrary advanced or defended with any plausible arguments, viz. " that every little thing can hold one larger." I therefore humbly propose, that there should at least be an edge of foliage round the outskirts of the said wig; and that its curls should not exceed in number the leaves of the tree. There is also another practice almost equally prevalent, of which I am sceptic enough to doubt the pro priety. I own I cannot think it conducive to the more effectual concealment of his majesty, that there should be three regal crowns stuck on three different branches of the tree.

Horace says indeed,

Pictoribus atque poetis

Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas.

Painters and Poets our indulgence claim,
Their daring equal, and their art the same.

FRANCIS.

And this may be reckoned a very allowable

poetical licence; in as much as it lets the spectator into the secret," who is in the tree." But it is apt to make him at the same time throw the accusation of negligence and want of penetration on the three dragoons, who are usually depicted on the fore ground, cantering along very composedly with serene countenances, erect persons, and drawn swords very little longer than themselves.

THE MICROCOSM, No. 12.

No. CXIII.

Usus,

Quem penes arbitrium est, et jus, et norma loquendi,
HORAT.

Use is the judge, the law, and rule of speech,

It is a favourite amusement with me, and one of which, in the present paper, I shall invite my readers to participate, to adopt a maxim established in any single instance, to trace its influence where it has operated undiscovered, to examine the secret springs by which it has worked, and the causes which have contributed to their concealment. In the course of this pursuit, I may boast, that there is scarce one of these miniatures of experience and observation, from the moral maxims of Grecian philosophy, to the prudential apophthegms of Poor Robin, which has not been successively the object of my observation and discussion. I am, however, aware, that in my opinion of their importance, I may perhaps be singular..

That "life is short," that "the generality of mankind are vicious," seem ideas that might have suggested themselves to a mind undistinguished for peculiar sagacity, or an uncommon