Trade truly stated;" wherein the case of the weavers, and the wearing of calicoes, are considered; to be continued every Wednesday and Friday. The second began to be published on November 10th, 1719, in answer to the Manufacturer, and was printed every Tuesday; and the third, which professed to consider the state of our home-manufactures, followed on November 23d, 1719, and likewise issued from the press weekly. The subject seemed strongly to have arrested the public attention, and was at length noticed by the patriotic pen of Sir Richard Steele, who, as we have already recorded in his life, presented the world with a paper in support of the woollen trade, under the appellation of the Spinster. The British Merchant was, it is probable, continued for nearly two years, as it appears to have attained in 1721 to the bulk of three volumes duodecimo.

Of this

18. THE BRITISH HARLEQUIN. insignificant paper the first number was published on January 5th or 6th, 1719-20; the second came out on January 12th, wherein, says the title-page, Masquerades are defended against the Free-thinker, and Free-thinker Extraordinary, and every other sour old fellow, It was printed weekly for a short period, and then deservedly dropped into oblivion.

19. THE INDEPENDENT WHIG. A political paper conducted by Gordon and Trenchard, of whom we shall shortly have occasion to speak, in order to oppose the High-Church party. It was continued by Gordon after Trenchard's death, commenced on January 20th, 1719-20, and terminated on January 4th, 1720-1, having extended to fifty-three numbers. It has passed through a second edition, and is written with a considerable degree of spirit.

20. THE ANTI-THEATRE. The purport of this publication, which consists of fifteen numbers, was, to invalidate the sentiments and opinions of Sir Richard Steele, in his popular paper entitled The Theatre,' written, as he expresses it, for the preservation and improvement of the English Theatre.* The first number, of which all but one paragraph has perished, was published on February 15th, 1719-20, and the last on April 4th, 1720. The author, who assumes the name of Sir John Falstaffe, has conducted the controversy, as he promised in his introductory essay, with civility and good manners; a mode of treatment which to Steele, who had been grossly abused on this very subject by the implacable Dennis, was a pleasing novelty, In argument and composition, however, the Theatre, No. 1.

Anti-Theatres are much inferior to the work of Steele.

21. THE MUSES' GAZETTE. This production, of which one principal object was the ridicule of Steele and Cibber, made its first appearance on March 12th, 1719-20, in Applebee's Original Weekly Journal. N° 8, which has been re-published by Mr. Nichols, is dated April 20th, 1720. It was in every respect a despicable undertaking, and soon ceased to exist.

22. CATO'S LETTERS. These Letters, or Essays, on Liberty civil or religious, were published periodically in the "London" and afterwards in the " British Journal," and commenced in November, 1720. They were continued very successfully for nearly three years, and were then collected into four volumes 12mo. They are the effusions of John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. The former, who was born in 1669, had a liberal education, and was intended for the practice of the law; but being appointed, during the reign of King William, a commissioner of the forfeited estates in Ireland, and inheriting a good fortune from his uncle, which he greatly increased by marriage, he relinquished his profession, and turned his attention to the study of politics. In this department he early signalized himself by two pamphlets against standing armies, printed

in 1697 and 1698; and becoming acquainted with Gordon, who had embarked in the Bangorian controversy, he took him into his house as an amanuensis, and shortly afterwards admitted him as a coadjutor in the conduct and composition of Cato's Letters. Mr. Trenchard was a man of a vigorous mind, and strict integrity; he was a zealous and patriotic Whig, and was, for many years, a member of parliament for Taunton, in Somersetshire. He died in 1723.

His friend, Mr. Gordon, was a native of Kircudbright in Scotland, and, after an academical education in his own country, fixed in London as a teacher of the learned languages. The factious politics of the age, however, diverted his attention, for a time, from classical pursuits, and he enlisted under the banners of the Earl of Oxford. Soon after this event, he gained the esteem and patronage of Mr. Trenchard, by his two pamphlets in defence of Bishop Hoadley; and having shewn his abilities as a polemic writer in Cato's Letters, and the Independent Whig, Sir Robert Walpole, on the death of Mr. Trenchard, appointed him first commissioner of the wine-licences, and engaged his pen in support of government. 1739, Mr. Gordon published a translation of Tacitus, and in 1743 a version of Sallust. They are both literally faithful to their respective

In

originals, and are illustrated by discourses relative to each author, which display erudition; but the style, owing to an injudicious attempt to copy the conciseness of the Latin Historians, is peculiarly harsh and inverted. They are now superseded by the more elegant versions of Murphy and Steuart. Our author married, for his second wife, the widow of Mr. Trenchard; and by her he had several children. He died July 28th, 1750, at the age of sixty-six.

The best production of these writers was certainly the Letters of Cato, which, for the period they were published in, are singularly impartial. The language is clear and nervous, though sometimes coarse; and the principles of liberty are supported with a bold and manly spirit, and with no subserviency to faction or cabal. The fourth edition of Cato's Letters was printed in 1737, with a preface by Gordon.

23. TERRÆ FILIUS. To Nicholas Amhurst is to be ascribed this witty but intemperate work. Mr. Amhurst was a native of Marden, in Kent, and was educated at Merchant-Taylor's school in London. From this seminary he was sent to St. John's College, Oxford; where, owing to his irregularity and misconduct, he gave great offence to the head of the College, and was ultimately expelled. His resentment on this occasion was