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toe amuse uffe." I fet it down, therefore, as a rule, that the contents of a letter, and not the spelling, is the moft important part.

2. As to the phrafeology, Queen Elizabeth was a woman of great learning, and fo was Southampton, and fo was Shakespear himself. They knew the past and the prefent, and what was to hinder them from anticipating the ftyle of future times? For example, Shakespeare has described the "guardians of the night" so admîrably, in "Much ado about Nothing," that one would think he was at this moment in the office of Parish Constable.

3. As to dates, we find every day, that people make miftakes. I once dated a letter of fome importance on the 30th of February, and we know that there is no fuch day in the whole year; but did my correfpondent confider it as fpurious upon that account? No, Sir; he knew the hand-writing, and that was enough.

And this brings me, fourthly and laftly, to what Mr. Malone thinks his main argument, the bandwritings in Mr. Ireland's MSS. being totally different from thofe in the Mufeum. Now, Sir, it unfortunately happens that this is the weakest of all his arguments. There are three cafes in which the fame man will write very differently; firft, his having a good or a bad pen; fecondly, his being drunk or fober; and thirdly, his having broken or dislocated his arm, and its having been improperly healed.

But

I truft, Sir, nobody will deny these pofitions. what is proof pofitive, if Mr. Malone would have had patience to wait a little longer, is, that there are writings which can be brought forward, proving, by his own hand-writing, that Shakespear often wrote with a very bad pen; or, as he fays, (MS. 4692 of the unpublished)"a meirrveillouffe badde gooffee quillee." This, I think, will fatisfy any body; especially as it will be accompanied with a drawing of a pen-knife which he fhould have had, when he wrote the letter without it. Another

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Another writing is to be brought forward, proving that Lord Southampton was in a state of inebriety when he wrote his epiftle. The words exprefsly are, that "hee hadde hifs beerre onne boardde, andde hikkuppedde mofte mellodioufsllie." Now, Sir, let me ask you, if Mr. Malone, or yourfelf, or myself, could have written a plain hand with fuch a confused head?

With refpect to Queen Elizabeth's hand, there are a packet of papers, which are to be found in the northeaft corner of the trunk, which give an account of her having diflocated her "Royal wrifftee," and its being very clumfily healed. There are also the original receipts of the medicines fhe took while under cure, one of which runneth thus

"R. Rhabbarrbarri pulverizz. gr. xxx.
Pullv. Zinnzziberr. gr. x. M.

Capp. mannee inn quovviss vehhiccullo..”

But, I fuppofe, Mr. Malone will fay, that because rhubarb and ginger is a common compofition now, it must be an anachronism. Sir, he might as well call it a rheumatifm.

In this manner, Mr. Baldwin, will all his objections be removed; and I think it peculiarly fortunate for all true believers, (of which number you may perceive I am one) that he has stated his objections fo early as to give fufficient time for the great author of our new religion to provide antidotes. Mr. Malone was too precipitate. The trunk is but opened, and he thinks he fees to the bottom already. But let him be content with what he has done. Let him wait patiently, and let us, true believers, fay, with our everlasting Bard,

"Thus bad begins, but worse remains behind.”

I am, Sir, your's,

[St. James's Chron.] ONE OF THE FAITHFUL.*

*It is almost unneceffary to point out to the readers of this collection that this letter, and feveral of the foregoing articles re ineant to ridicule the curious manufcripts, which that worthy man, Mr. Samuel Ireland, attributed to Shakespeare.

EXAMPLE

EXAMPLE OF FOUL LANGUAGE, IN ALLUSION TO THE CONDUCT OF MODERN POLITICIANS.

SIR,

OUR

UR rulers and those of France having adopted the manner in which our Billingsgate dames ufually decide their difputes, it is not unfair to conclude that the gentlemen have fimilar feelings with the ladies, and will equally enjoy a triumph at their own weapons.

The following little anecdote will furnish the Chancellor of the Exchequer with a stratagem, which cannot fail to fecure him the victory, and filence his adverfary:

In the fishing-town of Johnfhaven, in Scotland, I witneffed a conteft between two Ladies of the Basket, which for fome fifteen or twenty minutes was conducted on both fides with a virulence of invective, and an exuberanceof epithet, that has hardly yet been equalled by by their dignified imitators: at length, however, one of the ladies, finding herself fairly outrailed by her foul-tongued antagonist, but unwilling to quit the field, laid her arms acrofs, affumed a placid fmile, and, to every foul epithet, returned an humble curt'fey; her fuccefs was complete; for her yet enraged adverfary, deprived of the fuel that fed her fire, and her gall ftill unexhausted, came up to her very nofe, ftuck her arms akimbo, and foaming with wrath, exclaimed, "Speak, fpeak, ye b-, or I fhall burft!1!"

Let our rulers go, and do likewife.-[Chronicle.]

MELANCHOLY EFFECTS OF A GENERAL ELEC TION.

MR. BALDWIN.

THO

HOSE who are advocates for fhorter Parliaments than the period of feven years, would do well to confider the many bad confequences which a general election is attended with; and then reflect how much better it is that thefe confequences fhould return once in feven years, rather than oftener. A man who is troubled with the gout, thinks but little of it, if it re

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turns

turns only once a year. Indeed he confiders that as a periodical difcharge, or receipt in full, for all errors in eating and drinking; but what his fituation would be, if the fit were to return once a week, or even once a month, I leave you, Sir, to judge!

But to come to the point. Among the other melancholy effects of a General Election, Lobferve, that fundry very worthy gentlemen have totally and almoft fuddenly loft their fight, to fuch a degree, Sir, that they don't know their " dearest friends," when they meet them in the streets. This is furely a very great calamity; but it is attended with a fymptom not often defcribed in medical writings; namely, a preternatural adhesion of the infide of the hat to the outfide of the caput, or head; fo that it will scarce move to return the politeft bow; whereas, a few weeks ago, it went off with the flighteft touch, like the patent piftols. This diforder, Sir, has occafioned no fmall confufion; fome have caught the heart-burn from it, and others are worked up to a degree of phrenfy, for which I am afraid there will be no cure thefe seven years.

Befides bodily diforders, fome that more particularly affect the mind have become very prevalent. I know many of the moft polite gentlemen, who, a very few weeks, or even days, ago, were perfect patterns of grace and affability, on a fudden become rude, diftant, and forbidding. They have no more manners than a coffee-houfe waiter, the week after Chriftmas, and take no more care, than a watchman who has received his annual douceur. Even inanimate things feem to partake of the fame changes. Doors that ufed to fly open, as if by magic, now remain obftinately fbut, or creak upon their hinges, with a moft difcouraging found; the confequence of which has been, that many, who do not chufe to call again, have caught fatal colds in their heels, by waiting in gloomy anti-chambers, and ftone-paved halls.

But the worst mental diforder of all, and which I think must be of great detriment to the unhappy pa➡

tients, is a total lofs of memory, to fuch a degree, that they cannot poffibly recollect to-day the promises they made yesterday; and even though reminded ever fo of ten, they have not the moft diftant idea of thofe decla rations and engagements, which they feemed to make with the greateft earneftnefs: It would be fuperfluous to ftate the ill confequences which muft arife from this fymptom; I fhall only add, that when joined to the blindness above-mentioned, the patients appear to be fo very bad, that nobody can know them for the fame men, nor hold converfation with them as they used to do: They afford, indeed, a melancholy illuftration of the two myftical words BEFORE and AFTER; which, in politics, as well as matrimony, are placed at an immenfe distance. I am, Sir, yours,

A CITY PHYSICIAN.

P. S. As there is no evil without fome mixture of good, I think it my duty to add, that one or two of my patients, who, a few weeks ago, were fo addicted to booing, as to appear crooked, have recovered the perpendicularity of their figures, by a fingle dofe of a medicine called a return.-[St. James's Chronicle.]

SIR *,

ON

THE DREADFUL ALARM.

my return from a peaceable corner in the west of England, Lfound the metropolis convulfed by the alarm of a dreadful and horrible plot against the conftitution and government. Shocked beyond meafure by fuch exifting circumstances, you may fuppofe I was very anxious to get at the bottom of this business; but as my arrival happened to take place late in the evening, I was obliged to content myself with the information that my family could afford, and which was fo fcanty, as to increase my fears, without fatisfying my curiofity.

*This letter appeared foon after the alarm in 1792-3 which ferved as an introduction to the present just and necessary war.

After

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