would be deemed infamous. Thus the man of fashion may live in luxury and splendour, while his creditors are starving in the streets, or rotting in a gaol; and, should they attempt to enforce the laws of their country against him, he would be entitled to complain of it as a gross violation of the respect that is due to his person and character.

The last time my friend Mr. Umphraville was in town, I was not a little amused with his remarks on the men of fashion about this city, and on the change that had taken place in our manners since the time he had retired from the world. When we met a young man gaily dressed, lolling in his chariot, he seldom failed to ask, What young lord is that?' One day we were invited to dine with an old acquaintance, who had married a lady passionately fond of the ton, and of every thing that had the appearance of fashion. We went at the common hour of dining, and, after waiting some time, our host (who had informed us that he would invite nobody else, that we might talk over old stories without interruption) proposed to order dinner; on which his lady, after chiding his impatience, and observing that nobody kept such unfashionable hours, said, she expected Mr. and another friend, whom she had met at the play the evening before, and had engaged to dine with her that day. After waiting a full hour longer, the noise of a carriage, and a loud rap at the door, announced the arrival of the expected guests. They entered, dressed in the very pink of the mode; and neither my friend's dress nor mine being calculated to inspire them with respect, they brushed past us, and addressed the lady of the house, and two young ladies who were with her, in a strain of coarse familiarity, so different from the distant and respectful manner to which Mr. Umphraville had

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been accustomed, that I could plainly discover he was greatly shocked with it. When we were called to dinner, the two young gentlemen seated themselves on each hand of the lady of the house, and there engrossed the whole conversation, if a recital of the particulars of their adventures at the tavern the evening before deserve that name. For a long time every attempt made by our landlord to enter into discourse with Mr. Umphraville and me proved abortive. At last, taking advantage of an accidental pause, he congratulated my friend on the conquest of Pondicherry. The latter, drawing his brows together, and shaking his head with an expression of dissent, observed, that although he was always pleased with the exertions of our countrymen, and the bravery of our troops, he could not receive any satisfaction from an Indian conquest. He then began an harangue on the corruption of manners-the evils of luxury-the fatal consequences of a sudden influx of wealth-and would, I am persuaded, ere he had done, have traced the loss of liberty in Greece, and the fall of Rome, to Asiatic connexions, had he not been, all at once, cut short with the exclamation of Damn it, Jack, how does the old boy do to-day? I hope he begins to get better.-Nay, pr'ythee don't look grave; you know I am too much your friend to wish him to hold out long; but if he tip before Tuesday at twelve o'clock, I shall lose a hundred to Dick Hazard. After that time, as soon as you please.Don't you think, madam,' (addressing himself to one of the young ladies) that when an old fellow has been scraping money together with both hands for forty years, the civilest thing he can do is to die, and leave it to a son who has spirit to spend it?' Without uttering a word, the lady gave one look, that, had he been able to translate it into language, must,

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for a time at least, have checked his vivacity. But the rebuke being too delicate to make any impression on our hero, he ran on in the same strain; and being properly supported by his companion, effectually excluded the discourse of every body else. Umphraville did not once again attempt to open his mouth; and, for my own part, as I had heard enough of the conversation, his countenance served as a sufficient fund of entertainment for me. A painter, who wished to express indignation, contempt, and pity, blended together, could not have found a finer study.

At length we withdrew; and we had no sooner got fairly out of the house, than Umphraville began to interrogate me with regard to the gentlemen who had dined with us. 6 They are men of fashion,' said I. But who are they? of what families are they descended?'- As to that,' replied I, 'you know I am not skilled in the science of genealogy; but, though I were, it would not enable me to answer your present inquiries; for I believe, were you to put the question to the gentlemen themselves, it would puzzle either of them to tell you who his grandfather was.'- - What then,' said he, in an elevated tone of voice, 'entitles them to be received into company as men of fashion? Is it extent of ability, superiority of genius, refinement of taste, elegant accomplishments, or polite conversation? I admit, that where these are to be found in an eminent degree, they may make up for the want of birth; but where a person can neither talk like a man of sense, nor behave like a gentleman, I must own I cannot easily pardon our men of rank for allowing every barrier to be removed, and every frivolous, insignificant fellow, who can adopt the reigning vices of the age, to be received on an equal footing with themselves.--But after all,' continued he, in a calm tone, if such be the man

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ners of our men of rank, it may be doubted whether they or their imitators are the greatest objects of contempt.

R.

No. 46. SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1779.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIRROR.

I HAPPENED lately to dine in a large company where
I was, in a great measure, unknowing and unknown.
To enter into further particulars would be to tell you
more than is necessary of my story.

The conversation, after dinner, turned on that common-place question, Whether a parent ought to choose a profession for his child, or leave him to choose for himself?'

Many remarks and examples were produced on both sides of the question; and the argument hung in equilibrio, as is often the case, when all the speakers are moderately well informed, and none of them are very eager to convince, or unwilling to be convinced.

At length an elderly gentleman began to give his opinion. He was a stranger to most of the company; had been silent, but not sullen; of a steady but not voracious appetite; and one rather civil than polite.

In my younger days,' said he, nothing would serve me but I must needs make a campaign against

the Turks in Hungary.'At mention of the Turks in Hungary, I perceived a general impatience to seize the company.

may

I rejoice exceedingly, sir,' said a young physician, that fortune has placed me near one of your character, sir, from whom I be informed with precision whether lavements of ol. amygd. did indeed prove a specific in the Hungarian dysenteria, which desolated the German army?'

Ipecacuanha in small doses,' added another gentleman of the faculty, 'is an excellent recipe, and was generally prescribed at our hospitals at Westphalia, with great, although not infallible success: but that method was not known in the last wars between the Ottomans, vulgarly termed Turks, and the Imperialists, whom, through an error exceedingly common, my good friend has denominated Germans.'

You must pardon me, doctor,' said a third, 'ipecacuanha, in small doses, was administered at the siege of Limerick, soon after the Revolution; and if you will be pleased to add seventy-nine, the years of this century, to ten or eleven, which carries us back to the siege of Limerick in the last, you will find, if I mistake not, that this recipe has been used for fourscore and nine, or for ninety years.'

Twice the years of the longest prescription, doctor,' cried a pert barrister from the other end of the table, even after making a reasonable allowance for minorities.'

"You mean if that were necessary,' said a thoughtful aged person who sat next him.

'As I was saying,' continued the third physician, ipecacuanha was administered, in small doses, at the siege of Limerick; for it is a certain fact that a surgeon in King William's army communicated the receipt of that preparation to a friend of his, and that friend communicated it to the father, or rather, as I