NOTES ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO A FRIEND IN TOWN. P. 9, 1. 1. Cethegus shines alike with talents rare, It is the boast of a very sporting character, that he is equally at home at the Beggar's Opera in St. Giles's, and at Carlton Palace. P. 10, 1. 1. So strange is taste, that some do not disdain To breathe the wholesome air of Maiden-lane. at The celebrated Professor Porson passed several "noctes Atticæ the Cider-cellar in Maiden-lane, where, as Moore says of the famous Tom Crib, he shone the vepeλnyepéta Zeús of surrounding gods. P. 10, 1. 13. Nor Ude's best fare. Ude, a distinguished French cook, who has published a work on the famous art of cookery. It certainly is "caviare to the general.” P. 10, 1. 24. Compared with his, e'en Egan's sports are tame. Whoever wishes to be acquainted with a pious prank of the celebrated Earl of Wharton, may peruse No. 22 of the Examiner, written G by Dean Swift, who there relates a truly edifying anecdote of his Lordship. Mr. Egan, in his "Life in London," has given a most attractive picture of the pleasures, which those who are initiated in the mysteries of fashion may enjoy in the metropolis. su per le dita Tutte di Londra le taverne e i bagni, E i cavalli più rapidi, e di galli Più bellicosi, e di più chiara stirpe, Ei più tremendi pugili.-PINDEMONTE. When there are so many employments for a man of spirit, who would be idle? we leave it to Frenchmen Sauter, danser, faire l'amour, Et boire vin blanc et vermeil ; Que compter écus au soleil.-RABELAIS. Here let me rest in this sweet solitude, Where knaves and parasites shall ne'er intrude! For wild excess, or ruinous expense: In yon delightful wood I love to hear, Though strange may seem the notes, a welcome cheer. Theirs is at least no counterfeited glee. Is not this better than among the crowd To fret, and gaze, and cringe before the proud ?-MS. NOTES ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO A FRIEND IN TOWN. P. 13, 1. 23. When Kemble, like the god-like hero, shone. It is an epoch in a man's life to have seen Kemble in Coriolanus. I have no more an abstract idea of Coriolanus as separated from Kemble, than Martinus Scriblerus had of a Lord Mayor without his insignia of office, his gold chain, &c. This great actor possessed the qualities necessary to make a first-rate tragedian in an eminent degree; but his distinguishing excellence was taste, which, in an ode, spoken at a public dinner given to Mr. Kemble upon his retirement from the stage, is thus beautifully described by the most refined poet of the present day : Taste, like the silent gnomon's power, To which supernal light is given; That dials inspiration's hour, And tells its height in heaven. P. 15, 1. 4. At once their world of poetry and wit! Shakspeare, Massinger, Fletcher! whom we might thus address in the language of an excellent modern poet : Illustres animæ! si quid mortalia tangunt HAWKINS BROWNE, De Animi Immortalitate. P. 15, 1. 17. Like Machiavel in politics. "It has been contended by some of Machiavel's apologists that his real object, in unfolding and systematizing the mysteries of KingCraft, was to point out indirectly to the people the means by which the encroachments of their rulers might be most effectually resisted; and at the same time to satirise, under the ironical mask of loyal and courtly admonition, the characteristical vices of princes. But although this hypothesis has been sanctioned by several distinguished names, and derives some verisimilitude from various incidents in the author's life, it will be found on examination quite untenable; and accordingly it is now, I believe, very generally rejected. One thing is certain, that if such were actually Machiavel's views, they were much too refined for the capacity of his royal pupils."-See DUGALD STEWART'S Preface to the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. P. 15, 1. 21. Yet politics are but ephemeral things. "The very dregs and rinsings of the human intellect," as the author of the "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" says. P. 15, 1. 22. Kings, though the world's progressive, will be kings; La bonne foi, dit le Sénateur Nani, manquera dans l'exécution des traitez tant que vivra l'intérest; et l'intérest vivra tant que les princes regneront. L'Empéreur Maximilien disoit que les princes ne s'arrêtoient pas au texte de leurs traitez et de leurs capitulations, mais à la glose, c'est à dire, à l'interprétation qu'ils y vouloient donner.-Lettres du Cardinal d'Ossat, avec les Notes de M. Amelot de la Houssaie. P. 16, 1. 4. The skeleton at least of Taylor's prose ? The great Jeremy Taylor, of whom an eloquent writer in the Edinburgh Review thus justly says: "We will venture to assert that |