tue. I have heard thy wish, it is granted! thou fhalt vifit thofe regions thou haft fo earnestly, fo ardently longed to explore; it is permitted me to conduct thee; confide in my protection, and prepare for thy flight."

The genius now ftretched forth his hand, and clasping mine, we inftantly began to rife with an amazing degree of velocity, abforbed in mingled awe and admiration. I had not the power of speech, but looked down upon the receding world in folemn filence; it appeared like an immenfe circular map, unfolded to the view, in which every state, and indeed every city within the sphere of fight, might be readily distinguished: dimly to the north appeared the bleak and frozen coafts of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland; in the oppofite direction, the vast and turbulent Atlantic opened to the gaze, bounded on the one fide by the western hemifphere, and on the other by the partially-explored continent of Africa, and the horizon. But this delightful profpect was not of long continuance; the flight of my conductor was fo incalculably rapid, and the light of the fun (which now first appeared) was fo powerful, that it foon became impoffible to difcriminate the different parts of the earth with any degree of accuracy; the whole was blended, by distance, into one mafs, and the moon, to which we were fast approaching, was now the principal object of my attention: its appearance bore a moft ftriking refemblance to the world we had lately quitted: in one place, blazed an Etna, in another a chain of Alps afcended to the clouds, and from every part of its continents, numerous and beautiful rivers, after fertilizing the countries through which they flowed, poured their tribute into the lunar whose waves, while they feparated, gave the ready means of communication, between the fhores laved by them.

ocean,

We had hitherto proceeded in filence, but the genius leffening his velocity, now turned to me with a fmile of ineffable benignity, and faid, "Thus far have we urged our flight, and in a few minutes it will be completed; VOL. IV.

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your

your with will be gratified: but to visit the numerous empires of the lunar world, would require a far longer period than is allowed us; it would, indeed, be a task never yet performed by a lunarian; a curfory fight of a fmall part only muft fatisfy thee. Seeft thou that ifland, whofe white cliffs feem to mock the baffled waves that beat against their bafe; innumerous cities, towns, and villages, are scattered over its extent; a thousand veffels are now conveying to its ports all the luxuries of the furrounding nations? It is the island of Ibolan, famed for genius and valour; its natives are in a manner the arbiters of the world: we are now approaching its magnificent metropolis, to which I mean to convey thee; but to evade the curiofity of the inhabitants, it will be neceffary. to affume their dress, their language, and their manners; thefe properties I now confer upon thee: without them it would be impoffible to walk along the streets, for the curiofity of the Ibolans is fo ftrong, that any perfon, or thing, in the smallest degree deviating from the common standard, is followed by them with the utmost avidity." "This muft furely proceed from extreme ignorance,' replied I" By no means," anfwered the genius; "the Ibolans pique themfelves on being the moft enlightened nation in the globe; it would be lefs dangerous to pull an hungry lion by the beard than to tell an Ibolan that he was ignorant; nor are their claim to pre-eminence by any means ill founded; they have carried every branch of the arts and sciences to the fummit of perfection; they have made difcoveries feemingly beyond the abilities of mortals, and which other nations have for ages in vain attempted. But we are now near the centre of the capital, and will defcend; forget thy diffidence, and for the future treat me as your equal and friend. I will explain to you every circumftance in the conduct of the Ibolans, which, to your imperfect comprehenfion, may appear involved in inexplicable mystery."

The genius here ceafed, and fhrouded from fight by the mifts of the evening, we descended on the margin of

a river,

a river, and I now, with fome degree of furprife, beheld the altered appearance of myfelf and my conductor. The hair which flowed in ringlets from his head when he first appeared, was now fhortened, and the spotlefs robe which then invefted him, was now transformed into a drefs cut in the most approved Ibolan tafte; my garb also had undergone the fame metamorphofis. The genius perceived my wonder and continued: "You are furprised at the change which has taken place in our appearance, but, believe me it is a very neceffary one, as without it we should have fuch a myriad of followers as would render it impoffible for us to make the flightest obfervation upon the furrounding objects."-My conductor now took my arm, and we paffed along feveral ftreets thronged with people, and light as day, from the collected blaze of a thousand lamps which difplayed to the view a profufion of fplendor and rarity. We stopped at length at a door, round which were many people collected. "This," faid the genius, "is one of the theatres of this metropolis, to which, every night, the Ibolans repair with the greatest eagerness. This evening a very favourite comedy is to be performed, and,”—here he was interrupted by the doors opening; we entered along with the multitude, and foon found ourselves within a fpacious and highly-ornamented fabric, which was in a very fhort time crowded with beauty and fplendor: after a long pause the curtain drew up, and the comedy began. I had expected to be delighted with nice difcrimination of character, with faithful representation of nature, and with fentiments, which, while they gave pleafure, would prove favourable to the interefts of morality and virtue; but how was I disappointed! pert flippant dialogue, unmeaning puns upon a name, blunders which never could have been made, and characters that never could have exifted, fupplied, or rather ufurped, the place of those which I had fondly, but vainly, expected to find. I was puzzled to account for the unbounded approbation which it received, and could only

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folve

folve the difficulty by fuppofing that the audience were laughing at the author, who had collected into one piece fuch a mass of abfurdity: it at laft concluded, and was followed by an entertainment, if poffible, ftill more abfurd. It feemed a ftrong caricature of the diftorted comedy we had juft feen, with only one difference, that in this the figures made themselves ridiculous only by their motions and grimaces. Men, women, demons, gods, pigmys, and fpirits, compofed the motly group of characters; the most ridiculous fituations and the most unnatural changes occurred almost every inftant. It seemed as if the genius of nonfenfe had exhaufted all his abilities to compole it. I could not avoid being difgufted with fuch an outrage upon reafon; not fo the rest of the auditors; they viewed it with the greateft delight, and when it was concluded, heard its farther reprefentation announced with the most vociferous applaufe.

Arm in arm, my guide and I now quitted the theatre. "Well, my friend," exclaimed he, "are you not abforbed in admiration of the theatrical amusements of the Ibolans?" "Moft fincerely do I pity them," replied I; "they are certainly very unfortunate in having neither rational dramas, nor authors capable of writing them.""You mistake the matter entirely," rejoined the genius; "they are in poffeffion of fome of the most inimit. able pieces ever written; they have tragedies that might diffolve the foul of cruelty itself into infant softness; and comedies, whofe nice delineation of character and genuine humour might delight the fage, and excite the most fullen mifanthrope to laughter; but they are not the tafte of the multitude, and for that reafon are feldom brought forward; for those who can with rapture liften to the effufions of abfurdity and infipidity, would yawn with lift lefs langour, and very probably flumber, at the reprefentation of fcenes fraught with nature, wit, pathos, and fublimity. But let us dismiss the subject."

"I will now take you to an amufement called gaming, to which many of the Ibolans of elevated rank and for

tune,

tune are ftrongly attached." We walked almoft a mile through several elegant and commodious ftreets, till we arrived at a large manfion, into which my conductor gained a ready admittance. We were ufhered into a room where a number of perfons were fitting round a table, bufily employed in violently fhaking a box, which contained two dotted cubical pieces of ivory; confiderable fums of money lay before them: hope, joy, anguish, defpair, and a thousand paffions, appeared in their faces; and the most shocking oaths, or the moft frantic exclamations of pleasure, burft from their lips, according as the two little fquares proved favourable or inimical to the their wishes. We viewed them for feveral hours, but tired at laft with gazing upon an employment fo unamufing, I requested my conductor to depart; he acquiefced readily in my wifh. "Call you this amusement?" exclaimed I, as we defcended into the street; " to me it feems the moft hateful of pursuits."-"Can it be any other than amufement?" replied my guide, "when it is fo unremittingly, and in fo many modes followed by numbers of the rich and great. It muft certainly be the highest of all amufements, or those who are devoted to it would not facrifice their eftates, their honour, and their health; for it they would not fuffer their unfortunate and honeft creditors to fink into ruin, that they might discharge a debt contracted at the table: nor is this purfuit confined to the male part of the creation; it is the idol of the fofter fex, though in a different garb. Many of thofe angelic beings who attracted your admiration at the theatre, are adepts in this practice which meets your disapprobation: their beauty, their fortune, and their virtue, are nightly exposed to destruction, by their love for gaming, and yet you doubt whether it can be an amufement."

(To be continued.)

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