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THE

MINIATURE,

NUMB. XVIII.

MONDAY, September 24, 1804.

Præsenti tibi maturos largimur honores.

To thee we living honours pay.

HOR. Ep. 1. 1, 15.

AMONG the various novelties introduced by modern times, a species of writers perfectly unknown in former ages have made their appearance, and though already composing a large portion of our literary republic, are still in a state of daily and prodigious increase. Among the Greeks and Romans it was the constant aim of

every author to be received and admired by posterity, although from different circumstances very few in proportion have ever attained their wish. Many impressed with this idea bore with forti

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tude and patience the rigid censures of their contemporaries, looking forward to the fairer criticism and more unbiased judgment of future ages. A stronger contrast cannot be drawn than between these and the tribe of authors beforementioned, whose only ambition is to suit their compositions to the capricious taste of the present time, by no means solicitous of their welfare beyond that period. Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die," was the sentiment of some of the ancient philosophers, nor is it less applicable to our ephemeral race of modern Scribblers.

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The first whom I shall mention, are the composers, or rather compilers of those immense bodies of daily information called Newspapers. By every one of these so many authorlings are keept in constant pay, that if the public were to withdraw their patronage from them, many humble dependants on the Muses would be forced to leave the service of their mistresses, and descend for subsistence to some less honourable employThe historical department alone will furnish a constant succession of materials worthy of the pen of the greatest Greek or Roman historians. We have the arrival of a home-bound fleet and its cargo described with all the sim

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plicity of an Herodotus; we read an account of a dreadful accident occasioned by the carlessness of a drayman, with all the majesty of a Thucydides; nor could Xenophon himself have been better employed than in the interesting narrative, of the retreat of many hundred great personages from a masquerade or fashionable assembly. In the present state of affairs our historians find many opportunities for the sublime, in describing the repeated firings and bombardments on the French coast, although in some cases where facts have failed them, they have given, as many great and learned men before them have done, rather too great a play to the natural vigour of imagination.

The political department next claims our attention. Rumours gathered from the court, from the city, and the coast can never fail to gain a comfortable livelihood. Here the great art of obscurity may be exercised with considerable effect. A certain mysterious confusion interspersed with a proper number of high sounding words, not forgetting a few surmises concerning Austria, Spain, Prussia, &c. highly seasoned with a dash of three or four stars cannot fail of ensuring the credit, or what is preferable, selling many copies of the deserving and interesting

publication. A very considerable effect may likewise be produced by contradicting one day what was asserted as incontestably true in the former paper: nor must I omit the mention of the votaries of Thalia, who find a ready and constant sale for their puns on any recent event at a very fair price. During a dearth of battles, bombardments, and politics, a small assortment of sonnets and epigrams will readily make their way. Criticism, except with regard to new plays, new carriages, and birth-day dresses, will, not employ many followers of Longinus and Quinctilian. Deaths, marriages, and births must not be neglected; one poor fellow of my acquaintance, a purveyor of these articles, was unfortunately turned out from a profitable place, because he never brought the account of a birth till the child was christened; nor of a death, till the deceased was buried. I cannot speak in too high terms of the noble and commanding eloquence in the generality of the advertisements; and whether a "steady, sober, cook-maid" wants a place; or a house" delightfully situated in a rural part of Tottenham-court-road" is to be sold, our admiration must equally be raised by the persuasive flow of these specimens of rational ability. Our attention may be justly called to one more article, not less important than any of

the above-mentioned. A scandalous supposition either from the East or West side of the town, properly worked up will never pass unrewarded, especially if the printer heightens its effect with a proper quantity of Italics.

I could mention various other departments in this daily mass of literature, did not other publications demand my notice. Among which I shall mention, those monthly distillations of daily news; namely, Magazines. The same interesting variety exists here as in the former, and will of course find materials for as many geniuses to work upon. When we are tired of biography we may indulge ourselves with a portion of domestic occurrences; and our mind may be happily relieved from a long disquisition on the East window of a church, by an agreeable sonnet to the moon. Another advantage is that if in the middle of a long history or dissertation a 'fear of tiring out the patience of the reader, or deficiency of materials should arise, the author may ingeniously, amidst the most interesting part, defer the continuation of his subject till the next month, thereby ensuring the sale of the subsequent numbers.

But as from magazines of various descriptions adapted to the talents, capacities, and concep

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