tible termination, nor have the most fortunate adventurers ever discovered one. The summit of the mountain has hitherto been inaccessible, except on that side through which the PATH of VIRTUE rises; and is constantly enveloped by the surrounding clouds.”

At these words the GENIUS RELIGION vanished; I did not hesitate a moment, but suddenly springing forwards with great exertion towards the PATH of VIRTUE-I awoke, and was considerably astonished to find myself quietly seated in my arm-chair.

E.

H

Stat contra, dicitque tibi tua pagina, fur es. MART. 1, 28.

Your book stands witnesss, and proclaims you thief.

IN every state, even among barbarians, we find the possessions of individuals secured to them by the laws of the land; we find various offences marked out and distinguished one from another, and adequate punishments appropriated to the several degrees of guilt. If then personal property is guarded with such exactness, surely in the republic of letters mental property should as carefully be protected; the boundaries of crimes as accurately defined, and punishments as justly distributed. Supposing then the necessity of such regulations, a question may arise, who shall

form this code? shall Solomon Grildrig the little, a mere inmate in the court of Lilliput, presume in this respect to take upon him the dignity of a Brobdingnagian? But to prevent such objections for the future, and moreover for the purpose of asserting my absolute and indisputable authority, I SOLOMON GRILDRIG do give MYSELF leave to bring in a bill; I AGREE that it shall be passed, and do give my royal assent to it, the form of which shall be as follows.

"To all Connoisseurs, Judges, Cavillers, Catchpoles, Critics, Hangmen, &c. within the territory of letters, be it known by these presents, that SOLOMON GRILDRIG, shall be at perfect liberty to enact what laws he pleases, and that his readers shall be compelled to follow as many of them as they please.

Given under my hand at the court of Lilliput, May 28th, 1804.

Witness MYSELF,

S. G."

Having thus asserted my privilege of lawgiver, I shall proceed to distinguish the offences, and proportion penalties according to the several distinctions. Plagiarism is a word of too extended a sense, as including every species of theft, from half a dozen pages to a single idea; a subdivision

therefore is necessary. Every man's fame is his litterary life, which according to the nature of his guilt may be entirely demolished, or imprisoned for a term of years, or he may be forbidden to write again in that language in which the offence is committed, which shall be considered as equivalent to banishment.

Of the notorious offences which shall be deemed FELONY, are,

1.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY.-Should any man, from any common and well-known author, either in prose or verse, forcibly wrest thirty or forty lines and appropriate the same to his own use, he shall be condemned as an incorrigible fool, and suffer death without hopes of mercy; and his productions shall be torn up to line trunks; or buried in the temple of a certain inexorable goddess.

2. Whoever from any obsolete pages or unknown compositions, shall feloniously take above the value of twelve lines, he shall be found guilty of PRIVATELY STEALING, and shall likewise be punished with death; but for the first offence he may be transported into another language.

3. Of FORGERY two kinds may be mentioned; first, the act of falsely drawing on the world for

the credit of an anonymous publication; secondly, prefixing a false name to ones own, as in the case of Rowley and Chatterton: Both are to be punished with total loss of reputation.

4. Any person mutilating or maiming the composition of another for his own use, shall be prosecuted on the BLACK ACT, and banished from the Booksellers shop for ever.

5. Should a poet or other writer in any manner, or under any pretence wheedle any plan, design, image, or idea, as yet unpublished, from another, and bring it forward as is own, he shall be imprisoned for SWINDLING at the discretion of the court, and tossed in a blanket at the mercy of the plaintiff.

6. Any author receiving communications from another, and inserting them, knowing them to be stolen, shall be convicted of RECEIVING STOLEN GOODS, and punished according to the value of the same. Among the smaller offences, the similarity, or even downright theft of a name, single sentence, simily, or idea, shall be deemed PETIT LARCENY; but if more than one of each sort are seized, the offence becomes FELONY.

Where only a single expression, half an idea, the scrag-end of a simily, or not more than two