Remarkable Characters. follow the example his majefty would undoubtedly fet them, and make use of this unlimited power for the good, and not for the prejudice of his fubjects. None of the reft fpoke a word, or feemed in the leaft to murmur at what was done. Those who had paid their homage, retired to the councilhoufe, where the nobility being called over by name, and ordered to fubfcribe the oath they had taken, they instantly obeyed. "Thus, in four days time, the kingdom of Denmark was changed from a Rate but little different from that of an aristocracy, to that of an unlimited monarchy. We here fee a houfe of commons stimulated by refentment, and filled with indignation at the infolence of the nobility, be 59 traying their conftituents, and instead of a noble effort to oblige thofe nobles to allow them the privileges they had a right to demand, voluntarily giving up for themselves, their conftituents, and their pofterity, what they ought to have itruggled to preferve at the hazard of their lives, and of whatever elfe might have been efteemed valuable; while the only comfort the people had left, was in being freed from the tyranny of their former oppreffors, and to fee them as much humbled as themfelves. The clergy, indeed, reaped many advantages from this change; but the citizens of Copen. hagen obtained little more in exchangefor their fhare in the legislature, than the privilege of wearing fwords." To the EDITOR of the OXFORD MAGAZINE. SIR, Is it not ftrange that in England, where the air is the fame, and generally the education, there should be fuch a variety of different characters difplayed among the inhabitants? Leaving this queftion to be unriddled by philofophers, I haften forward to my purpofe, which is to introduce my readers to the acquaintance of two or three characters within the fphere of my particular knowledge. The obfervation of life and manners is the most pleafing ftudy I know, and they who practile it will find ample amends for their time. 'Tis the proper way of studying man, and carries you home directly to the heart. While philofophers are folving myfteries and inveftigating the depths of ethics and phyfics, be it my province" to catch the manners living as they rife"-to paint the paffions, warm and unmasked, as they ruh be fore the eye. While philofophers are fearching and fweating to difcover the cause, be it my part to laugh at the effect, and extract from them as much innocent merriment as I am able. Be it known, therefore, that I have been for fome time making the tour of this metropolis. I thought fo fer tile and extenfive a field muft have produced many originals, and I was not difappointed. As I have become acquainted with various characters in every quarter of the town, I fhail continue to lay them from time to time before my readers, because they will afford inftruction and amusement at the fame time. Whoever frequents Nando's must have feen Thomas Dullman. He is a young man, but poffeffes all the lazy apathy and frigid qualities of old age. He has a certain rule for doing every thing, from which he never varies. He is as methodical as the wooden men H 2 at at St. Dunstan's clock, and goes exactly by the fame rule-one, two, three. If you had the ill luck to meet him in the garden, you would fwear he was a ftatueftept from its pedestal to take the air."He is worth exactly 250l. per annum, and he knew laft Christmas every farthing that he'll fpend till next Christmas. He rifes precifely at nine, breakfasts precifely at ten, and takes the round of the Temple-gardens precifely at eleven. At breakfaft he never yet drank more than three dishes: He would not touch a fourth if you was to make him Minifter of State. He has his regular hours-nay, minutes-for dining too, and he has his regular dinners; that is, he determines, Sunday morning, on the feveral dishes which he thall dine on each fucceeding day of the week. Here is his last week's bill Sunday-Fowl and bacon, greens, and a tart. Monday-Soup and bouilli, applepudding. Tuesday-Soup, roast mutton, eggpudding. Wednesday-Smother'd rabbits, fauce, and mince-pye. Thursday-Stuffed veal, bacon, and plum-pudding. Friday-Soup fanté, roast beef, and apple-pye. Saturday Venifon at the Griffin, tarts, and jelly. This is a faithful copy; and fo reli. giously does he adhere to thefe appointments, that he would fooner ftarve by inches than eat the dinner of Monday on Tuesday, or the dinner of Tuesday on Wednesday.-He goes every evening, alternately, to the two Theatres. But he does not follow the plays, but the Play-houtes. If Thurf day is his appoined night for Coventgarden, he would not change his plan and go to Drury lane were an angel to perform in it--and vice verjä. Wedneday night att was one of his Covent-garden nights; but as Garrick played Hamlet at the other house, I begged of him to a company me there. Vain thought! I could fooner move the Monument. But it is herein that nature amazes us-This clock-work gentleman has a brother, Frank, who is exactly his reverfe. It is within the compafs of my own knowledge, that Frank left the town one morning last week, breakfafted at Richmond, and dined at Gravefend-then came home, and broke a porter's head, for not being able to leap over a bench at the Grecian. But I will not defcribe him, as he is every thing that his brother is not. Nature feemed to fport in their birth, and produced two oddities."But is not this very unnatural (lay you?) How could it happens?"—I'll tell you. Thomas was begot by old Dullman himself, the booby father: Now Frank was begot by old Dullman's French hair-dreffer. He At the Cocoa-tree. Do you fee yon tall and airy youth, with the cockade and fword? He is fitting at the corner of the box, drinking chocolate. “ Ay -what is he?"-Hardly any body knows." What's his name?" H---5, What's his profession ?" Nothing. "What's his income?" Nothing. "How does he live?" Nobody knows, ---You fee, however, that he dreffes well, and drinks the best claret. keeps good company, figures away in the front-boxes twice a week, and can occafionally lofe ten guineas at piquet. He walks in the Park at noon, fings well, but is never feen after 11 at night. I know him as well as any body does; but I know no more of him. The other evening, however, he loft all his money, to the laft fixpence. He begged the loan of a guinea of me to pay for the hachney coach home. I met him the next morning, and he whispered in my ear, "That he did not fee Mrs. laft night, fo could not pay me yet." -He's in keeping. ---. If you never faw old Scent-well the newinienger, you never faw a true oddity. He is to be feen every morn ing at -. But where is he not to be feen? He knows every body and every body knows him. He knows everything too.Is the Queen indifpofed, the Duke of Gloucester dying, or the Princefs Dowager dead? He knows all.-Is a new Comedy at the old house, or a new Pantomime at the garden? He knows that too. Is Gibraltar taken, or Lord · - cuckolded, or a whore turned out of the Pantheop? Extract from the Philofophy of the Paffions. heon? All these he knows too, and fifty things more.-At a public execution, or a public proceffion, you fee him in the center of a first-story window; at a firework or a review, you fee him exalted above the mob. It is his boaft that he has feen every thing that is to be feen, and now he will not regret to die. What a lofs would this be to all the town! Who then will inform us that the Adelphi is a fine building, that great improvements are carrying on in the Park, and that 'tis hard frofty weather? Who then will inform us, that Wilkes is a cunning Alderman, and that Londonbridge will not ftand till next Christ 61 mas? Who then will inform us,that Garrick has a cold, that Slingsby has twifted his ancle, or that there is a lecture in Brewer-street? Believe me, Scentwell has merit in his way; and, were it not that he tires one in ten minutes, would be an excellent cordial in a foggy morning.---Though he'll never die of the gout, he'll die of a confumption of the lungs; and after being talked of three fhort hours, he'll be forgot for ever. I have great variety of characters ftill undefcribed, both male and female, which fhall be laid before my readers in fome future numbers. M. For the OXFORD MAGAZINE. An Extract from the PHILOSOPHY of the PASSIONS: A Book juft published. THE author of this Piece is a Hutchinfonian Philofopher. It is amufing to read his dreams concerning Paradife, and the Sate of Man before the Fall. Whether there were Paffions in the State of Innocence, and of the fame Nature as ours? O long a time has elapfed fince we forfeited our innocence, that we now retain but a feeble idea of it, and if the divine juftice did not ftill punish the crime of the father in the perfons of the children, we should have also loft the regret of it. Every one, as fancy leads him, defcribes the felicity of that ftate, or rather following the bent of his own inclinations, places in it the pleasures he knows and defires. Some fay, that the whole earth was a Paradife; that of the feafons our years confift of, there were only the autumn and fpring; that all the trees had the property of the orange, and that at all times they were loaded with leaves, flowers, and fruits: Others were perfuaded that no other winds blew but the Zephyrs, and that the earth without culture, anticipated our wants and was productive of all things, I think, that without main taining thefe opinions, it may be faid, that in this happy condition, good was not mingled with evil, and that the qualities of the elements were fo well tempered, that man received contentment from them, and felt no caufe of difpleafure. There were no dif orders that required reformation, no enemies to fight again, no calamities to be avoided. All creatures confpired to his felicity, the beafts of the field refpected his perfon, and perhaps thofe of the foreft had no fierce nor favage difpofitions. As the earth did not bear thorns, and as all its parts were fruitful or agreeable, so the iky and air fhed no malign or contagi ous influence, and that itar which difpenfes life and death in nature, conitantly held forth the ferene and enlivening afpect of the most engaging charms. If, however, there is little certainty in regard to the ftate of man, there is not more as to what concerns his perfon: We philofophize according to our fentiments, and as in the firit ages of the world almost all manner of perfons made for themselves idols, fo now every one fabricates a felicity for Adam, and gives him all imaginable advantages. Amidst fo great a multiplicity of opinions or errors, it may with good reafon 62 Extract from the Philofophy of the Paffions. reafon be said, without determining any thing in particular, that though we cannot defcribe either the beauty of the place where man made his refidence, or the advantages of his mind and body, yet we are in fome meafure obliged to believe that he found in his habitation all he could wish for, and experienced nothing in his perfon to incommode him: 'His conftitution was excellent, his health could admit of no alteration; and if time might weaken it, he had a remedy at hand to prevent that calamity by the ufe of the fruit of life, which recruiting his ftrength, would fupply him with new vigour. He was immortal, not by nature, but by grace; and he was fenfile that fin could not deprive him of life unless he had forfeited his innocence: His foul was not lefs happily difpofed of than his bedy; for befides his having all fciences by infufion, he knew all the fecrets of nature, and was ignorant of nothing that might contribute to his happiness; his memory was perfect, and his will entertained no inclinations but fuch as were good, his affections were regular, and though he was not infenfible, his temper was fo even that nothing could difturb his quiet: The Paffions that get the ftart of reafon by their violence, waited his orders, and never rofe up without being commanded; in fhort, his paffions were not lefs natural than ours, but they were tractable; and as his conftitution made him capable of our motions, original justice exempted him from all their diforders. I know not whether I run connter to the opinion of divines, but it feems to me, in as great a degree as one may hazard a conjecture amidit this groom of darknefs, that I do not offend truth. For, if man, by being compofed of a body, was mortal; and if, by being honoured with original grace, he was immortal, it fecins that by the fame induction it may be inferred, that by not being a pure fpirit, he had paffons, but that being fanctified in all the faculties of his foul, he had none but what were innocent. To give this reafoning all the force it ought to have, it will be neceffary to extend its principle and to prove, that man could die by lofing juftice, and that immortality was rather a grace of Heaven, than property of his nature. For if he had been truly immortal, he would have no occation for aliments, and if death had not been natural to him, he would not have wanted a privilege to fecure him from it. Having eaten to preferve life, he could lofe it; and being obliged to guard against old age, by the ufe of a miraculous fruit, there was an evident poffibility of his dying, and of his life, as well as ours, requiring remedies against death. I confefs that thefe remedies being more effectual than ours, repaired his strength to greater advantage, and that in prolonging the conrfe of his life, they always kept at a distance the hour of his death: I alfo allow that they ba nished the corruptibility of his body, and kept it in fo perfect a state of health, as not to admit of an indifpofition; yet, ftill it must be granted me, that if man had not used these remedies, ratural heat would have confumed the radical moisture, and old age fucceeding this difoider, would have infallibly brought him to death. All thefe maxims are so true that there is a neceffity of acknowledging, that if the ufe of the tree of life was permitted us in our prefent ftate, death would caufe no more ravages in the world; and that man, criminal as he is, would notwithstanding be immortal. If then Adam could die becaufe he had a body, as if he could not die because he had gaace, it appears that in a proportionate degree he had paffions, fince his foul was engaged in matter, but that thefe paffions were docile, because original juftice quelled their motions, and becaufe in this condition his fears were juft, and hopes reasonable, Account Account of a burning Well at Brolly in Shropshire, from Mr. Martin, late Woodwardian Profeffor at Cambridge, to the Royal Society. TH HIS well was discovered in 1711, but has been many years loft. It was fome time ago recovered, but in a lower fituation, and 30 yards nearer the Severn. For four or five feet deep, it is fix or seven feet wide. Within that is another lefs hole, of like depth, dug in the clay: In the bottom whereof is placed an earthen vesel, about five or fix inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken off, and the fides well fixed in the clay rammed well about it. Within the pot is a brown water, thick as puddle, continually forced up with a violent motion, beyond that of boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noife, rifing and falling by fits five or fix inches, but no vaponr appeared, perhaps because the fun fhone bright. Upon putting down a candle at the end of a ftick, at a quarter of a yard diitance it took fire, darting and flashing in a violent manner for about half a yard high, like fpirits in a lamp, but with greater agitation. I was told that a tea-kettle had been made to boil in nine minutes, and that it had been left bur ing for forty-eight hours toge ther, without any fentible dimination. It was extinguified by putting a wet mop upon it, which must be kept there a finall time, otherwife it would not go out. Upon the removal of the mop, there fucceeded a fulphureous finoke, lafting about a minute; and yet the water was very cold to the touch. The well lies thirty yards from the Severn, which in that place, and fome miles above and below runs in a vale full 100 yards perpendicular below the level of the country on either fide, which inclines down to the country at an angle of twenty cr thirty degrees from the horizon, but fomewhat more or lefs in different places, as the place is more or less rocky. To the EDITOR of the OXFORD MAGAZINE, SIR, Beware of the Calends of February. B EWARE of the Ides of May, faid the Spectator to his fair countrywomen, in the reign of Queen Anne. But, Beware of the Calends of February, fays the keen-ey'd Argus, in the reign of King George the Third: For though I heartily concur with my ingenious predeceffor in his concern for that beautiful part of our fpecies, yet I must beg leave to differ with him as to the time, he having left the most intricate part of the year unguarded. Beware, therefore, ye fair, of the Calen's of February. 'Tis a flippery month, and may trip up your heels. Mutter up all your collected force of Habit, Education, and Virtue, to with ftand the operations of the winter campaign, or you may happen to fall, but with lefs decency than Cæfar. The Spectator founds his apprehenfions of the month of May upon three fuppofitions; all which, with fubmiffion, I think groundlefs. The first is, "That the fpirits, after having been as it were frozen and congealed by the winter, are then turned loofe and fet a rambling." Now the fpirits may more justly be faid to be fet a rambling in February, after a tedious fix months confinement in the country, than in May, after a four months evaporation in London, I confider this feafon as the general Goal-delivery of the fair-fex: They come to town Aufhed |