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may wear it!” He may, for instance, aver, that the mysterious influence of sympathy was never more conspicuous than in the public deportment of the judicial and legal luminaries whom he is about to characterize. In a certain assembly, they can sit as quietly as grimalkin, enveloped in fur, and ruminating on future mischief; they can even listen with the most philosophical equanimity to a debate on the interests of mighty states, the revolutions of nations, and the immense public expenditure of their own country. But let a single hint be suggested for the amelioration of the criminal, or civil code; they start up, and with irresistible eloquence in a good cause, enter their protest against innovation. Their zeal, and their choler too, are excited to the highest pitch whenever any question is agitated, the tendency of which is directly or indirectly calculated to diminish the fees of office; nay, so sensitively delicate are they on this tender subject, that they are ready to weep when any measure is proposed which may restrain pettifogging.

If truth should operate universally on the minds of men, there would no longer be any cause for litigation, and the patriotic labours of lawyers would become mere works of supererogation, instead of the ascendency of their present influence in all civilized communities. Truth

would no longer be condemned as a libel, nor should we be amused with the ex officio exploits of an Attorney General. Our courts of law would, like the temple of Janus, be shut in peace; they would never then resound the eloquence of the advocates of adultery, for there could be no cases of Crim. Con. in a virtuous community. But since crimes prevail, legal restraints are indispensable in every community. In an opulent nation, the transfer of property requires more knowledge than the contracting parties often possess, hence the necessity for the aid of an attorney. In this view of things, it must be obvious to the candid censor, that indiscriminate blame is equally unjust and injurious, and observation will soon convince us that those individuals are the loudest in their invectives against chicanery, who have felt, or deserved to feel, the pe nalties inflicted by a just administration of the laws against the fraudulent violator of them. Hence an honest lawyer, and there are many such, strengthens that social edifice of which he is at once an ornament and protector; nay, even villanous limbs of the law may be successfully employed in the detection of criminals, thus illustrating the adage, "set a thief to catch a thief." Such beings as pettifoggers, and policeofficers, who occasionally associate with swindlers

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whom they betray for emolument, may be compared to one species of vermin destroying another, and thus removing a nuisance.

In describing notorious characters, the young satirist must not only be circumspect while dwelling on the peculiarities of the individual, but even sparing in the use of asterisks. They are the galaxy of an Attorney General, and by throwing light on the subject may turn a mere scintillation of the imagination into a most false and malicious libel. Indeed, such is the opulence and luxury of the English nation, that in sketching the foibles or vices of one extravagant personage, the satirist may be said to be describing a thousand. For instance, the fashionable rage for driving, notwithstanding the dissolution of the ridiculous Whip-Club, may be censured with propriety in the disastrous exhibition of one of their successors, Sir John Hairbrain, Bart. Not long since, Sir John drove his sociable, four in hand, through Bond-street, in the afternoon, when that thoroughfare of vanity was thronged by the gay, the fashionable, and the proud sons and daughters of opulence. His servant sat at Sir John's left hand, with his arms folded, enjoying a comfortable day-dream; while Lady Hairbrain appeared in the vehicle with a majestic air of superiority. One of the handmaids of Pomona, fresh

from sweet St. Giles's with her wheelbarrow laden with the produce of the English orchard, and the foreign orangery, suddenly crossed the street; the horses took fright at her discordant screams, and set off at full speed over the poor woman, ran against a scavenger's cart, and pitched the beautiful and accomplished Lady Hairs brain into the accumulated filth of several streets; while Sir John himself fell on the pavement, and broke both a leg and an arm; and the and the agreeable dream of his unfortunate servant was interrupted by a fall into the street. It is to be hoped, that such a deplorable accident, which had nearly been the death of a whole family, will make gentlemen who are ambitious to shine as dexterous charioteers, somewhat more circumspect in the display of talents which may cost them their lives. A few days practice on Wimbledon Common, or in Hyde Park, would be an excellent preparative; as a fall on the turf would be unattended with any danger, except, perhaps, a trifling dislocation of the neck, or the rupture of a blood vessel; while, on the other hand, the loss of the equilibrium in the streets of London, might be attended with several concomitant and incidental dangers; such as being dashed to pieces on the pavement, or trampled on while down, by the horses of some hackney coachman.

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The student in satire, by observations on real life, will soon perceive the general prevalence of false pretences to merit, which are supported in London by various modes of imposition on popular credulity. In this great capital, where every art seems to have nearly reached the zenith of excellence, the art of Puffing has been more generally and successfully practised than any other. The art of commendation is always employed as the harbinger, and often as the handmaid, of all the fine and polite arts which embellish society. Yet, however convenient or pleasing its blandishments may prove; like other flatterers, its deceptive praises prevent the exertion of those latent qualities in the individual, which if properly developed, might have realized that merit with which it endeavours to decorate vanity and indolence. The deception of puffing is often fraudulent, and sometimes dangerous. Like the shameless quack who presents his high priced and inefficacious potion to the lips of infirmity, under the imposing name of cordial balm of Gilead, or vegetable syrup, false praise deludes its dupe into fatal security, and certain error. This general deceiver of the public, eventually deludes even the impostor, who avails himself of the false praise circulated by the medium of a venal press; yet the player, the artist, and even