when my friendly host told me that he could furnish me with a chaise ! Confusion light upon him! what a stroke was this! It was not the few paltry shillings that vexed me, but to have my philanthropy till that moment running cheerly through my veins, and to have the current turned back suddenly by the detection of his knavery. Verily, Yorick, even thy gentle spirit, so meekly accustomed to bear and forbear, would have been roused on such an occasion. I paid hastily for my entertainment, and shaking the dust from my feet at his gate, I marched with my box on my shoulder to a waggoner's at the other end of the town, where I entered it for London, and sallied forth towards Chester on foot. I was so nettled at being the dupe of my own credulity, that I was almost tempted to pass an excommunication on all mankind, and resolved never more to trust my own skill in physiognomy. Wrapt up in my speculations, I never perceived at what a rate I was striding away, till I found myself in the suburbs of Chester, quite out of breath, and completely covered with dust and dirt. From Chester I set out that evening in the stage: slept about four hours next day at Coventry, and the following evening, at five o'clock, was in view of near a hundred and twenty spires, that are scattered from one side of the horizon to the other, and seem almost bewildered in the mist that perpetually covers this prodigious capital. "Twould be impossible for description to give any idea of the various objects that fill a stranger, on his first arrival, with surprise and astonishment. The magnificence of the churches, hospitals, and other public buildings, which every where present themselves, would alone be ample subject of admiration to a spectator, though he were not distracted by the gaudy display of wealth and dissipation continually shifting before his eyes in the most extravagant forms of pride and ostentation, or by a hurry of business that might make you think this the source from which life and motion are conveyed to the world beside. There are many places here not unworthy of particular inspection, but as my illness prevented me from seeing them on my first arrival, I shall suspend my curiosity till some future time, as I am determined to apply to reading this vacation with the utmost diligence, in order to attend the courts next winter with more advantage. If I should happen to visit Ireland next summer, I shall spend a week before I go in seeing the curiosities here (the king and queen, and the lions); and if I continue in my present mood, you will see a strange alteration in your poor friend. That cursed fever brought me down so much, and my spirits are so reduced, that, faith! I don't remember to have laughed these six weeks. Indeed, I never thought solitude could lean so heavily on me as I find it does: I rise, most commonly, in the morning between five and six, and read as much as my eyes will permit me till dinnertime; I then go out and dine, and from that till bedtime I mope about between my lodgings and the park. For Heaven's sake send me some news or other (for surely Newmarket cannot be barren in such things) that will teach me once more to laugh. I never received a single line from any one since I came here. Tell me if you know any thing about Keller: I wrote twice to that gentleman, without being favoured with any answer. You will give my best respects to Mrs. Aldworth and her family; to doctor Creach's; and don't forget my good friends, Peter and Will Connel. Yours sincerely, J. P. C. P. S.-I will cover this blank edge with entreating you to write closer than you commonly do when you sit down to answer this, and don't make me pay tenpence for a halfpenny worth of white paper. MR. CURRAN TO 1774. APJOHN and I arrived in London about eight o'clock on Thursday. When I was set down, and threw myself into a box in the next coffeehouse to me, I think I never felt so strangely in my life. The struggle it cost me to leave Ireland, and the pain of leaving it as I did, had been hurried into a sort of numbness by the exertion of such an effort, and a certain exclusion of thought, which is often the consequence of a strong agitation of mind: the hurry also of the journey might in some measure have contributed to soothe for a moment these uneasy sensations. But the exertion was now over, the hurry was past; the barriers between me and reflection now gave way, and left me to be overwhelmed in the torrent. All the difficulties I had encountered, the happy moments I had lately passed, all now rushed in upon my mind, in melancholy succession, and engrossed the pang in their turn— Revolving in his alter'd soul The various turns of chance below, And tears began to flow. At length I roused myself from this mournful reverie, and after writing a few words to Newmarket, set out in search of some of my old acquaintance. I sought them sorrowing, but there was not even one to be found; they had either changed their abodes, or were in the country. How trivial a vexation can wound a mind that is once depressed! Even this little disappointment, though it was of no consequence, though it could not surprise me, yet had the power to afflict me, at least to add to my other mortifications. I could not help being grieved at considering how much more important changes may happen even in a shorter time; how the dearest hopes and most favourite projects of the heart may flourish, and flatter us with gaudy expectations for a moment, and then, suddenly disappearing, leave us to lament over our wretchedness and our credulity. Pleased with the novelty of the world, we fasten eagerly on the bauble, till satiated with enjoyment, or disgusted with disappointment, we resign it with contempt. The world in general follows our example, and we are soon thrown And yet, dreary aside, like baubles, in our turn. as the prospect is, it is no small consolation to be attached to, and to be assured of the attachment of some worthy affectionate souls, where we may find a friendly refuge from the rigours of our destiny; to have even one congenial bosom on which the poor afflicted spirit may repose, which will feelingly participate our joys or our sorrows, and with equal readiness catch pleasure from our successes, or strive to alleviate the anguish of disappointment. I this day left my lodgings,-the people were so very unruly that I could stay no longer: I am now at No. 4, in St. Martin's Street, Leicester Fields, not far from my former residence. You will perhaps smile at the weakness, yet I must confess it; never did I feel myself so spiritless, so woe-begone as when I was preparing for the removal. I had settled myself with an expectation of remaining till I should finally depart for Ireland; I was now leaving it before that period, and my spirits sunk into a mixture of peevishness and despondence at the disappointment. I had emptied the desk belonging to the lodgings of my few movables, which I collected in a heap on the floor, and prepared to dispose of in my little trunk. Good Heavens! in how many various ways may the poor human heart be wounded! Is it that even Philosophy cannot so completely plunge her children in the waters of wisdom, that a heel, at least, will not be left vulnerable, and exposed to the danger of an arrow? Is the |