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sometimes a politician, sometimes a jester, sometimes a philosopher, and sometimes a fiddler; now a magistrate, now a mechanic, an antiquary, an algebraist, an astrologer: but all would not do; for before Dick had got half through with his metamorphoses and experiments, he was robbed, ridiculed, cheated, cuffed, lampooned, posted, pelted, roasted, cut up, tossed in a blanket, and so often kicked, that, as we read in Hudibras, he rose at last to such nicety of discrimi nation, as to tell, by his sensations alone, the difference between Spanish and neat's leather.

Under all these trials and defeats, Dick's face grew longer, and his purse shorter, every day; till, by one of the luckiest accidents in the world, Dick married a wife; and at the end of three years being the father of five rosy children, he appeared every where with the most smiling and contented face in the world; declaring to all his friends, that his pains were at last rewarded, by the discovery of his particular talent, which lay, as was proved, in supplying the community with healthy children, and in teaching them to ride on broomsticks.

Not all the gravity, however, of his more important situation in life, could ever banish from the memories of his college-acquaintance the ludicrous name that was given to him, of Doubting Dicky. I am informed too, that his original character has frequently discovered itself afresh, in the embarrassment he has laboured under in the disposal of his children; and that his eldest son, after being drubbed as a wit, thrown into a ditch in the character of a fox-hunter, and cashiered as a soldier, was, about a month ago, with great difficulty recovered from drowning by the process of the Humane Society, after courageously setting the Thames at defiance with his divingbell and balloon, in the character of a modern philosopher.

I beg leave to follow up this account of poor Dick Addle, with a rule, that may perhaps be serviceable to those who may happen to find themselves in a similar distress. Let such as doubt, like Dick, of their proper destination, make choice at once of some humble handicraft employment, in which there is little risk to themselves, and a sure profit to the community. In these unambitious walks of life, a failure can terminate in no very important evils; while, on the contrary, the unsuccessful trials which are every day made in the provinces of genius and taste, spread wide their mischievous effects, and leave lasting impressions of injury and discredit.

I have no doubt but that society must gain greatly by the general adoption of such a rule as I have laid down; for where it loses one man of real genius, it will escape a score of pretenders. Besides which, perhaps it would be found, that out of the mass of mechanical industry, into which I would throw all these hesitating gentlemen, the more subtile and volatile parts would rise with a chemical alacrity, and leave behind them the heavier and solider substances, to occupy their natural places in the order of life.

One of my ancestors, who was the greatest droll of all the Olive-branches, among other odd particulars, has left us a list of the accidental discoveries which his different acquaintances have made of their own talents, and the occasions of those discoveries; a few articles of which I will lay before my readers. His motto is,CHEV

Plus enim fati valet hora benigni

Quam si te Veneris commendet epistola Marti.
Try all you can, by int'rest, love, or letter;
A lucky hit will do your business better."

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11th of March, 1672.-Sam Stunt, happening to put himself into a pair of scales in the course of

some experiments on the effects of air on the human body, discovered himself to be the exact weight for a horse; and, instead of a ridiculous philosopher, is become a very learned jockey. 1st of April.-Tom Hardcastle, in endeavouring to be witty this day on all mankind, found he did better as a butt, and has since served in that capacity, to the great entertainment of his friends.

4th of June. Ned Spare-rib began to walk the hospital this day, and convinced himself and the world, before night, that nature had designed him for a carcass-butcher.

17th of August.-Will Cross-stick, who had written several pamphlets, and much treason, without turning a penny, as he was whistling out his meditations, saw a rusty razor lying on the road: his genius took fire at the omen, and he is since become a topping barber at Shoreditch. 2d of September.-Jack Parsnip, who had begun his career as a parish-officer, and had since stepped forward as a great politician, being pursued hard by the bailiffs, hid himself in a dung-cart: his genius for gardening began immediately to make great shoots; and the best melons in the county are now of his raising. 4th of November.-Bob Smirk, after following the business of an attorney without success for many years, found out his talent for mimicry as he followed a rich uncle to the grave.

1st of December. Ben Bodkin was a fellow of sprightly parts: he felt conscious of a genius for something, but he did not know what: he tried various callings and occupations, till, being hired at the theatre to assist in the procession in

VOL. XLI.

the tragedy of Alexander the Great, he scraped acquaintance with a journeyman tailor: his genius developed itself in a moment; and before Alexander could well get into Babylon, he drew a pair of scissors from his pocket, and made a desperate effort to cabbage the skirt of his royal mantle. I am told that at this day there is nothing in the whole trade so capital as the cut of Ben Bodkin's coats. 24th of December.-As Bob Furbish was turning the corner of a street, his hat was blown off into an auctioneer's pulpit: he followed it close, and mounted the rostrum just as they had begun to bid for it. The moment he saw the crowd below him, the workings of his mind were prodigious; he declared himself inspired, and hurried down without his hat: the next day he entered into the profession; and no man handles the hammer like Bob Furbish at this hour. 2d of January, 1673.-Paul Puff had acted as pedlar, puppetshow-man, and quack-doctor, till, being tempted on the evening of this day to take a hot mutton-pye in exchange for a box of pills, all the pastry-cook was lighted up in his soul, and his shop is now the most considerable in the city.

But I must drop these drolleries of Mr. Isaac Olive-branch, my great-great-grandfather, in order to leave room for the following letter.

"Sir,

Looker-on,

"I am a constant reader of the and confess I am pleased with your manner of treating those diseases of the mind which have fallen un der your contemplation. I have not yet, however,

had the good fortune to find in it a sufficient remedy for my own. In order therefore that my case may be taken into consideration, I will give you as accurate an account as I can, both of the symptoms of the complaint, and of the methods I have used towards its cure; requesting that whatever may appear to promise relief to your distressed patient, may be published in your paper as soon as possible.

I can

"I am a bachelor of about fifty years of age, and am a prey to a passion that consumes me. rest neither night nor day for the rage I feel for authorship, and the honours of genius; the trophies of some Miltiades or other are for ever disturbing my peace. How early this passion gained possession of my mind, I cannot accurately inform you; but to the best of my remembrance I perceived the first intrusions of it about fifteen years ago, when I was admitted a member of the Royal Society. My whole distress arises from my inability to discover whether I am a man of genius or not. This is a discovery which I am extremely anxious to make, before I either entirely resign the thoughts of becoming an author, or determine to enter upon this toilsome ca

reer.

"Various are the means which I have pursued, and laborious are the researches which I have made, to convince myself of a truth so necessary to the establishment of my peace or the increase of my fame: among others, I collect from all quarters the lives and anecdotes of great men; and according as I find a similarity between their habits and my own, I judge of the extent of my capacity. The consequence of this is, that when I discover in myself a congeniality of thought or coincidence of behaviour with them, I am elated above measure, consider such an agreement as an undoubted proof of my genius,

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