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The MORNING, alias the MIDNIGHT CHRONICLE is a meffenger of parliament, carrying out copies of refolutions, with his mouth full of Hafty Sketches, like a taylor with a fuit of cloaths, and a pocket full of fhreds and patches!

Of the POST it can only be said that it is a poft indeed!-a finger-poft, pointing only one way the way to Oppofition Castle, kept by Giant Talkative, who lives by the breath of his mouth, and is lately gone mad for an Indian princefs of immenfe fortune and exquifite beauty!

The HERALD is like a political clergyman with his coat turned wrong-fide outwards, or a Fox-fkin to defend him from the weather.— It is a kind of literary Proteus: fometimes it affumes the shape of a Bawd, recommending proftitutes to princes, and is as good a stickler for price, as any in King's place. At other times, it walks the town in the form of a folio conundrum book, with a choice collection of puns, and double entendre, as keen as a leaden fword!

The PUBLIC ADVERTISER refembles Ithuriel with his fpear, detecting falfhood, exposing calumny to fhame, and warning the public. against political treachery, and the abominable vices of the times!

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SUCH are my ideas of the morning papers; whether they are just or not, let their readers determine!

BLACK CONTRACT.

THE Contract between Giant Talkative and the Head-eaters, for deluding the public, and for mifreprefenting political men and measures, it is generally understood, expires this day; and it is fuppofed, that the faid Head-eaters-unless they receive another retaining fee from the friends of the faid Giant-will renounce their temporary friendship for him, and voluntarily face about to the RIGHT!

THEATRE S.

Opera.

VESTRIS' benefit on Thursday did not bring together fo much company as might have been expected. It would be well to fhut up this house for a season or two, by way of creating novelty. We know every note of Pacchierotti, and every step of Veftris; and there is nothing left to excite curiofity but Novofielfki's new fcenes of which, for obvious reasons, there have been but few this season. The decline of the Italian opera is not however to be attributed to the want of capital performers. The Buffa opera went off well, and the new dance with fingular eclat. Veftris and

Theodore, difcovered unufual abilities, or, to speak in the news-paper phrase, "out-did all their former out-doings;" their minuet was the moft exquifite performance exhibited on this ftage this feafon; whilft Slingfby, Roffi, and Simonet did all that was required of them. The band did ample justice to the opera and the dances; but-the opera rage is over!

Drury-Lane.

NOTHING, fince my laft, has occurred at this theatre, on which criticism has not been exhausted, except Friday's

ORATORIO

of L'Allegro il Penforofo, commanded by their Majestics, which went off with such applause that it will no doubt be frequently repeated befere the conclufion of Lent. The admirers of Mifs George-and all her hearers are admirers will now have opportunities of hearing her to advantage. She fung the first treble, and acquitted herself with fingular fuccefs. To the air of "Sweet bird, that fhunn'ft the noife of folly," which admits of all the powers and graces a finger can bestow, fhe did more justice than any theatrical performer I have heard for many years, and I do not recollect any of her predeceffors acquitting themselves to more advantage. Herein I differ from the opinion of fome, who imagine they fhew a fuperiority of judgment by finding fault with what gives general fatisfaction; but it is cruel that a performer should fuffer from the coxcomical affectation of pfeudo critics!

OF Mrs. Kennedy it is needless to say any thing: her powers are well known; she never fings to an unfeeling audience; for were it com posed, as, in part, it too frequently is, of brutes, fhe, above all others, poffeffes the Orphean skill to footh them into humanity.-Meflrs. Norris and Reinhold received the applaufe due to their extraordinary talents. The latter in "Mirth admit me of thy crew," was peculiarly animated.

THE performance of the evening concluded with the Coronation Anthem, and it gave me the moft heart-felt pleasure to hear God fave the King! TWICE encored in honour of the Royal vifitors. The fatisfaction of his Majesty was visible in his countenance; and the plaudits he received on his entering and departing from the theatre are the most convincing proofs that no fovereign was ever more beloved by his people, and no people ever more happy in a fovereign. Tears of joy stood in the eyes of many, and the Coronation of 1761 was remembered with delight!

Ar

Covent Garden.

AT this theatre, nothing material has prefented itfelf, fince my laft, except a repetition of that farago of nonfenfe, Harlequin Rambler, with improvements, that is, improvements on the nonfenfe, making it more nonfenfical; and laft night's performance of Thomson's Tancred and Sigifmunda, of which I fhall only fay, that it might have been caft better. Mr. Wroughton would have fuftained Tancred better than Mr. Lewis, who certainly wants weight in all the first-rate characters he plays in tragedy. If Mrs. Kemble, Mifs Younge, or in fhort, almost any tragic heroine younger than Mrs. Crawford had reprefented Sigifmunda, the play would have fared the better. Mrs. Crawford, however, did the part every juftice it required from great abi lities, and received the applaufe which was due to her fifteen years ago--Of Seffridi, it is needlefs to obferve that Mr. Hull reprefented him with great propriety; and with refpect to Ofmond, Mr. Aickin fhould have performed it, and not Mr. Whitfield. Credit is due to the manager for his attention in getting up this play.

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pire to the eminent diftinction of public applause in their private profeffion, wifhing, it seems, to eclipse the Perdita herself in the notoriety of their behaviour. Of the fame Perdita, the Black Crow, the White Swan, and the reft of the fifterhood, who are ambitious of popularity in infamy, little has been lately faid; the subject, like themselves, is grown ftale, and "in the "noftril fmells horrible."

Ir is to be lamented that characters so prejudicial, fhould be permitted to join fociety in an admiffion to public places. The contagion of example has ruined many; and if the legislature could devise means for effecting the exclufion of this part of the fex from the rest, they would do infinitely more good than by framing ftatutes for the limitation of marriage, and enacting laws for the preservation of game.

AT present the influence of vicious example has full scope, and I know but of one antidote

against its effects, which I very earnestly recom mend to my female readers: I mean a ferious contemplation of the latter end of thofe unhappy wretches who have heretofore fhone in all the fplendour of prostitution. The mifery they usually suffer by a tranfition from unbounded diffipation to extreme indigence, may be more eafily conceived than described; and the contemplation of it will naturally fuggeft this reflection, that death is far better than fuch a life!

LITERATURE.

Of literary productions of excellence, this winter has been remarkably fcarce; a fure fign that the next will abound more abundantly. This obfervation does not extend to learned men only, but, what is more remarkable, to learned women alfo neither Mifs More, Mrs. Brooke, nor Mifs Seward having produced any thing, though remarkable for a quick fucceffion of ideas, and fpeedy communications to the public. A fecond volume of Effays from the inimitable pen of Mifs More, would be peculiarly acceptable, unlefs fhe is employed in the more arduous purfuits of the mufe, and adding dramatic charms to fcriptural fimplicity. The productions of Mrs. Brooke and of Mifs Seward are more adapted to the times, and are, confequently, more generally known.

SPEAKING of female writers, it is to be remarked, that the pursuits of literature have been greatly on the decline amongst the fair sex within these few years paft; which I cannot help attributing to the univerfal prevalence of that dif sipation which has ruined half our nobility, and greatly corrupted the public taste. Women are chiefly fwayed by example; and it is incredible to say how much they will facrifice to fashion rather than be thought fingular. Men becoming effeminate, and affecting to despise

The man to books confin'd,

Who from his study rails at human kind; the ladies had great reafon to fuppofe that they fhould fuffer fimilar difgrace, by fimilar purfuits, and, therefore, to avoid fharing the contempt of the majority, willingly facrificed the amufive branches of fcience to the taste of the times!

WALKING JOCKIES. NOTWITHSTANDING the drynefs of the weather, the lobbies of the Theatres were, last night, as crouded as ever with this fpecies of public nuifance. Thele figures who are ufually Irish fortune-hunters, Scotch bludes, Englishmen mis-bred, or pretended officers, are a real terror to all

peaceable

peaceable people. With a flouched hat, a great ftick, a monstrous club, and a down look, they parade all public places, particularly the Theatres, and feem in fearch of whom they may devour. Nothing can equal the infolence and affumed airs thefe fellows give themselves; and their behaviour is generally fuch, that I have frequently fufpected them for disguised chairmen and porters. I am vaftly pleased when two or three of thefe gentlemen quarrel; they have ufually madness enough to fnap pistols at each other, which always affords the comfortable profpect, as Dean Swift fays, of ridding the world of a couple of fcoundrels.

I CANNOT but think it equitable, and I recommend it to the attention of the managers of our theatres, that as they will not permit ladies to wear balloon-hats, even in the green boxes, they ought to oblige thefe fame Walking Jockies to pull off their boots and leave them with persons appointed for the purpofe, or with their dear friends the fruit-women, before they are permitted to enter the boxes.

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To other CORRESPONDENTS.

IF every one had the abhorrence to vice which Exploratio profeffes to have, the publication fhe alludes to would not long infult the town. Modeftus may reft affured that his wifhes will be complied with, except with respect to the First Number, which is this day reprinted. Attention has been put into the hands of the Printer, and he has attended to it accordingly. I am forry to refufe a lady any thing, but the Lines on Mrs. Crawford are too imperfect for publication. Probably any of the morning prints will admit them.

LONDON: Printed by T. RICKABY, No. 15, Duke's-Court, Bow-Street, Covent-Garden;

And Sold by T. AXTELL, No. 1, Finch-Lane, Cornhill, and at the Royal Exchange; by W. SWIFT, Bookfeller, Charles-Street, St. James's-Square; by P. BRETT, Bookfeller and Stationer, oppofite St. Clement's-Church in the Strand; by G. KEARSLEY, No. 46, Fleet-Street; and by W. THISELTON, Bookfeller and Stationer, No. 37, Goodge-Street, Rathbone-Place.

CORRESPONDENTS are requested to address their favours to the NEW SPECTATOR, to be left at Mr. SWIFT's, in Charles-Street, St. James's-Square, where a LETTER-Box is affixed for their reception.

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All this they fpeak in print.

AVING promifed an carly infertion of fuch favours of my correfpondents, as, I truft, will merit public attention, I fhall dedicate this paper to their service.

To the NEW SPECTATOR.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

You have commenced an undertaking highly proper for the prefent era of periodical publications; and such as, I doubt not, will meet with public approbation. It is true, you have had many predeceffors, who have exercised their genius on almost every subject; but one of them very judiciously remarks, that as the works of nature will always afford matter for endless contemplation, and as vice and folly perpetually vary their appearances, fo fresh fources of animadverfion are perpetually discovered, and the enquirer always finds novelty fufficient to avoid the footsteps of those who have gone before him. Thus, in countries where the sciences have made confiderable progress, and learning and ingenuity have erected the standard of truth, the human mind, never fatiated with enquiry, pursues, with all the ardour of avidity, fresh tracts of knowledge; and after having gratified its curiofity in the contemplation of the material world, and external objects, ceases at length to wander in queft of exercife, and finds an inexhaustible fountain of ratiocination in the contemplation of itself.

SHAKESPEARE,

So when the liberty of communication accompanies the liberty of investigation, the progrefs of literature is proportionably rapid; for literature is nothing more than the revelations of reafon, the public transcripts of private opinion, or the decifions of combined enquiry. Nothing can be more regular than the advancement of fociety from barbarifm to refinement. After the formation of laws, for the protection of society and individuals, men begin to turn their attention to the sciences which, by expanding their ideas, presently introduce moral enquiries, refined fpeculations, and elegant manners.

It has been very often, and very justly observed, that liberty and literature accompany each other; that the latter cannot exift, but under the immediate protection of the former; and that a country destitute of freedom, can never be exuberant in knowledge. Tyranny is a Medusian head to the fciences; it congeals, it petrifies; it blafts the bud of knowledge, and we look for the flower in vain.

THERE is no one country in which this truth is more fully evinced than in our own; for such have been the fluctuations of power, sometimes in favour of freedom, and sometimes of tyranny, that I think a flight attention may discover, by the literature of the times, which have had the predominance at different periods. It opens a field of useful fpeculation, which would terminate in

the

the delightful contemplation of that felicity which we enjoy, but which, to other nations, is only an ideal happinefs. The fpeculations of the thinking part of mankind, in fuch kingdoms, would turn on the nature of freedom, and more perfect forms of goverment; but that freedom being fecured to us, we may indulge our minds in all the luxury of fpeculative difquifitions, and metaphyfical enquiries. Thus, it is obvious that under the establishment of freedom, the mind neceffarily expands itfelf; but the want of freedom contracts it in fome degree to one contemplation: and that is the contemplation of that liberty of which it is deprived.

INDEED, we are not only indebted to liberty for the enjoyment of all thofe advantages to which, as men and as free agents we are naturally entitled; but to its influence we must also ascribe the production of all our more refined pleafures. But for the influence of this principle, we had been deprived of the fentiments of men, whofe works have inftructed, reformed, and amufed mankind. To this influence we are indebted not only for the more voluminous pro-ductions of learned men, but alfo for the beautiful fentiments of an ADDISON, and a STEELE, a JOHNSON, and a MORE; and I am apt to think that the nature of the climate and of the people, has not had fo large a fhare as the freedom of enquiry, in forming the characteristic of the English, and entitling them to the appellation of "a nation of philofophers." The qualities of the climate may, in a degree, have contributed fomething to natural difpofition, and rendered. them a thinking people; but though thought and meditation may go far towards forming an individual philofopher; yet to give a philofophical turn to people, communication must be unrestrained, the mind perfectly at liberty, and enquiry augmented by encouragement, and rewarded by authority.

Ir then, as a people we are doubly bleffed with liberty and philofophy; with freedom of enquiry, and capacity to enquire: let us make a full, but a pleafing are of our acquifitions. Let the moments of amufement contribute to our intellectual pleasures; and I cannot conclude this letter better than by thanking you, Mr. SPECTATOR, for commencing a paper conducted on liberal principles, and which may tend to the revival of a fpecies of literature, highly advantageous to the community, in ridiculing, if not checking, the follies of the times.

I am Sir,

Your's, &c.

EDGAR.

To the NEW SPECTATOR.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

THE public having been recently infulted at the Haymarket Theatre, by being invited to fee a collection of prostitutes of the first order, who, however, never appeared; and Mr. Colman, as proprietor of the house, having had fome reflections caft on him in confequence; I have no doubt but your candour and impartiality will permit me publicly to observe that such cenfure is by no means applicable to him. It is true, that Mr. Colman is proprietor of the house, but it does not thence follow that he is to be anfwerable to the public for whatever may be performed in it, except during his own management. If he letts the Theatre for fingle nights to temporary managers, and fuch I understand is frequently the cafe, in the winter feafon, I cannot fee what he has to do with the performers or performances which that manager may think proper to bring forward. If the audience are infulted, the redrefs lies with themselves. A virtuous public

would have crowded the houfe on this infamous occafion, and by their cenfures have put proftitution to the blufh, and corrected the impudence of him who could thus think of captivating the town with the exhibition of characters which ought to be hid from the public eye, or hooted from facicty.

I am, Sir,
Yours, &c.
CHARLES L.

To the NEW SPECTATOR.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

you

Norwich, March 1ft 1784.

As have declared an intention of refusing every thing in the form of poetry, which has not marks of genius to recommend it, you will, of course, seldom admit any of thofe compofitions called Prologues and Epilogues. The following, however, is one exception against the vilenefs which ufually pervades thofe wretched effufions. It was fpoken at our Theatre on Saturday the 7th of laft month, when the comedy of As you like it, You was performed for the benefit of the poor. will regard it as a proof of genius, when I inform you that on the preceding Wednesday night, about twelve o'clock, Mr. Walker, one of the Minor Canons was requested to prepare an occafional Prologue to be delivered to the perfon who was to fpeak it the next morning.

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