who was himself bent upon the same design against some other..

We have often heard of the speech of a corporation, and this induced me to transcribe a speech of this club, taken in short-hand, word for word, as it was spoken by every member of the company. It may be necessary to observe, that the man who told of the ghost had the loudest voice, and the longest story to tell, so that his continuing narrative filled every chasm in the conversation :

"So, sir, d'ye perceive me, the ghost giving three loud raps at the bed-post-says my lord to me, my dear Smokeum, you know there is no man upon the face of the earth for whom I have so high-a damnable false heretical opinion of all sound doctrine and good learning; for I'll tell it aloud, and spare not that-Silence for a song; Mr. Leathersides for a song-" As I was a walking upon the highway, I met a young damsel"-Then what brings you here? says the parson to the ghost-Sanconiathan, Manetho, and Berosus-The whole way from Islington turnpike to Dog-house-bar-Damn-As for Abel Drugger, sir, he's damn'd low in it; my 'prentice boy has more of the gentleman than he-For murder will out one time or other; and none but a ghost, you know, gentlemen, can-Damme if I dont; for my friend, whom you know, gentlemen, and who is a parliamentman, a man of consequence, a dear honest creature, to be sure, we were laughing last night at-Death and damnation upon all his posterity by simply, barely tastingSour grapes, as the fox said once when he could not reach them; and I'll, I'll tell you a story about that that will make you burst your sides with laughing: A fox once

Will nobody listen to the song-" As I was a walking upon the highway, I met a young damsel both buxom and gay"-No ghost, gentlemen, can be murdered; nor did I ever hear but of one ghost killed in all my life, and that was stabbed in the belly with a-My blood and soul if I don't-Mr. Bellows-mender, I have the honour of drinking your very good health—Blast me if I do-dam-blood-bugs-fire-whizz-blid--tit--rat-trip."- -The rest all riot, nonsense, and rapid con

fusion.

Were I to be angry at men for being fools, I could here find ample room for declamation; but alas! I have been a fool myself; and why should I be angry with them for being something so natural to every child of humanity?

Fatigued with this society, I was introduced the following night to a club of fashion. On taking my place, I found the conversation sufficiently easy, and tolerably good-humoured; for my lord and Sir Paul were not yet arrived. I now thought myself competely fitted, and resolving to seek no further, determined to take up my residence here for the winter; while my temper began to open insensibly to the cheerfulness I saw diffused on every face in the room: but the delusion soon vanquished, when the waiter came to apprise us that his lordship and Sir Paul were just arrived.

From this moment, all our felicity was at an end; our new guests bustled into the room, and took their seats at the head of the table. Adieu now all confidence; every creature strove who should most recommend himself to our members of distinction. Each seemed quite regardless of pleasing any but our new guests; and what be

fore wore the appearance of friendship, was now turned into rivalry.

Yet I could not observe, that amidst all this flattery and obsequious attention, our great men took any notice of the rest of the company. Their whole discourse was addressed to each other. Sir Paul told his lordship a long story of Moravia the Jew; and his lordship gave Sir Paul a very long account of his new method of managing silk-worms; he led him, and consequently the rest of the company, through all the stages of feeding, sunning, and hatching, with an episode on mulberry-trees, a digression upon grass seeds, and a long parenthesis about his new postilion. In this manner we travelled on, wishing every story to be the last; but all in vain,

"Hills over hills, and Alps on Alps arose."

The last club in which I was enrolled a member, was a society of moral philosophers, as they called themselves, who assembled twice a week, in order to show the absurdity of the present mode of religion, and establish a new one in its stead.

I found the members very warmly disputing when I arrived; not indeed about religion or ethics, but about who had neglected to lay down his preliminary sixpence upon entering the room. The president swore that he had laid his own down, and so swore all the company.

During this contest, I had an opportunity of observing the laws, and also the members of the society. The president, who had been, as I was told, lately a bankrupt, was a tall pale figure with a long black wig; the next to him was dressed in a large white wig and a black cravat;

a third, by the brownness of his complexion seemed a native of Jamaica; and a fourth, by his hue appeared to be a blacksmith. But their rules will give the most just idea of their learning and principles:

"I. We being a laudable society of moral philosophers, intends to dispute twice a-week about religion and priestcraft: leaving behind us old wives' tales, and following good learning and sound sense; and if so be, that any other persons has a mind to be of the society, they shall be entitled so to do, upon paying the sum of three shillings, to be spent by the company in punch.

"II. That no member get drunk before nine of the clock, upon pain of forfeiting three-pence, to be spent by the company in punch.

"III. That as members are sometimes apt to go away without paying, every person shall pay sixpence upon his entering the room; and all disputes shall be settled by a majority; and all fines shall be paid in punch.

"IV. That sixpence shall be every night given to the president, in order to buy books of learning for the good of the society; the president has already put himself to a good deal of expense, in buying books for the club; particularly the works of Tully, Socrates, and Cicero, which he will soon read to the society.

"V. All them who brings a new argument against religion, and who, being a philosopher, and a man of learning, as the rest of us is, shall be admitted to the freedom of the society, upon paying sixpence only, to be spent in punch.

"VI. Whenever we are to have an extraordinary meet

ing, it shall be advertised by some outlandish name in

the newspapers.

SAUNDERS MAC WILD, President,

ANTHONY BLEWIT, Vice-president, (his mark.)

WILLIAM TURPIN, Secretary.

ESSAY II.

SPECIMEN OF A MAGAZINE IN MINIATURE.

We essayists, who are allowed but one subject at a time, are by no means so fortunate as the writers of magazines, who write upon several. If a magaziner be dull upon the Spanish war, he soon has us up again with the ghost in Cock-Lane; if the reader begins to doze upon that, he is quickly roused by an eastern tale; tales prepare us for poetry, and poetry for the meteorological history of the weather. It is the life and soul of a magazine, never to be long dull upon one subject; and the reader, like the sailor's horse, has at least the comfortable refreshment of having the spur often changed.

As I see no reason why they should carry off all the rewards of genius, I have some thoughts for the future of making this essay a magazine in miniature: I shall hop from subject to subject; and, if properly encouraged, I intend in time to adorn my feuille volant with pictures. But to begin in the usual form, with

A Modest Address to the Public.

The public has been so often imposed upon by the unperforming promises of others, that it is with the utmost modesty we assure them of our inviolable design of give