mr ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
was not the fociety I delighted in; 
againit fuch attacks I entrenched 
myfelf with the mof jealous cau- 
tion: If however by accident I was 
drawn out of my faltneffes, and 
trapped unawares into an ambul- 
cade of wieked wits, [ armed my- 
felf to meet them with a triple tier 
of {miles ; I primed my lips with 
fuch a ready charge of fattery, 
that when I had once engaged them 
in the pleafing contemplation of 
their own merits, they were feldom, 
difpofed to fcrutinize into mine, 
and thus in general I contrived to 
 efcape undetected. .Though it was 
no eafy matter to extort an opinion 
from me in fuch companies, yet 
fometimes I was unavoidably en- 
tangled in converfation, and then I 
was forced to have recourfe to all 
my addrefs; happily my features 
were habituated to a {mile of the 
moft convertible fort, for it would 
anfwer the purpofes of affected hu- 
mility as well-as thofe of a&tual con- 
tempt, to which in truth it was 
more congenial: my opinion, there- 
fore, upon any point of controverfy, 
flattered both parties and befriend - 
ed neither; it was calculated to 
imprefs the company with an idea 
that | knew much more than I pro- 
fet to know; it was in fhort fo 
infinuating, fo fubmitted, fo hefitat- 
ing, that a man muft have had the 
heart of Nero to have perfecuted 
a being fo abfolutely inoffenfive: 
but thefe facrifices coft me dear, 
for they were foreign to my na- 
ture, and, as I hated mty fuperiors, I 
avoided their foctety. 
Having fufiiciently -diftinguithed 
mylelf as a critic, 1] now began to 
meditate fome fecret attempts as an 
author; but in thefe the fame cau- 
tion attended me, and my perfor- 
mancés did. not rife above a little 
fonnet, or a parody, which I circu~ 
lated through a few hands without 
a name, prepared to difavow it, if 
it was not applauded to my withes : 
I alfo wrote occafional eflays and 
paragraphs for the public. prints, 
by way of trying my talents in va- 
rious kinds of ftile; by thefe ex- 
periments ] acquired a certain fa- 
cility of imitating other people’s 
manner and difguifing my own, and 
fo far my point was gained; but as 
for the fecret fatisfaction I had 
promifed myfelf in hearing my pro- 
duétions applauded, of that I was. 
altogether difappointed; for though — 
I tried both praife and difpraife for — 
the purpofe of brirging them into ~ 
notice, 1 never had tie pleafure to 
be contradifted by any man in the__ 
latter cafe, or feconded by a living | 
foul inthe former: I had circulated 
a little poem, which coft me fome — 
pains, and as I had been flattered © 
with the applaufe it gained from — 
feveral of its readers, | put it one 
evening in my pocket, and went to 
the houfe of a certain perfon, who ~ 
was much reforted to by men of — 
genius: an opportunity luckily of- 
fered for producing my manufcript, 
which I was prepared to avow as 
foon as the company. prefent had 
given fentence in its favour: it was 
put into the hands of a dramatic © 
author of fome celebrity, who read 
it aloud, and in a manner as I 
thought that clearly anticipated his 
difgui: as foon therefore as he had 
finithed it and demanded of me if 
I knew the author, 1 had no_hefi- 
tation to declare that 1 did not— 7 
Then I prefume, rejoined he, it is — 
no offence to fay I think it the 
mereft trafh I ever read—None in 
life, I replied, and from that mo- 
ment held him in everlafting hatred. _ 
Difgufted with the world, I now ~ 
began — 
