241 TRAVliLLlNG MEMORANDUMS. June 27, 



good intention Had Shakefpeare himfelf been a fpec- 



tator, he would have exclaimed, on hearing the ode, 



" Extremely ftrain'd, ind conn'd with cruel pain. 



And upon the ballad, he would have repeated thefe 

 lines : 



" I'd rather he a kitten, and cry mew, 



" Than one of thefe fame metre-bullad mongers. 



" I'd rather hear a brazen candleftick turn'd, 



" Or a dry wheel erate on the axle rree ; 



" And that would nothing fet my tee h on edge, 



" Nothings foTnuch as mincinp poetry ; 



" It's like th« forced gait of a Ihuffling nag. 



The inferior ranks of mankind, down to the lowed 

 commonalty in Britain, certainly enjoy more efFefta- 

 ally an equhl and impartial adniiniftration of law and 

 juflice in all piints, either civil or criminal. — They arc 

 much more fecure from the haus^hty infults or cruel- 

 opprefllons of the great, the powerful, and the nobles, 

 than in France — This is very obvious even on a trau- 

 fient comparifon of the condition and manners of the 

 people in London and Paris. — Our people in general 

 are alfo k/s involved in the miferable delufions of fu- 

 perftition and prieftcraft — Thefe are glorious advan- 

 tages for us — but'fen'fible and confiderate men will not • 

 vainly boafl; of and overvalue thofe benefits. — Trace 

 our hifiory fairly, and it will be found evident that we 

 owe them more to accidental and fortunate circumftan-" 



ces, than to fuperior virtue or exertions Do not the 



bulk of our people in the Soiith and North, often fly 

 into all the excefTes either of wild enthufiafm or licen- 

 tioufnefs, and fometimes, by a ftrange afibciation, into* 

 both at once. — In point of abjedt credulity, we are a 

 match for the French — Not to mention any abfurdlties 

 in the common tenets of our eftablilhed faith — and leav- 

 ing ihefe to dealers in controverfy — in divinity, phyfic, 

 law, and politics, qviacks thrive among ns, and 



