a 
wanted to give me fome hints for the 
better regulation of my family, upon 
which I pulled his houfe down: I was 
often, however, the better for the leffon, 
though the teacher had feldom the plea- 
fure of feeing it. 
E.I have heard it faid, you are very 
partial to your children, that you pam- 
per fome, and ftarve others. Pray who 
are your favourites? 
Cy Generally, thofe-who do the moft 
mifchief. . 
HE. Had you not once a great fa- 
vourite called Louis, whom you uted 
to ftyle the immortal man? 
€. I had fo. I was continually re- 
‘peating his name, I fet up a great num- 
ber of ftatues to him’, and ordered that 
every one thould pull off his hat to them 
as he went by. 
J. And what is become of them now ? 
C. The other day, ina fit of fpleen, 
E kicked them all down again. 
£. Ethink Thave read, that you were 
ence much under the influence of an old 
man, with a high-crowned hat, and a 
bunch of keys by his fide ? , 
C. Itis true. He ufed to frighten me 
by fetting his arms a-kimbe, and fwear- 
ing moft terribly ; befides which, he 
was always threatening to put me ina 
dark-hole, if I did not do as he would 
have me. He has conjured many pence 
out of my pocket, I affure you; and he 
ufed to make me believe the ftrangett 
ftories! But I have now pretty nearly 
done with him; he dares net {peak fo big 
as he uled todo: hardly a fhee-black wii! 
pull off his hat to him new ; it is even as 
much as he can do to keep his own tight 
upon his head; nay, I have been affured, 
that the next high wind will certainly 
blow it off. 
E. You muft doubtlefs have made 
gyveat advances in the art of reafoning, 
from the various lights and experiments 
of modern times:, pray what was the 
jaft philofophical fudy that engaged 
your attention ? 
C. One of the -laft was a fyftem of 
quackery, called’ Avimal Magnetifin, 
. And what in theology ? 
C. A fyftem of quackery, called Swe- 
denborgianifm. 
F. And pray what are you doing at 
this moment ? 
Cc. J am going to turn over quite a 
new leaf. I am finging Ca Ira, 
E. 1 do not know ‘whether you are 
going to turn over a new leaf or no, but 
Tam fure, from this account, it 1s high 
‘time you fhould. Ail I can fay, is, that 
Life of Mortimer, the Painter 
- [Febe 
if I cannot mend you, I will endeavour 
totake care you do not fpoil me; and 
-one thing more, that I wifh yeu would 
lay your commands on Milfs Burney, to 
write a new novel, and make you laugh. © 

; 
To the Editor. 
SIR, 
UR vice-chancellor has taken the 
Pythagorean maxim on filence for 
the fubjeét of the prize epigram.. 
Whether, to make us attentive to the. 
many good maxims on filence in Stobzus, 
or as an oblique mode of pafiing an 
encomium on a celebrated acquitted 
felon, who by many, for his political (by 
all for his literary) talents, is efteemed. 
an ornament to our univerlity, it is not 
for me to determine. The Pythagorean 
m2xim was, as our vice-chancellor has 
delivered it, Xn cryay nxpaccove oryag Azyerty 
which, tranflated into plain Enghth, by 
Mr. Tooke, before the privy council, 
and by the vice chancellor, under the ex- 
ifting circumftances of the two bills, is, 
Let Mum be tHe order of the day. 
The fentiment is, perhaps, \ expreffed 
more neatly in the utual manner ; 
n reye Te oryng xpetloy a crymy eyes but 
whether the vice-chancellor has adopted 
or not the beft mode of conveying his 
fentiments, permit .me to exprefs my 
Opinion, that, in the perturbation of 
men’s minds at prefent on political fub- 
jeéts, every allufion to them fhould, in 
the feats of literature, be carefully 
avoided. 
MM. cie. 06 Coll, amin 
February 2. ACADEMICUS, 

ORIGINAL BIOGRAPHY. 
[The following original and authentic fketch of 
the Life of that eminent artift, the late Mr. 
“Mortimer, we prefume will be acceptable 
to the public.—We hope to be able to fur- 
nifh a variety of original matter of this kind, 
and we folicit the favaqurs of correfpondents 
for the purpofe. ] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Tse Lire or MorrTiImMER, THE 
PAINTER. 
OHN HAMILTON MORTIMER, 
J @ painter of uncommon powers, cut 
off as he was approaching the meridian 
of his excellence, was born at Eaft~ 
bourne in the county of Suffex : his fa- 
ther was a collector of the euftoms at 
that port, who bore a moft refpectable 
character. There were four children ; 
John was the eldeft; his brother at this 
Very 
