1800.] 
we fhould fcarcely hefitate to pronounce 
her calculated 
*¢ To raife the virtues, animate the blifs, 
And foften all the toils of human life.” 
To fuch as were not born within the 
found of Bow bells, the gratification of 
their acting is great, although their bril- 
Jiancy is often obfcured when the fout-en- 
femble of the Dramatis Perjone docs not 
correfpond 5 which in a country theatre 
mutt of courfe be the cafe; and it was 
once rather imrolitely exprefled by the 
manager, that one good actor is enough 
for us at a time: but if there were no 
theatre nor aétors, I much doubt whether 
we fhould be lofers at the conf(ummation of 
the good and bad tendency they produce 
on our morality and our pockets. 
We have public and private focieties of 
various defcriptions, whether for extenive 
benevolence or confined amufements ; many 
benefit-clubs among the mechanics and 
inferior tradefmen, and literary ones a- 
mong the ‘‘learned.’” Of the former fort 
of inititutions, enough has already been 
faid in your Magazine in favour of them; 
and it is needlefs more to appreciate the 
latter, fince no one can deny that their 
increafe tends to leflen the accumulation 
of vice, and to foften the virulence of our 
manne:s and difpofitions. An agricultural, 
and a bee fociety are eltabiifhed hkewife 
-—or, to apply its own name, an Apiarian 
Society, whofe aim is to afcertain the belt 
methods of treating that induftrious and 
cruelly abufed infeét, as wellas to promote 
a more univerfal attention to’the value of 
keeping bees in a country fo well calculat- 
ed for them as this; and a tra¢t has lately 
been publifhed by the fecretary, containing 
fome curious obfervations refpeéting the 
treatment of them. A weekly mufic- 
meeting was formed during the two laft 
winters, of which the direciors were the 
chief performers in the city. ‘This {cience 
as much followed, and very few famiiies 
are wi'hout fome infrument or other: our 
cathedral perhaps is one occafion of its 
being fo generally liked, and where Mr. 
Jackson afhifts at an organ which perhaps 
is not equalled in fize or tone. Mr. Da- 
vy’s talents have Jikewife been of fervice 
to the caufe, befides many of inferior note 
whole livelihood depends on this profef- 
hon.* Painters, poets, {culptors, and 
engravers refide among us— men, who 

* Of Mr. Jackfon fome account may be 
feen in the firf¥ volume of Britith Public Cha- 
yacters; and Eattcott’s Sketches of Mufic con- 
tain fome information refpecting Mr. Davy, 
who, I now hear, is in London, 
Account of Exeter. 
. 
325 © 
though far from the great city, have 
earned a juft praife for their abilities. 
The ‘* Infancy” of DowNnman, the 
“© Odes” of Tasker, and the ‘* Fairy 
Faniafies” of KeNnDALL, have a good 
claim to a niche in the pillar of modern 
poets both for genius and harmony of ver~ 
f fication: a brother of the latter has con- 
fiderably augmented the embellifhments of 
our churches with monuments; and Mr. 
EzeKIeL has taken care that his dburiz 
fhould leave with us elegant and faithful 
portraits, of fome ditinguifhed citizens. 
Tafecr was unluckily a poet—for his pe= 
cuniary mule was not altogether propitious 
iv her inf{pirations, ani he feemed doomed 
to creep through lite, althongh he had 
mounted the lotty back of Pegafus. I met 
him, not long before his death, ambling on 
a feed which reminded me of Parfon Yo- 
rick, and his Rofinante—Sterne’s natural 
and artle(s tale well correfponds with this 
brother of the gown, whofe afpect is accu» 
rately deferibed in Bofwell’s Lite of John- 
fon, during the critic's examination of the 
‘<« Warlike Ode to the Genius of Britain,’” 
which its author confidently alerted will 
go down to pofterity :—a fubfcription for 
his works has lately been advertifed for 
the benefit of his widow. 
We have among us mechanics of all 
Gefcriptions, ard who are not deficient in 
abilities if due encouragement were given 
to them; but perhaps jor lack cf. this or 
{ome unknown caufe it happened not long 
ago that one architect fent home to his ems 
pioyer the plan of a houfe withour fire- 
places (it might have been intended for 
aii economical plan), and another omitted 
a ftaircate; indeed se went fo far as to 
begin hs building, and was under the ne- 
ceflity of begging a ipace out of an ad- 
joining paflage to run up his fairs in. It 
were not highly to be wondered at, if by 
this time there was not an Exonian capa- 
ble of driving a nail or writing his name 
in a public capacity, as whatever under- 
taking of this kind farts up, a ftranger, 
comes from the Lord knows where, is pro- 
verbially certain. of a preference: it is 
fimilar to the reprefentation ina jetter you 
gave us from the merchant of Tombuctoo, 
who iaid that the rage for foreign impor- 
tations into his country was fo great, as 
even for his countrymen to be fond of 
importing theirkings. But, for all this, 
friends and foes are well agreed in the caufe 
of general good.’ Their loyalty js not to 
be exceeded ; we can mufer feveral dif- 
ferent corps of cavalry and infantry, who 
will face to the right, and partake a beef 
fieak and brown October with any others 
ify 
