LY Eh 
MONTHLY MAGAZIN 
E. 

No. xui.]|. « MARCH 1, 1799. 
(No, 2.68 VoL.vrt. 

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
] Have been agreeably entertained with 
fome of the poetical imitations or co- 
incidences which have been pointed out 
occafionally by your correfpondents. Per- 
mit me te add one to the number. 
A line in the * Phedre ’’ of Racine has 
been the fubjeét of a good deal of criti- 
cifm among;his countrymen, fome of 
whom have applauded it as a fine thougkt, 
others condemned it as a conceit. It is 
contained in the very poetical narrative of 
the death of Hippolitus made by a mef- 
fenger to his father Thefeus. After a 
highly-wrought defeription of the fea- 
monfter’s approach from the deep, hefays, 
** Le flot, qui l’apporta, recule epouvanté,”’ 
The wave which brought him recoiled 
terrified. 
Our Spenfer, in his * Faery Queen,”’ 
defcribing the voyage of Sir Guyon and the 
Palmer to the ifland of Acrafia, (Book ii. 
Canto xii.) among other perils, makes 
them encounter a vaft fhoal of fea-mon- 
fters, the different fpecies of which he 
enumerates, and then adds, 
All thefe, and thoufand thoufands many more, 
And more deformed monfters thoufand fold, 
With dreadful noife and hollow rombling rore, 
Came ruthing in the fomy waves enrol’d, 
Which feemd to fy for feare them to bebold. 
The refemblance of the laft line to that 
of Racine is very ftriking ; yet I think it 
improbable that the French poet could 
have known any thing of the Englifh one, 
or, at leaft, could, have been fo acquainted 
with his works as to borrow a line from 
him. Nothing, in fa&, can be more dif- 
fimilar than their fubjects and charaéters. 
If they were not both original in this 
thoucht, I thould rather fafpeét that both 
copied it from fome Italian poet, to the 
fivle of which nation it bears a great af- 
finity. Your's, &c. Weteks 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
he has been often lamented by political 
moralilts, that the ufe of {pirits in 
this country has been rendered too com- 
mon by the exigencies of government, 
MontTuty Mag. No. xu, 
which, in all its diftreffes, has ever expe- 
rienced that the confumption of. {pirits 
forms one of the chief articles of revenue, 
and that the fum arifing thence feldom 
is decreafed by any additional impoft. 
Again and again has it been faid, why 
encourage diltilleries, that fatal bane of 
induftry and morality among the lower 
clafles of people? Why pamper the head 
of the ftate at the expence of the body and 
members? Why fell all the virtue and 
all the morals, and all the induftry, and. 
all the health of the nation for money ? 
In thefe cries, fo loudly raifed by fpecu- 
lative politicians, the grave men of War- 
wick-lane join heartily, and take every 
means to prove that {pirituous liquors 
kill more than plague, war, famine, or 
even their own preferiptions. Indeed all 
perfons who have fpoken or written on 
the fubje&t, have fo completely proved 
the truth of the above pofitions, that a 
elafs of gin ought lone ere row to have 
been as {carce as a bulfe of diamonds, 
and in as few hands, did we not recollec 
that in all great political queftions to be 
determined by pounds, thillings, and 
pence, there is an impaflable gulph placed 
between argument and conviction. : 
Nor, Sir, am I quite certain that the 
univerfal cenfure beftowed upon the en- 
couragement given to the diftilleries may 
not admit of fomething like an anfwer. 
When we confider the difference between 
the rich and the poor in this and all other 
countries, that: the rich can do almoft 
every thing for their country’s caufe, and 
the poor little or nothing, we ought not 
to deprive the latter of any humble 
means by which they can demonttrate 
their zeal. It has lately becn the fafhion, 
and undoubtedly a very patriotic fathion, 
for the rich to ‘‘ devote their lives and 
fortunes ’’ in the nation’s caufe. Now, 
as the poor have only one of thofe bleflings 
at their difpofal, namely, their lives, do 
they not fhewa proper and becoming fenfe 
of patriotifm when they confent to go to 
their long homes to promote the revenue 
and furnith the finews of war while they 
allow their own to fhrink. 
But far, as I perceive, I have advanced 
in confidering the queftion with regard to 
M foreign 
