1798.] 
that another friend, who declined accept- 
ing his invitation, from alledged indif- 
polition, <¢ Shammd Abraham rica bg 
you make an acceptable propofition to a 
fafhionable party, they are immediately 
«¢ Up to it;” if the contrary, they dif- 
like—<‘« That there fort of thing.”” When 
they are low fpirited and melancholy, 
they ‘are’ “* Hippith:” when mortified 
and difappointed, ‘* Down in the mouth.”” 
Does a man of fafhion drive his curricle 
furioufly down Pall-Mall, or the Strand ; 
paling his competitors, like the victors 
wm the Olympic games? he is then faid 
to “* Tip them the go by.”” Is his drefs, 
as we may prefume it will be, elegant ; 
exhibiting no articles of apparel but fuch 
as are ‘ All the rage,” he is ** Quite the 
tippy.” 
Thefe, and the like phrafes, are cha- 
racteriftics, by which your men of fa- 
fhion and {pirit, who do, what is called, 
é¢ Live in the world,” ‘may be diftin- 
guifhed. In proceis of time, however, 
they, like moft other abfurdities of the 
great, defcend to the vulgar, and then 
new ones mutt be invented. 
’ To come to the fenate ; we here natu- 
rally look for found argument, and elo- 
quent delivery; and are not often difap- 
pointed. Yet, if that refpetable bedy 
had always been as folicitous to guard 
againft innovations in language as in the 
ftate, we fhould {carcely have been ac- 
quainted with fome phrafes, which, if 
they are not abfolute folecifms, are, at 
leait, extremely incorrect. What is meant 
by the common expreflion, when a mem- 
ber rifes to f{peak, of ‘* Catching the 
{peaker’s eye?”’ If it mean any thing, I 
fhould apprehend it muft mean nearly the 
reverfe of what the words import, name- 
ly, that the fpeaker’s eye catches the 
member fi:{t, and fo gives the precedence 
in fpeaking. We are fometimes in- 
formed, that an honourable member was 
€* Upon his Jegs’’ three hours; to fig- 
nify, by a kind of metalepfis, that he 
{poke for that time. Among the orators 
of antiquity, the hands had a clofe con- 
nection with the tongue: but I recolleét 
no particular connection between the legs 
and that organ. ‘Then we are told, or 
<< The ideas of the orator meeting. the 
ideas of the houfe.”’ This is a bold fpecies 
of perfonification; and rather, I think, 
beyond the limits of rhetoric, whofe in- 
dulgencies are yet very great. It fuppofes 
the ideas of both parties to leave their 
fubje&ts of adhefion, and to make an ex- 
eurfion abroad. Next we hear of ** Tru- 
ifms’’---*¢ Of gentlemen’s committing 
Whimfical Peculiarities of Expreffion. 
173 
themfelves ;’°---** Of their taking ‘fhame 
to themfelves ;°?---‘¢ Of their being free 
to confefs ;*’---“* Of their putting the 
queftion roundly ;”? that is, leaving no 
crevice for evafion ; but this has been found 
impraciicable with the minifler ; 8c. &c.--- 
We are not permitted to report the de- 
bates, and therefore cannot produce a {pe-. 
cimen from real life including thefe deli- 
cacies of fpeech ; but we may without 
impropriety fuppofe a cafe, andit might 
run thus :— 2 
‘The honourable member ‘* Caught the 
fpeaker’s eye’ (the fpeaker was obferved 
to be nodding) percifely at half paft four 
in the morning, and was * on his legs,’” 
two hours. After a torrent of eloquence 
which bore down all oppofition, he ob- 
ferved that the queftion,~+--“« He was free 
to confefs,”” was a queition of vaft magni- 
tude. What he had hitherto advanced 
upon the fubject, formed a chain of “ True-. 
ifms’’ that was altogether irrefragable, 
And were he difpofed to pufh the invetfti- 
gation ftill further, he, “ for one,’ en- 
tertained nodoubt. ‘* In his ownmind,’” 
but his ideas would “ meet the ideas of 
the houfe.”’> This however, was an ho- 
nour, which he fhould at prefent decline, 
as he wifhed not, at this late hour, * to 
commit himfelf°? Upon a future day, 
he would avail himfelt of his privilege in 
putting fome queftions ‘ roundly ” and 
the right honourable gentleman ought to 
‘¢ take fhame to himfelf,’’ if he did not 
anfwer them ‘¢ fairly.”’ 
I am, Sir; yours, &c. &c. 
ANSONiUS. 
Wells, Fuly 20th 1798. 
eR Ree 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
STATISTICAL REMARKS ON HUNGARY. 
r | ‘Hi kingdom of Hungary, includ- 
ing Croatia, the former Auftrian 
Dalmatia, Sclavonia, and Tranfylvania, 
contains, by the moft recent calculations, 
4760 German fquare miles, 370 of which 
fall to the fhare of Tranfylvania. 
In the year 1787, the laft and only 
year, when the inhabitants were regularly 
counted, Hungary including the above 
provinces (except Tranfylvania) was in- 
habited by 7,116,789 fouls, confequently- 
every German {quare mile contained 1848 
inhabitants. ; 
The greateft variety prevails among 
thefe people in point of defcent, language, 
manners, and religious ideas. ‘The Scla- 
vonians, IJlyfians, Hungarians, Walla- 
chians and Germans, are the moft nume- 
rous. ‘The Sclavomians inhabit 5789 vil- 
lages and boroughs, the Hungarians 360 e 
the 
