1802. ] 
To the Editor, of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sik, -\. 
Was much interefted in the Account, 
_ given in your laft Number, of young 
Malkin, of whofe early talents I have long 
heard. His character is fo very extraor- 
dinary, that I cannot help requetting fome 
further information, as every circumftance 
in fuch a life forms an important feature 
in the hiftory of the human mind. I hope 
that his ingenious father will be prevailed 
on to publifh fuch of his létters and ef- 
fays (which I underftand are very nume- 
rous) as may be fit for the public eye; 
and to fubjoin a full account of his fhort, 
but eventful, life. Such a work will 
doubtlefs prove a valuable acquifition to 
the literary world, as well as to, 
Park Place, Sir, your's, &c. 
Nov. 7, 1802. wir: 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
CANTABRIGIANA. 
EFORE I enter immediately on my 
5 work, it may not be improper to give 
a. little further explanation of my method. 
I fhall intrude them intono man’s province, 
and will take no improper liberties. I 
propofe no cenfures on living characters, 
and fhall not trample on the afhes of the 
venerable dead. My aim is liberal :—I 
hope to obtain a liberal hearing ; I with 
my work to be like the philofophers dwel- 
ling, beneathenvy, but above contempt. 
From the preceding letter it will appear, 
that I do not propofe to offer very pro- 
found refearches, or to enter on very 
learned difquifitions. To be agreeable, 
and yet, in fome fort, ufeful, will be my 
ultimate ambition. Elaborate and fy{- 
tematic arrangement I] leave to the anti- 
quary and hiftorian. I propofe the work, 
IT own, as an amufement for a man of let- 
ters ; and it will, I apprehend, be more 
acceptable to a Cambridge-man than to 
any other. I fhal] be happy if the motto 
placed over Sir Henry Wotton’s ftudy- 
door fhall be found to characterize thefe 
pages—‘* Idle hours not idly fpent.”’ 
I with it likewife to be underftood, that 
T affect not the charaéter of the Ciceroni, 
The office, indeed, is already occupied, 
and its duties are faithfully difcharged.— 
Whoever wants a Ciceroni, will, ofcourfe, 
procure a Cambridge Guide ; and for fur- 
ther inftruétion will procure Afhworth’s 
Cambridge Calendar, The Detcription of 
King’s College, publithed in 1769, which 
was {ketched out, under ftand, by a learned 
Fellow of that Society, (Dr. James) will 
give him very agreeable information rela- 
tive to King’s College, with its chapel, 
: Gantabrigiana. 409 
But, though I do not profefledly ap- 
pear in the character either of the anti- 
quary or the Ciceroni, I thall occafionally 
enter into the province of both. I thail, 
of neceflity, fometimes ramble out of the 
common way: fometimes I {hall confider 
myfelf asa mere finger, pomting out a 
toad to fome future traveller; and, though 
jokes and puns more properly charaéterize 
my aunt Oxford, as a learned humourift 
called her, than my venerable mother 
Cambridge, yet in a Cantabrigiana, an 
agreeable anecdote, and a fmart faying, 
will be expected, at leaft occafionally ;—~ 
and, in fpite of mathematics, Cambridge 
produced a jeft-bookin 1674. Ithas not, 
however, been my fortune to fee it, nor 
would it anfwer my purpole; though a 
Cambridge Jeft-book, or a Joe Miller, 
may fometimes give better exercife than 
- more ferious books: they fet people on 
the endeavour to pleafe ; and, for aught 
J know, may prevent furrows from fetiling 
on the cheeks too rapidly. 
If I could believe that a difciple of 
Newton, or of Locke —a_ theologian, 
or an accurate and laborious inveltigator 
of claffical Jiterature—that a ftudent of 
chemiftry, or a profound linguift, who 
can ring changes not only on his own Jan- 
guage, but alfo on the Perfian, Arabic, 
Hebrew, and Saxon languages, taking 
fome of the modern in his way——I fay, 
if I could believe that a fcholar of any 
defcription, when he wifhes to unbend his 
brow, could find any thing to awaken a 
{mile, or from which to derive a ufeful 
hint, in my Cantabrigiana, though [ 
would not fay, with Pindar, that i had 
reached the pillars of Hercu'es—yet I 
would fay— 
‘* Honos erit buic quoque pomo.” 
The writer of Anas poflefies fome ad- 
vantages over many other writers. He 
is not bound to the unities. He is 
{carcely obliged to have a beginning, a 
middle, and anend. He may make als 
molt any thing ferve for an introductions 
He may handle almoft any. fubject he 
pleafes, and put his Finis, provided he 
means to conclude, in any place he pleafes. 
Sterne is one of the few writers who he- 
gins with {mart allubon, and a liquorifh 
kind of ityle : my introduétion is foft and 
regular, as my own character. But, in 
thus afferting the rights of the authors of 
Anas, I mutt be fuppoied to refer to fuch 
writers only as do not arrange their re- 
marks alphabetically, ov proceed {yfte- 
matically :—fuch, without: noticing the 
other -Anas, whether Latin, French, or 
Englifh, was the Walpoliana, well known 
3 Fa te 
