with a view of profiting by the example of each other, for neither of them understood the manner in which they were to loll; and Peregrine, who enjoyed their confusion, handed the count to the other side, where, with the most mischievous politeness, he insisted upon his taking possession of the upper place.

admirer, supplied himself with a pigeon, therein conforming to the choice of our young gentleman, whose example he determined to follow through the whole course of the entertainment.

The Frenchman having swallowed the first spoonful, made a full pause; his throat swelled as if an egg had stuck in his gullet, his eyes rolled, and his mouth underwent a series of involuntary contractions and dilatations. Pallet, who looked steadfastly at this connoisseur, with a view of consulting his taste before he himself would venture upon the soup, began to be disturbed at these emotions, and observed, with some concern, that the poor gentleman seemed to be going into a fit; when Peregrine assured him that these were symptoms of ecstacy, and, for further confirmation, asked the marquis how he found the soup. It was with infinite difficulty that his complaisance could so far master his disgust as to enable him to answer, 'Altogether excellent, upon my honour!" And the painter, being certified of his approbation, lifted the spoon to his mouth without scruple; but far from justifying the eulogium of his taster, when this precious composition diffused itself upon his palate, he seemed to be deprived of all sense and motion, and sat like the leaden statue of some river god, with the liquor flowing out at both sides of the mouth.

In this disagreeable and ludicrous suspense, they continued acting a pantomime of gesticulations, until the doctor earnestly entreated them to waive all compliment and form, lest the dinner should be spoiled before the ceremonial could be adjusted. Thus conjured, Peregrine took the lower couch on the left-hand side, laying himself gently down, with his face towards the table. The marquis, in imitation of this pattern (though he would have much rather fasted three days than run the risk of discomposing his dress by such an attitude), stretched himself upon the opposite place, reclining upon his elbow in a most painful and awkward situation, with his head raised above the end of the couch, that the economy of his hair might not suffer by the projection of his body. The Italian, being a thin limber creature, planted himself next to Pickle, without sustaining any misfortune but that of his stocking being torn by a ragged nail of the seat, as he raised his legs on a level with the rest of his limbs. But the baron, who was neither so wieldy nor supple in his joints as his companions, flounced himself down with such precipitation, that his feet, sud-earnestly inquired into the cause of it; and when denly tilting up, came in furious contact with the head of the marquis, and demolished every curl in a twinkling, while his own skull, at the same instant, descended upon the side of his couch with such violence, that his periwig was struck off, and the whole room filled with pulvilio.

The drollery of distress that attended this disaster entirely vanquished the affected gravity of our young gentleman, who was obliged to suppress his laughter by cramming his handkerchief in his mouth; for the bareheaded German asked pardon with such ridiculous confusion, and the marquis admitted his apology with such rueful complaisance, as were sufficient to awake the mirth of a Quietist.

The doctor, alarmed at this indecent phenomenon,

Pallet recovered his recollection, and swore that he would rather swallow porridge made of burning brimstone than such an infernal mess as that which he had tasted, the physician, in his own vindication, assured the company that, except the usual ingredients, he had mixed nothing in the soup but some salamoniac, instead of the ancient nitrum, which could not now be procured; and appealed to the marquis whether such a succedaneum was not an improvement on the whole. The unfortunate petit-maitre, driven to the extremity of his condescension, acknowledged it to be a masterly refinement; and deeming himself obliged, in point of honour, to evince his sentiments by his practice, forced a few more mouthfuls of this This misfortune being repaired, as well as the cir- disagreeable potion down his throat, till his stomach cumstances of the occasion would permit, and every was so much offended that he was compelled to start one settled according to the arrangement already de-up of a sudden, and in the hurry of his elevation scribed, the doctor graciously undertook to give some account of the dishes as they occurred, that the company might be directed in their choice; and, with an air of infinite satisfaction, thus began:-This here, gentlemen, is a boiled goose, served up in a sauce composed of pepper, lovage, coriander, mint, rue, anchovies, and oil! I wish, for your sakes, gentlemen, it was one of the geese of Ferrara, so much celebrated among the ancients for the magnitude of their livers, one of which is said to have weighed upwards of two pounds; with this food, exquisite as it was, did the tyrant Heliogabalus regale his hounds. But I beg pardon, I had almost forgot the soup, which I hear is so necessary an article at all tables in France. At each end there are dishes of the salacacabia of the Romans; one is made of parsley, pennyroyal, cheese, pinetops, honey, vinegar, brine, eggs, cucumbers, onions, and hen livers; the other is much the same as the soup-maigre of this country. Then there is a loin of boiled veal with fennel and caraway seed, on a pottage composed of pickle, oil, honey, and flour, and a curious hashis of the lights, liver, and blood of a hare, together with a dish of roasted pigeons. Monsieur le Baron, shall I help you to a plate of this Soup!' The German, who did not at all disapprove of the ingredients, assented to the proposal, and seemed to relish the composition; while the marquis, being asked by the painter which of the silly-kickabys he chose, was, in consequence of his desire, accommodated with a portion of the soup-maigre; and the count, in lieu of spoon meat, of which he said he was no great

overturned his plate into the bosom of the baron. The emergency of his occasions would not permit him to stay and make apologies for this abrupt behaviour, so that he flew into another apartment, where Pickle found him puking and crossing himself with great devotion; and a chair at his desire being brought to the door, he slipped into it more dead than alive, conjuring his friend Pickle to make his peace with the company, and in particular excuse him to the baron, on account of the violent fit of illness with which he had been seized. It was not without reason that he employed a mediator; for when our hero returned to the dining-room, the German had got up, and was under the hands of his own lacquey, who wiped the grease from a rich embroidered waistcoat, while he, almost frantic with his misfortune, stamped upon the ground, and in high Dutch cursed the unlucky banquet, and the impertinent entertainer, who all this time, with great deliberation, consoled him for the disaster, by assuring him that the damage might be repaired with some oil of turpentine and a hot iron. Peregrine, who could scarce refrain from laughing in his face, appeased his indignation by telling him how much the whole company, and especially the marquis, was mortified at the accident; and the unhappy salacacabia being removed, the places were filled with two pies, one of dormice liquored with sirup of white poppies, which the doctor had substituted in the room of toasted poppy-seed, formerly eaten with honey as a dessert; and the other composed of a hock of pork baked in honey.

fiat attended this disaster
Šeted parity of our young
shoped to sypress his laughter
thechef in his mouth; for the
assei pardon with such ridicu-
f compinisance, as were sufficient to
de marquis admitted his apology
of a Quietist

nak ore than sedan vema mo at cher mă a h Salad asted, the parvas da on kodiak ja amoniae, instead of the ancer men, wan could the shue assured the omnagyi zlı enver de weer viyavit not now de procured; and appealed to the marquis whether such a succedaneum was not an impuskynicht !ents, he had mixed both the much bur musip cal on the whole. The unfortunate petit maiting diten to the extremity of his condowsion, mode dood obliged, in point of honour, to evince his armélinda it to be a masterly refinement ; and deeming how cl e being repaired, as well as the cir- disagreeable potion down his throat, till his stomach the occasion would permit, and every was so much offended that he was compelled to start ading to the arrangement already de-up of a sudden, and in the hurry of his adoration by his practice, forced a tow more mouthfule of this graciously undertook to give some overturned his plate into the busom of the bou dishes as they occurred, that the com- The emergency of his occasions would not permit him berected in their choice; and, with an isfaction, thus began:-This here, so that he flew into another apartment, when Poke saled goose, served up in a sauce found him puking and crossing him with pork , lovage, coriander, mint, rue, an- devotion; and a chair at his desire losing baroud to I wish, for your sakes, gentlemen, the door, he slipped into it more droud than whe dte geese of Ferrara, so much celebrated conjuring his friend Pickle to make his park will to stay and make apologies for this abrupt lodowy bone, tamil to have weighed upwards of two baron, on account of the violent ht of town with te for the magnitude of their livers, the company, and in particular werden him to the is food, exquisite as it was, did the which he had been seized, it wed without pains regale his hounds. But I beg that he employed a mediator, for when hat k most forgot the soup, which I hear turned to the dining mean, the timetonte boel je are dishes of the salacacabia of the the Tease fram to the wh article at all tables in France. At and was the ch de of parsley, pennyroyal, cheese, ne, stores, tract. We hit the time it, Finegar, brine, eggs, cucumbers, se red, with de toth iron hu

vers; the other is much the same

ge of this country. Then there a a e of pickle, oil, honey, and four, with fennel and caraway seed, on edish of roasted pigecna. Hon of the lights, liver, and biond if I help you to a plate of THIS ho did not at all disapp ition: while the mamu seng celto the proposal, and seemest which of the ally-in. of his desire, accommodatent Sire: and the same of which he said he was no freak

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Pallet, hearing the first of these dishes described, lifted up his hands and eyes, and with signs of loathing and amazement, pronounced, 'A pie made of dormice and sirup of poppies: Lord in heaven! what beastly fellows those Romans were!' His friend checked him for his irreverent exclamation with a severe look, and recommended the veal, of which he himself cheerfully ate with such encomiums to the company that the baron resolved to imitate his example, after having called for a bumper of Burgundy, which the physician, for his sake, wished to have been the true wine of Falernum. The painter, seeing nothing else upon the table which he would venture to touch, made a merit of necessity, and had recourse to the veal also; although he could not help saying, that he would not give one slice of the roast beef of Old England for all the dainties of a Roman emperor's table. But all the doctor's invitations and assurances could not prevail upon his guests to honour the hashis and the goose; and that course was succeeded by another, in which he told them were divers of those dishes which among the ancients had obtained the appellation of politeles, or magnificent. "That which smokes in the middle,' said he, is a sow's stomach, filled with a composition of minced pork, hog's brains, eggs, pepper, cloves, garlic, anniseed, rue, ginger, oil, wine, and pickle. On the righthand side are the teats and belly of a sow, just farrowed, fried with sweet wine, oil, flour, lovage, and pepper. On the left is a fricassee of snails, fed or rather purged with milk. At that end, next Mr Pallet, are fritters of pompions, lovage, origanum, and oil; and here are a couple of pullets, roasted and stuffed in the manner of Apicius.'

wine and herring-pickle, which he had used instead of the celebrated garum of the Romans; that famous pickle having been prepared sometimes of the scombri, which were a sort of tunny fish, and sometimes of the silurus or shad fish; nay, he observed, that there was a third kind called garum hoemation, made of the guts, gills, and blood of the thynnus.

The physician, finding it would be impracticable to re-establish the order of the banquet by presenting again the dishes which had been discomposed, ordered everything to be removed, a clean cloth to be laid, and the dessert to be brought in.

Meanwhile he regretted his incapacity to give them a specimen of the alieus or fish-meals of the ancients; such as the jus diabaton, the conger eel, which, in Galen's opinion, is hard of digestion; the cornuta or gurnard, described by Pliny in his Natural History, who says the horns of many of them were a foot and a half in length; the mullet and lamprey, that were in the highest estimation of old, of which last Julius Cæsar borrowed six thousand for one triumphal supper. He observed that the manner of dressing them was described by Horace, in the account he gives of the entertainment to which Maecenas was invited by the epicure Nasiedenus,

Affertur squillos inter Murena natantes, &c.

and told them, that they were commonly eaten with the thus Syriacum, a certain anodyne and astringent seed, which qualified the purgative nature of the fish. Finally, this learned physician gave them to understand, that though this was reckoned a luxurious dish in the zenith of the Roman taste, it was by no means comparable in point of expense to some preparations in vogue about the time of that absurd voluptuary Heliogabalus, who ordered the brains of six hundred ostriches to be compounded in one mess.

By this time the dessert appeared, and the company were not a little rejoiced to see plain olives in salt and water; but what the master of the feast valued himself upon, was a sort of jelly, which he affirmed to

The painter, who had by wry faces testified his abhorrence of the sow's stomach, which he compared to a bagpipe, and the snails which had undergone purgation, no sooner heard him mention the roasted pullets, than he eagerly solicited a wing of the fowl; upon which the doctor desired he would take the trouble of cutting them up, and accordingly sent them round, while Mr Pallet tucked the tablecloth under his chin, and brandished his knife and fork with sin-be preferable to the hypotrimma of Hesychius, being a gular address; but scarce were they set down before him, when the tears ran down his cheeks, and he called aloud, in a manifest disorder, 'Zounds! this is the essence of a whole bed of garlic!' That he might not, however, disappoint or disgrace the entertainer, he applied his instruments to one of the birds; and when he opened up the cavity, was assaulted by such an irruption of intolerable smells, that, without staying to disengage himself from the cloth, he sprung away with an exclamation of Lord Jesus!' and involved the whole table in havoc, ruin, and confusion.

·

Before Pickle could accomplish his escape, he was sauced with a sirup of the dormice pie, which went to pieces in the general wreck and as for the Italian count, he was overwhelmed by the sow's stomach, which, bursting in the fall, discharged its contents upon his leg and thigh, and scalded him so miserably that he shrieked with anguish, and grinned with a most ghastly and horrible aspect.

mixture of vinegar, pickle, and honey, boiled to a proper consistence, and candied assafoetida, which he asserted, in contradiction to Aumelbergius and Lister, was no other than the laser Syriacum, so precious as to be sold among the ancients to the weight of a silver penny. The gentlemen took his word for the excellency of this gum, but contented themselves with the olives, which gave such an agreeable relish to the wine that they seemed very well disposed to console themselves for the disgraces they had endured; and Pickle, unwilling to lose the least circumstance of entertainment that could be enjoyed in their company, went in quest of the painter, who remained in his penitentials in another apartment, and could not be persuaded to re-enter the banqueting room, until Peregrine undertook to procure his pardon from those whom he had injured. Having assured him of this indulgence, our young gentleman led him in like a criminal, bowing on all hands with an air of humility and contrition; and particularly addressing himself to the count, to whom he swore in English he had no intent to affront man, woman, or child, but was fain to make the best of his way, that he might not give the honourable company cause of offence by obeying the dictates of nature in their presence.

The baron, who sat secure without the vortex of this tumult, was not at all displeased at seeing his companions involved in such a calamity as that which he had already shared; but the doctor was confounded with shame and vexation. After having prescribed an application of oil to the count's leg, he expressed When Pickle interpreted this apology to the Italian, his sorrow for the misadventure, which he openly Pallet was forgiven in very polite terms, and even reascribed to want of taste and prudence in the painter, ceived into favour by his friend the doctor in consewho did not think proper to return and make an quence of our hero's intercession; so that all the apology in person; and protested that there was no-guests forgot their chagrin, and paid their respects so thing in the fowls which could give offence to a sen- piously to the bottle, that in a short time the chamsible nose, the stuffing being a mixture of pepper, paigne produced very evident effects in the behaviour lovage, and assafoetida, and the sauce consisting of of all present.

LAURENCE STERNE.

Next in order of time and genius, and not inferior in conception of rich eccentric comic character, was the witty, pathetic, and sentimental author of Tristram Shandy. Sterne was an original writer, though a plagiarist of thoughts and illustrations. Brother Shandy. my Uncle Toby, Trim, the Widow Wadman, and Dr Slop, will go down to posterity with the kindred creations of Cervantes. This idol of his own day is now, however, but little read, except in passages of pure sentiment. His broad humour is not relished; his oddities have not the gloss of novelty; his indecencies startle the prudish and correct. The readers of this busy age will not hunt for his beauties amidst the blank and marbled leaves -the pages of no-meaning-the quaint erudition, stolen from forgotten folios-the abrupt transitions and discursive flights in which his Shakspearean touches of character, and his gems of fancy, judgment, and feeling, lie hid and embedded. His sparkling polished diction has even an air of false glitter, yet it is the weapon of a master-of one who can stir the heart to tears as well as laughter. The want of simplicity and decency is his greatest fault. His whim and caprice, which he partly imitated from Rabelais, and partly assumed for effect, come in sometimes with intrusive awkwardness to mar the touches of true genius, and the kindlings of enthusiasm. He took as much pains to spoil his own natural powers by affectation, as Lady Mary says Fielding did to destroy his fine constitution.

pleted the first part of his Journey,' Sterne went to London to see it published, and died in lodgings in Bond Street, March 18, 1768. There was nobody but a hired nurse by his death-bed. He had wished to die in an inn, where the few cold offices he wanted would be purchased with a few guineas, and paid to him with an undisturbed but punctual attention. His wish was realised almost to the letter. No one reads Sterne for the story: his great work is but a bundle of episodes and digressions, strung together without any attempt at order. The reader must give up the reins of his imagination into his author's hand-be pleased he knows not why, and cares not wherefore.' Through the whole novel, however, over its mists and absurdities, shines his little family band of friends and relatives-that inimitable group of originals and humorists-which stand out from the canvass with the force and distinctness of reality. This distinctness and separate identity is a proof of what Coleridge has termed the peculiar power of Sterne, of seizing, on and bringing forward those points on which every man is a humorist, and of the masterly manner in which he has brought out the characteristics of two beings of the most opposite natures-the elder Shandy and Toby-and surrounded them with a group of followers, sketched with equal life and individuality: in the Corporal, the obstetric Dr Slop; Yorick, the lively and careless parson; the Widow Wadman and Susannah. During the intervals of the publication of Tristram,' Sterne ventured before the public some volumes of Sermons, with his own comic figure, from a painting by Reynolds, at the head of The life of LAURENCE STERNE was as little in them. The Sermons,' according to the just opinion keeping as his writings. A clergyman, he was dis- of Gray the poet, show a strong imagination and a solute and licentious; a sentimentalist, who had, sensible heart; but,' he adds, you see the author with his pen, tears for all animate and inanimate often tottering on the verge of laughter, and ready nature, he was hardhearted and selfish in his con- to throw his periwig in the face of the audience.' duct. Had he kept to his living in the country, The affected pauses and abrupt transitions which going his daily round of pastoral duties, he would disfigure Tristram' are not banished from the 'Serhave been a better and wiser man. 'He degene-mons,' but there is, of course, more connection and ¦rated in London,' says David Garrick, like an ill-coherency in the subject. The Sentimental Jourtransplanted shrub: the incense of the great spoiled ney' is also more regular than Tristram' in its plan his head, and their ragouts his stomach. He grew and details; but, beautiful as some of its descriptions sickly and proud-an invalid in body and mind.' are, we want the oddities of Shandy, and the everHard is the life of a wit when united to a suscep- pleasing good nature and simplicity of Uncle Toby. tible temperament, and the cares and sensibilities of Sterne himself is the only character. The pathetic an author! Sterne was the son of an Irish lieu- passages are rather overstrained, but still finely tenant, and was born at Clonmel, November 24, conceived, and often expressed in his most felicitous 1713. He was educated by a relation, a cousin, and manner. That gentle spirit of sweetest humour, took his degree of M.A. at Cambridge in 1740. who erst didst sit upon the easy pen of his beloved Having entered into orders, his uncle, Dr Sterne, a Cervantes, turning the twilight of his prison into rich pluralist, presented him with the living of Sut- noonday brightness,' was seldom absent long from ton, to which was afterwards added a prebend of the invocations of his English imitator, even when York. He married a York lady, and derived from he mounted his wildest hobby, and dabbled in the the connexion another living in that county, the mire of sensuality. rectory of Stillington. He lived nearly twenty years at Sutton, reading, painting, fiddling, and shooting, with occasional quarrels with his brethren of the cloth, with whom he was no favourite. He left Yorkshire for London in 1759, to publish the two first volumes of Tristram Shandy.' Two others were published in 1761, and the same number in 1762. He now took a tour to France, which enriched some of his subsequent volumes of Tristram' with his exquisite sketches of peasants and vine-dressers, the muleteer, the abbess and Margarita, Maria at Moulines-and not forgetting the poor ass with his heavy panniers at Lyons. In 1764 he took another continental tour, and penetrated into Italy, to which we are indebted for his Sentimental Journey. The latter work he composed on his return at Coxwould, the living of which had been presented to him, on the first publication of 'Tristram,' by Lord Falconbridge. Having com

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Of the sentimental style of Sterne (his humour is too subtle and ethereal to be compressed into our limits) a few specimens are added.

The Story of Le Ferre.

[From Tristram Shandy."]

It was some time in the summer of that year in which Dendermond was taken by the allies, which was about seven years before my father came into the country, and about as many, after the time, that my uncle Toby and Trim had privately decamped from my father's house in town, in order to lay some of the finest sieges to some of the finest fortified cities in Europe, when my uncle Toby was one evening getting his supper, with Trim sitting behind him at a small sideboard, I say sitting, for in consideration of the corporal's lame knee (which sometimes gave him exquisite pain), when my uncle Toby dined or