Perhaps it may be asked by the fastidious, to what good end can a principle be bent, that only serves to wrinkle the brow of the sagacious? I answer, so long as such pursuits open the field-gate to health, and dissipate those gloomy moments which might otherwise engender melancholy, they become of utility, and claim our respect more than the tricks of the physical empyric, who spreads the golden leaf upon the pill we swallow to our destruction.

That there exists a sympathetical, or mutual sensation, between the mind of man and his corporeal substance, is beyond disputation, and that the one cannot be in any way affected without a participation of the other, must also be admitted; to guard them, then, from every adverse assailant, and to keep them in the most perfect repair, becomes a duty to ourselves and our posterity. The active limbwith a good flow of spirits, enables us to do wonders; and it is of little consequence how these advantages are acquired, whether by riding a hobby-horse or a field-marshall's charger, a dray-horse or a donkey, an Arabian stallion or on the back of one of his Majesty's creams, which have of late become less respected than the wooden horses bestrode by infant boys from the nursery.

But now to my subject, and thou! Cervantes, teach me to show the utility of hobby-horses.

As I was walking one morning up the High-street at Margate, I overtook my old London acquaintance, Leander Lively, but no more like the pleasant fellow I once knew him to be, than a Dutch porter to a French valet. After a cordial salutation, he told me "he was almost melancholy, and that he had been in that place upwards of two months, in hopes of recovering the flow of spirits which once accompanied his pursuits, but in that hope he feared he was disappointed; that he found no pleasure, as before, in society, and that this malady seemed hourly increasing, for want, as he verily believed, of a recurrence of those habits he had for so many years been accustomed to enjoy. To be brief," continued Leander," although I have plenty of that the world calls riches, I find time to be such a burden on my mind, that I wish to shake it off for ever; and to prepare me for the event, (whispered my friend) I am now going to listen to a sermon to be preached by an itinerant methodist, once a tripe seller in Pudding-lane. He has lately made a great noise in this part of the Island, and is followed by half. the dowagers in Thanet." I had happily eloquence enough to divert the desponding man from his purpose, and he went

on with me discoursing, and somewhat relieved in mind, till we arrived at St. Peter's. After resting a short space, I tempted my friend to proceed the other two miles, and about one o'clock we entered the port town of Ramsgate. The Nelson's Head above the Cliff was our resort, where, after a light dinner of sea-fish, we enjoyed our bottle in a temperate degree, when Leander consented to walk on the silver sands at the foot of the rock, continually kissed by the wanton waves of the ocean. As we were progressing to the music of the dashing surges, a recurrent wave, or some other cause, had laid the beautiful shell of the Nautilus on the shining pebbles before us: as Leander stooped to pick it up, his eyes seemed to beam with new pleasure. I told him it was the Argonautic Conque, so well described by the learned concologist Romphius, when, having expatiated on the wonderful economy and singular sagacity of the fish, that once was the tenant, Leander, with a more lively emo-. tion exclaimed, "And is this the bark of the little navigator so tunefully described by Mr. Pope?" I replied it is. "Bless me,” continued Leander, in a less elevated tone of voice, "how have I lost my time not to know of these things, and to admire, as I ought, the wisdom of the great Creator in his works!" We had passed but a few paces further, when the returning wave laid at our feet the concatusor, or great spiral shell, the formation of which first furnished Archimedes with the idea of the screw, and of its vast importance in the circle of mathematics. This Leander recovered with as much avidity as he had done the Nautilus just before; and now perceiving my companion had found a recess in his brain for rational amusement, I encouraged the pursuit, which I denominate "The Conchological Hobby-horse. And I determined my friend should ride it at once for his profit and his pleasure,

And now perceiving as we returned, that the particles of a saline atmosphere had begun to strengthen his faculties, and that the dark pogramatic spirit had forsaken him, I wished him joy on the happy change; he still became more cheerful, and frequently looked with new admiration on the shelly treasures as we traversed the sands, while Leander assured me his intention was to enter warmly into the fancy, and that the next day should be the commencement of his conchacological labours.-We reached our hotel together, and after a frugal sacrifice to the comforts, each returned to his chamber of rest.

The bustle in the port below, and the songs of the fishermen, called me up at an early hour. I hastened to Leander's apartment to call him to the breakfast table, when, to my great surprize, I found the bird was flown and upon the escritoire the following memorandum:

NAMES OF THE NAUTILUS.

In French-Papirace.

In Italian-Palpo Moscardino. In Swedish-Papper Skeppet. And by others-Argonaut, &c. Mr. Pope says, respecting it,

"Who taught the little Nautilus to sail,

To spread his fins and catch the fav'ring gale?"

From these observations, I concluded my friend Leander had been dreaming all night on the beauties of the Nautilus, the utility of the Archimedian screw, and the wonders of Providence in the great waters. Leander, it appeared, had been up long before me, and had disturbed the tradesman at the public library, where, to his inexpressible gratifica tion, he found in the bookseller's catalogue a translation from the learned Romphius, on the shelly creation; from this book he had made the foregoing remarks, and was just gone with his little bag in his hand, to glean from the sands and the pebbles the conchyla in greater abundance.

I had scarce sat down, when my friend entered the room of refreshments, but with a countenance very unlike that he exhibited when I overtook him in the High-street, Margate, going to listen to a rhapsody from the methodistman, lately a tripe-seller in Pudding-lane; his skin appeared clearer, and upcn his cheek was the faint glow of returning health---bis eyes were of a brighter lustre, and his spirits more elevated than I had for some time observed them, and the whole man was evidently changed for the better: he told me of his success, and the resolution he had formed, which nothing human should remove :-" Since I find this new pursuit so well accord with my recovery (said Leander) I am determined to explore all the southern coasts of Britain, from the North Foreland to the Land's End, and with the help of Romphius to collect the shelly treasures of the ocean, and to classify my labours, and upon my return to the metropolis, shew my friends what activity a saline air and perseverance can do for a valetudinarian; and I will bring with me such a volume of information, as shall make

them all wonder at the change. I have just sent (continued Leander) by the post, to Dr. Drenchum, to discontinue his medicines, for the only physic I shall take in future will be early rising, and the morning air; to inhale the sea breezes on the pebbled beach, and live with temperance. My labours by day shall be gratefully applied to the study of nature, and my evenings be closed with early repose.

I now perceived my old friend had completely mounted his hobby, and I congratulated him with sincerity on the event, enjoining him to continue the new pursuit, until the goddess Hygeia had rewarded him with her wreath of roses; and now being called to the great city, I leaped into the Ramsgate hoy, passed the Downs in safety, and the next day found myself at my habitation.

Nor did my friend Leander relax in his resolution, but rode his new hobby with the utmost perseverance. The fanatic was wholly done away for the philosopher; he rose with the lark, and went to bed with the robin, and his eyes again became as brilliant as the morning star; his voice was musical as the shepherd's pipe upon the mountains; he forgot all the rhapsodies of Humguffinism, but humbly and wisely contemplated the Creator in his wonderful works, and became more and more grateful to Providence, as they enlarged the compass of his ductile mind: to be brief,

"He once more became a man !"

By the winter Leander returned to town, with a fine cargo of shells selected from the shores of his native country; which, with the help of the learned Romphius, he so arranged as to form a desirable cabinet for all such as approve the fancy, and prefer the adoration of God in his works, to the crude dreams of the fanatic, and he once more became the delight of his city friends: nor was this all the advantage he derived from his labours, for his collections being judiciously classified by the help of Romphius, they were brought under the hammer of the eloquent Christie, and sold for a sum that perfectly liquidated the expenses of his conchological investigations.

T. NICHOLLS.

P.S. On a future day I shall again take up the subject of hobby-horsical pursuits, and endeavour to shew that the mind of man has at all times a claim upon rational indulgencies, and if we are not permitted to ride our hobbies unmolested, we may become as the caput mortuum, that no menstruum can resolve, no spirit vivify, no reasoning rectify, or medicine restore.

SHROVE TUESDAY;

Or, Pancake-Day in London.

(Concluded from page 37.)

The hour was fix'd, 'twas when the Bell at Bow
Began to knell, to call to morning pray'r ;
Then 'prentice lads aside their works might throw,
And seek the mansion of the good Lord May❜r.

The morning came, ah ! let impatience tell,

How still each urchin lent his watchful ear;
And now from Bow resounds the welcome bell,
And now they strike and don their sunday gear.

Away fly tools and implements aside,

The streets are crowded with a joyful throng ;
Sir Simon's name thro' every ward is cry'd,
By ev'ry wanton as he sends along.

All Draper's Gardens to the gates were spread,
With benches fit to entertain the guest;

On came the pancakes, and the while they fed,
The City minstrels play'd, and did their best.

O'twould have made you smile to 've seen the cooks,
Striving who best should serve the rich supply;
And then to mark the urchin's wishful looks,
As brown'd the treasure in the sav'ry fry.

Some, the more restive, from their stations ran

To help the fires, and some to mischief prone,
Snatch'd the hot manchets from the hissing pan,
Scalding their nimble fingers to the bone.

9

To see their faces wreath in many a form,

As pass'd the burning morsels thro' their lips;
Was full enough to raise up laughter's storm,
Tho' gravity upheld correction's whips.

Swift from the ladles round the batter flew,
And o'er the pilferer's sunday coats bespread;

For who in peace his labour could pursue,
While decency and order thus were fled ?

S Sir Simon kept his Mayoralty at the Draper's Hall, there being at that time no fixed habitation for the Chief Magistrate of the City of London, &c.