then, to you, Mr. Griffin, if these allusions would not be much more delightful to British ears, if they tended to promote such manufactures as are more peculiarly our own. The Georgics of Virgil, let me tell you, sir, have been suspected, by some people, to have been written with a political as well as poetical view, for the purpose of converting the victorious spirits of the Roman soldiery, from the love of war and the severity of military hardships to the milder occupations of peace and the more profitable employments of agriculture. Surely, equally successful would be the endeavours of our poets, if they would boldly extirpate from their writings every species of foreign manufacture, and adopt, in their stead, materials from the prolific looms of their countrymen. Surely, we have a variety which would suit all subjects and all descriptions; nor do I despair, if this letter has the desired effect, but I shall presently see landscapes beautifully diversified with (all due deference being paid to alliteration) plains of plush, pastures of poplin, downs of dimity, vallies of velvet, and meadows of Manchester. How gloriously novel would this be; how patriotically poetical an innovation; which nothing but bigoted prejudice could object to, nothing but disaffection to the interests of the country could disapprove. "Excuse me, sir, if I have detained you beyond the usual limits of a letter, on a subject in which I am so deeply interested. Pardon, sir, the partiality of an old man to the profession of his youth; and, oh! Mr. Griffin, may your paper be the means of restoring from unmerited ridicule and illiberal contempt, an art, which has added a clearness and a polish to the remarks of criticism, and has clothed the con ceptions of poetry in the language of metaphor; an art inferior to none but those which have so frequently and so successfully borrowed its assistance; nor even to them, unless it can be proved that that which provides the necessary raiment for the body, should yield to those which are but the source of amusement to the mind. "I am, sir, yours, &c. "H. HOMESPUN." I cannot but own myself much pleased with the enthusiasm which seems to animate my correspondent, while he treats on a subject so near his heart. He has, I can assure him, my full approbation to his proposed improvements; and I am convinced every well-meaning person in his Majesty's kingdoms must feel the force of his reasoning. Will any caviller presume to contend that our looms are not as fertile of poetic imagery as those of our neighbours? Have we not handkerchiefs of printed cotton, crowded with all the beauties of rural scenery; and " azure flowers that blow," in the carpets of the Wilton manufactory? Nay, even supposing an unquestionable inferiority on the side of the English looms, would not every Englishman still show a laudable partiality to his country? and, by such a preference, what he lost in poetry, would he not amply make up in patriotism? In short, so convinced am I by Mr. Homespun's arguments, that I cannot help taking the earliest opportunity to recommend to such of my correspondents as may have been induced, by the forwardness of the season, to begin odes on spring for the use of the Microcosm, that they would be careful to stick to the productions of the English loom, if they think it necessary to draw metaphors from weaving at all; that is, if they do really think that nature can be embellished by the technical terms of art, and that the works of the Creator can receive additional beauty by being assimilated to those of the manufacturer; which, in my humble opinion, I will confess does not appear to be the case. I know no better advice that I can give to my correspondents on this head, unless indeed it were not to write" Odes on Spring" at all. B. I shall take this opportunity of obviating an objection which has been made to my deviation from my original plan, of devoting this work particularly to Eton College. Those who have considered my occasional sallies into the wider field of history or speculation as a violation of this promise, must entertain no very high idea of our little world, if they suppose that a weekly siege of some one of its follies would furnish employment for a long campaign; or that the example of an equal is not of as much efficacy to lead the younger part of it to a more serious exercise of thought than generally distinguishes their years, as his admonitions are to deter them from error. It has been observed, likewise, that, in some few instances, I have ventured to attack received opinions. In answer to this, if it has ever been the case, so pointedly at least as to give umbrage to the more experienced part of my readers, I shall plead the example of the Roman orators, whose first coup d'essai was universally the impeachment of some powerful offender; which attack, though not always attended with success, was looked upon as the most certain road to future popularity. Nor indeed have I any other method A trite precept of morality would be but ill received by those, who, from the unprecedented novelty of my undertaking, expect rather to be pleased with the enthusiastic though perhaps mistaken ideas of a juvenile knight/errant, than instructed with the gleanings of all the moral and philosophic pens, whose authority has from time to time established these common place data. No. 23. MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1787. If there be any land, as fame reports, Where common laws restrain the prince and subjects; A happy land, where circulating power Flows through each member of the embodied state; Her grateful sons shine bright with every virtue; Sure all unite to hold her league of rule, JOHNSON'S IRENE. FROM a subject that has been so often handled as the various modes and forms of government, little novelty can be expected; and the ablest pen could effect no more than to place in new lights, or clothe in different words, those arguments which have been urged for ages by the advocates of different parties. As I am not qualified by my years or experience to decide amidst such contending factions, or to give any additional weight, to either side, by a declaration of my opinion, my only endeavour in this essay shall be to collect, and place in one point of view, the most important points of the controversy-to rest my assertions, not on the frail foundations of speculation, but experience-and, by exhibiting the several expedients of human wisdom for the regulation of society, make my fellow-citizens sensible of the blessings of that constitution under which we live, and to the protection of whose privileges they will, most probably, hereafter be summoned. To trace the progress of legal government, from the simple subordination of the patriarchal power to the complex system of modern politics-to mark the gradual increase and extension of acknowledged authority, from the head of a single family to the sovereignty of a mighty empire-may prove an ample reward to the toil of useful curiosity, but it is a task beyond the limits of my paper or the extent of my abilities; I shall therefore pass over the subject, and content myself with this remark, that it is absolutely necessary to the existence of civil society, that, for the public good, the individual should resign a part of his natural independence, and bind himself, by some common tie or obligation, to the observance of a known and fixed law. As this is the corner stone of all civil institutions, and one of those selfevident propositions which do not admit of a doubt, I shall not further insist upon it, but proceed in my examination of those different branches which shot forth from the parent stock of patriarchal government. At this simple period the ideas of men were confined within a narrow circle, and to the objects more immediately before them; their present subsistence was almost their only care, and the possession of a fertile pasturage, or a spring to water their flocks, em * *In the Scriptures we find an instance of a solemn covenant, between Abraham and Abimelech, concerning a well of water. |