"But say, mean herd, the body spoil'd of breath, "And GARD'NER's fhade with Hector's,-reft in peace THUS lived, and thus died, Dick MERRYFELLOW, of ferious and facetious memory! What is this life, that mortals idly crave? A man, who, according to the character given of him in our title-page, had Learning to inftruct, wit to entertain, To moralize with ease, and satirize with pain. In taking a review of these memoirs, we find, that we have anticipated, by curfory remarks, those reflections which generally arise after the decease of a perfon, whofe life and converfation was intimately known to us. Shakespeare hath beautifully described the ages of man, in the play of AS YOU LIKE IT! and Horace, by the following elegant line : Etatis cujufque notandi funt tibi mores. What foibles wait on life through ev'ry ftage! THE eccentricity of our hero's genius rendered him an exception to the general rule of life laid down by writers, who draw us "not what we are, but what we ought to be." The plain duties of morality, which ought to govern our actions, are too circumfcribed for the man of fashion, or the flave of wit; and thofe beings who move in the circle of the beau monde, are as ignorant of Mr. Pope's multum in parva, as he whofe ill-placed vivacity, gets the better of his good manners. A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod, "An HONEST MAN's the nobleft work of God! Is genius to be confidered as a natural gift, or an effect of education? and are men of a certain turn of mind cenfurable for those follies which, rashness and impetuofity hurries them into, and which is as difficult to account for, as to restrain. A certain noble Earl, of an open generous heart, who on all occafions, whether acting in the quality of fenator, Statesman, ambassador, or at the head of armies, was ever diftinguifhed for his coolness and equal temper, but at wHIST was occafionally fo ruffled, and became so touchy, that he has been known to quarrel even with women, if the cards went against him;-in other refpects, the best bred man alive! DICK MERRY-FELLOW was a man of quick feelings, and of a temper rather hafty and paffionate: the warmth of his dif pofition, and his nice fenfibility of honor, involved him frequently in broils, which he would readily vindicate vindicate, either by the pen or the fword. If the feverity of the former could not procure a conceffion, nor provoke a retaliation, he would then have recourse to the latter; as in the cafe of Sir H. H. and Mr. C. Speaking of this matter to a friend, fometime before his death, he declared, that" in heat at firft, and in refentment for ex"treme ill usage, I wrote those LETTERS, neither "of which would ever have been published, but "for the outrageous and unmerited infult I re"ceived from Mr. C. and which, in vindication "of my own bonor, I was under a neceffity of "doing, but might have been eafily prevented by the least conceffion that had been made, "and which I had a right to expect, and till it " is done, fhall think myself at liberty to be as free with their characters as I please, and I 66 fhall of courfe expofe them to the public upon "every occafion that offers. I wrote Mr. C. "word," continued our hero," very lately, that if "be was offended at my paft publications, or fhould be "at any future ones, 1 fhould be ready to give him fatis"faction whenever he called upon me, and without ac quainting a third perfon, like that poltron his friend "Sir H." IT will not, we hope, be thought invidious, or too minute, to mention, that Mount-Amelia had been, for fometime before Mr. MERRY-FELLOW's deecafe, advertised for public fale. Mrs. G. G. her daughter and younger fon, quitted the premises on Sunday, Oct. 14, and, on the Wednesday following, the household-furniture, &c. were fold by auction for the benefit of creditors. There being no executor of his will, Mrs. G. refused to take upon her the administration, for fear of being brought into trouble, as his debts far exceeded his effects. The houfe and land, we are alfo told, is taken by the mortgagee; and thus is the remains of our hero's terreftrious affairs dispersed! He, who had fhone in all the majesty of print; who had influence on paper to affect the choice of reprefentatives in parliament; who had feen the best company, and had rolled in his own carriage;-whofe abilities were the terror and admiration of all! "His faults, or virtues, who can justly tell? DICK abhorred the trite maxim of Charles II. "Court your enemies, and your friends will be your friends ftill. This infamous principle," fays he," which has frequently prevailed in latter "times, has been found (and always will when 66 ever pursued) to do equal mischief in public as "in private life."-This is very well in theory, Mr. MERRY-FELLOW, but no one ever experienced its inefficacy in practice more than yourself! for, had you had temper to fhew lefs of your wit and more of your prudence, you had not been "the sport of fortune, nor the butt of fools!" He that lives in a boufe of glass, fays the proverb, fhould not be the first to throw stones: yet no timid confideration ever deterred him from kicking against the pricks. Rather too confident of his "fcale of talents," our hero cared not by whom, or in what manner, he was attacked. To treat him de haut en bas, or prefume on the fanction of wealth or power to awe him, he would answer, in the words of HORACE, melius non tangere clamo. Peace is my delight, not FLEURY's more, POPE. He always thought himself of more confequence than he really was, and would readily become a party in an affair from which he could derive neither reputation nor pecuniary profit. "Who meddle thus with other's cares, "Too oft neglect their own affairs: "Should nothing leave undone at home. He would have made an admirable civilian, for he could defend as ftrenuously as he could condemn |