"had the regiment been ordered there. It is a pleasure to hear him talk of war. He is the best"natured man alive, but a little too jealous of his "honor, and too apt to be in a paffion; but that is "foon over, and then he is forry for it. I fear he "is dropfical, which I impute to his drinking your champains and burgundies. He got that ill habit ❝ abroad. : 66 66 "Sir George Plyant is well born, has a genteel fortune, keeps the very best company, and is to "be fure one of the beft-bred men alive: he is fo good-natured, that he feems to have no will of "his own. He will drink as little or as much as you pleafe, and no matter of what. He has been "a mighty man with the ladies formerly, and loves "the crack of the whip ftill. He is our newf "monger; for, being a gentleman of the privy"chamber, he goes to court every day, and confe 66 quently knows pretty well what is going forward "there. Poor gentleman! I fear we shall not keep him long; for he feems far gone in a confump"tion, though the doctors fay it is only a nervous " atrophy. 66 "Will Sitfaft is the beft-natured fellow living, "and an excellent companion, though he feldom fpeaks; but he is no flincher, and fits every man's "hand out at the club. He is a very good fcholar, "and can write very pretty Latin verfes. I doubt "he is in a declining way; for a paralitical ftroke "has lately twitched up one fide of his mouth so, "that he is now obliged to take his wine diagonally. "However, "However, he keeps up his fpirits bravely, and "never shams his glass. 66 club, in "Doctor Carbuncle is an honeft, jolly, merry parfon, well affected to the government, and much "of a gentleman. He is the life of our "stead of being the least restraint upon it. He is an "admirable fcholar, and I really believe has all "Horace by heart; I know he has him always in his pocket. His red face, inflamed nofe, and fwelled legs, make him generally thought a hard drinker by those who do not know him; but I must do "him the juftice to fay, that I never saw him difguifed with liquor in my life. It is true, he is a very large man, and can hold a great deal, which "makes the colonel call him pleasantly enough a "veffel of election. 66 "The laft and leaft," concluded my friend, "is "your humble fervant fuch as I am; and, if you please, we will go and walk in the park till din"ner-time." I agreed, and we fet out together. But here the reader will perhaps expect that I fhould let him walk on a little, while I give his character. We were of the fame year of St. John's college in Cambridge: he was a younger brother of a good family, was bred to the church, and had just got a fellowship in the college, when, his elder brother dying, he fucceeded to an easy fortune, and refolved to make himself eafy with it, that is, to do nothing. As he had refided long in college, he had contracted all the habits and prejudices, the laziness, the foaking, the pride, and the pedantry of the cloyfter, which after a certain time are never to be rubbed off. He confidered the critical knowledge of the Greek and Latin words as the utmost effort of the human understanding, and a glafs of good wine in good company as the highest pitch of human felicity. Accordingly he paffes his mornings in reading the claffics, most of which he has long had by heart, and his evenings in drinking his glafs of good wine, which, by frequent filling, amounts at least to two, and often to three bottles a day. I must not omit mentioning that my friend is tormented with the ftone, which misfortune he imputes to his having once drunk water for a month, by the prefcription of the late doctor Cheyne, and by no means to at leaft two quarts of claret a day, for these last thirty years. To return to my friend: "I am very much "mistaken," said he, as we were walking in the park, "if you do not thank me for procuring you "this day's entertainment; for a fet of worthier gen"tlemen, to be fure, never lived." "I make no "doubt of it," faid I, " and am therefore the more "concerned, when I reflect, that this club of worthy "gentlemen might, by your own account, be not improperly called an hospital of incurables, as there "is not one among them, who does not labor under fome chronical and mortal diftemper." "I fee what you would be at," answered my friend; "you "would infinuate that it is all owing to wine: but "let me affure you, Mr. Fitz-Adam, that wine, ef66 pecially claret, if neat and good, can hurt no man.” I did not reply to this aphorifm of my friend's, which I knew would draw on too long a difcuffion, elpecially as we were just going into the club-room, where where I took it for granted that it was one of the great conftitutional principles. The account of this modern Sympofion fhall be the fubject of my next paper. Μ My SATURDAY, Sept. 26, 1754. N° 91. Y friend presented me to the company, in what he thought the moft obliging manner; but which, I confefs, put me a little out of countenance. "Give me leave, gentlemen," faid he, "to prefent *to you my old friend Mr. Fitz-Adam, the inge"nious author of the World." The word author inftantly excited the attention of the whole company, and drew all their eyes upon me for people, who are not apt to write themselves, have a strange curiofity to fee a live author. The gentlemen received. me in common with thofe geftures that intimate welcome; and I on my part refpectfully muttered fome of thofe nothings, which ftand inftead of the fomething one fhould fay, and perhaps do full as well. The weather being hot, the gentlemen were refreshing themselves before dinner, with what they called a cool tankard; in which they fucceffively drank to me, When it came to my turn, I thought I could not decently decline drinking the gentlemen's healths, which I did aggregately: but how was I furprized, when upon P 3 upon the first taste I discovered that this cooling and refreshing draught was compofed of the strongest mountain wine, lowered indeed with a very little lemon and water, but then heightened again by a quantity of those comfortable aromatics, nutmeg and ginger! Dinner, which had been called for more than once with fome impatience, was at laft brought up, upon the colonel's threatening perdition to the master and all the waiters of the houfe, if it was delayed two minutes longer. We fat down without ceremony; and we were no fooner fat down, than every body, except myself, drank every body's health, which made a tumultuous kind of noife. I obferved with fur prize, that the common quantity of wine was put into glaffes of an immenfe fize and weight; but my furprize ceafed when I faw the tremulous hands that took them, and for which I fuppofed they were intended as ballaft. But even this precaution did not protect the nofe of doctor Carbuncle from a fevere shock, in his attempt to hit his mouth, The colonel, who obferved this accident, cried out pleasantly, Why, 66 “ do&or, I find you are but a bad engineer. While .. you aim at your mouth, you will never hit it, take "my word for it, A floating battery, to hit the "mark, must be pointed fomething above, or below "it. If you would hit your mouth, direct your fourpounder at your forehead, or your chin.” The doctor good-humoredly thanked the colonel for the hint, and promised him to communicate it to his friends at Oxford, where he owned, that he had seen many a good glafs of port fpilt for want of it. Sir Tunbelly almoft fimiled, fir George laughed, and the |