pretty unanimous in their preference of the productions of their respective countries to those of England. From their eulogiums it should appear, that the oatcakes of the former were, like the heavenly manna, delicious to every palate; and the potatoes of the latter, at least equal in flavour to pine-apples!

GERMANS.

One great error seems to influence the Germans resident in this capital;—a propensity to cavil at our manners, customs, and laws, which, doubtless, are much superior to their own.-They declaim against Locke, and prefer the inconclusive reasonings of professor Kant to the aggregate wisdom of all our ethical writers. Indeed, though the well-bred Germans are remarkable for a pleasing frankness, which forms a medium between the distant manners of the English, and the intrusive flippancy of the French; yet their minds are too generally tinctured with a puerile arrogance, claiming a pre-eminence in science, which exists only in their own imagination.

Quack doctors compose a class of Germans, who migrate hither for a livelihood. The most notorious of those were the late Dr. Brodum, and Surgeon B--, or more properly Bray! The benevolence of these excellent men could not fail to receive its due reward among a people who know so well how to appreciate merit; especially when it is considered that their infallible nostrums, when administered, seldom failed to place the patient beyond the power of

disease.

JEWS

A very distinct class of the inhabitants of London consists of Jews. It is computed that they amount to twenty thousand; and though a few of them are respectable characters, the majority are notorious sharpers. Their adherence to the Mosaic law prevents them from mixing with the rest of their fellow-citizens; hence they absolutely subsist on the industry of others, and become a nuisances. The Jewish dealers in wearing apparel, gold, and silver, purchase these articles at an undervalue without scruple; they are the principal receivers of stolen goods, and the itinerant Jew-boys circulate base money in every direction.

NOBILITY AND GENTRY.

"True Merit is personal."

FROM their freedom of intercourse, contiguity of residence, and frequent intermarriages, our nobility and gentry may be considered as one great body. The constitution has, indeed, distinguished them into separate classes, by conferring on the former the honour of being legislators by hereditary succession, while the latter are appointed by election. But, in a moral light, their virtues and vices, manners and amusements, are the same, with a few slight shades of difference.

When our country gentlemen first visit London, they undergo a complete metamorphosis. The transition from the cool breezes that ventilate their rural retreats to the warm atmosphere of the metropolis, affects those rustics with a malady which may be termed a brain fever; under its influence they become delirious, and madly rush into the vortex of fashionable dissipation. The facility with which the squire adopts the modish dress, phraseology, effeminacy, and vices of the town-bred rake, is almost incredible. On his arrival, the novelty of the scene, and the vast extent, population, and 'magnificence of the city, fill him with astonishment. Ashamed of his vulgarity of manners and dialect, he is silent and reserved, till an introduction to a few polite men of the world teaches him to overcome his uncouth bashfulness. Once initiated in modish follies, he boldly divests himself of decency; fre

quents taverns and stews; stares at passing females in the streets; and, in consequence of his vigorous constitution, becomes a more vociferous and outrageous blood than the feeble cit, who had been practising from his infancy.

Boldly independent in principle, he proves, by his actions, that pleasure is his idol, and the shafts of his ridicule, forged by obscenity on the anvil of dulness, are directed against that religion which his ancestors held in due veneration.

It must be confessed, that the fine arts owe their present perfection to the munificence of our nobility and gentry; and the theatres may be said to exist in consequence of the annual visits of the gay and the opulent to London. Besides what a multitude of perfumers, hair dressers, and other creatures of fashion, would be destitute, if deprived of the patronage of the great? Nay, do not the taverns, gaming-houses, and bagnios, owe their chief support to the profusion of young men of fashion?

One characteristic which denotes the accomplished modern fine gentleman is, his skill in the arts of seduction. To allure a thoughtless girl by presents and professions of love, and afterwards relinquish her to infamy, is such an heroic achievement, that the man of gallantry is prouder of his conquest over the credulity of a maiden, and the rich plunder of a taken heart,' than a hero would be of the wreath of victory. The moralist may censure the conduct of the seducer as infamous, not considering that fashion can make vice appear amiable..

There are indeed many illustrious exceptions to this general depravity among the higher classes; and if our nobility and gentry would seriously re

flect on their influence in society, they would discover, that an imitation of their follies and vices has pervaded every subordinate class of the community. Divines may preach, and moralists write, in vain, if the affluent practice and encourage vice. But the dissolute exclaim, "Can the example of a few individuals reclaim the world!-must we forego our pleasures to promote public happiness? Let the parsons inculcate morality, they are paid for it: but we will live, while we live!" Such are the suggestions of selfish dissipation. But were persons of distinction to return to the luminous orbit of virtue, whence, like wandering stars, they are making continual aberrations-were they to shine like a benign constellation, they would at once beautify and harmonise society.

F