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GUSTAVUS III. KING of SWEDEN

1773. A Walk through Pall-Mall. --- Gustavus III.

and the other Lord Sh-lb-rne. I owned immediately, that the brawny limbs and coarfe manner of the former entitled him to wear a knot; but I could not account fo eafily for the latter, till I recollected that his lordship was deep in the science of filching, lying, outwitting, cheating, impudence, and other link-boy qualities.

Leaving thefe auguft peers as I found them, I purfued my way to the east, and made a kind of involuntary ftop at the famous Mr. Pinchbeck's. I walked in, and found him writing a card to St. James's. I touched his fhoulder with my fword, and the creature immediately became a fquirrel with a' chain of toys round his neck. Thou wretched animal, (faid I) well does it become thee. I fee thou waft made by nature to fetch and carry. I always fuppofed thee to be a plaything fit only for girls and for kings. I fee that by nature thou art the most despicable of four-footed animals by art, the most despicable of the two-footed kind.

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I left him, and walked on till I came to the great house on the right at Charing-crofs !--- the stately manfion of the N-th-mb-r-l-nds. So auguft a dwelling (faid I to myfelf) ought to be the poffeffion of auguft perfonages. Let us examine. Clofe as the gate is fhut, a wave of my fword threw it open. I walked freight up to what my lady duchefs calls, in lofty mood, her prefence-chamber. Here I waved my weapon once more, and was aftonished. A mafculine and robuft wench, with a red spotted handkerchief wrap

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ped round her head, a blue apron before her, a knife fufpended from thence by a cord, her petticoat tucked halfway up to her knee, and a tub of oysters upon her head, measured the room with long ftrides. Is it poffible, faid I, that a duchefs has been made of an oyster-wench! -- and a duke of a poftillion! for I had now observed that his grace had been metamorphofed into a brother of the whip. Befhrew me, O fortune! if I know what right thou haft to make a duchefs, when nature meant an oyster-wench ! --- or a duke, when nature, and education too, meant a poftillion!--- By St. Piercy! it was whimfically done, and cannot be accounted for by any branch of natural philofophy.

I departed from this manfion of pride and meannefs, and visited various places both public and private

theatres, coffee houfes, courts of juftice, and bookfellers shops: --In thefe laft places the amusement is infinite; for by touching any book with my fword, I difcover inftantly its intrinfic merit or intrinfic dullness a When the book is good, it ftands the trial; when dull, my fword fhrinks from it like the fenfitive plant. By this quality alone, my wooden fword will be of more utility than all the wooden-headed Monthly and Critical Reviewers put together. Indeed I paid a very particular vifit to the Critical Reviewers in Fleet-ftreet, and made very strange difcoveries; which, with feveral other things, will be related. in due time.

[To be continued occafionally.]

For the LONDON MAGAZINE.

CHARACTER of GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS III.

KING OF SWEDEN.

(With a beautiful Engraving, done from an original Painting in the Cabinet of the French King.)

USTAVUS ADOLPHUS III.

G king of Sweden, is US Intering into the 28th year of his age, and bas performed already more important actions than half the kings of Europe befide. If the future part of his life, fhould be marked with plans, atchievements, fucceffes, equal to those of his youth, he will be the most fingular monarch of his age.

In his private life he is amiable and prudent. Divefted of thofe idle wishes which lead monarchs to grandeur rather than to glory, unattached to that parade and that pomp which are ufually confpicuous in defpotic courts, he is ambitious he is ambitious of poffeffing the means of splendour rather than fplendour itself. His fubjects lament how diftant these means are from his

reach,

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Cacafogo, the Rich Man.

reach, the diftreffes of his kingdom having been increafing for many years under the tyrannous and illegal rule of an ungovernable ariftocracy: they lament their want of means to enrich their fovereign, because his power to do good never keeps pace with his inclination to do it. His domeftic affections never wander out of their proper channel, and he wishes to be obeyed through efteem for him rather than through fear when the former ceafes to be effectual, he never delays to excite the latter.

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His character as a statesman and politician will be ever evinced by the revolution he lately effected in his kingdom with furprifing fuccefs. It is not denied that the defign of that event had been formed, and in fome measure digested, long before; but the moment of execution was unexpected. It arrived by accident, and nothing but a comprehenfive understanding, great force of judgment, undaunted fpirit, and an admirable prefence of mind, could have feized upon it fo fuddenly as the feafon of advantage. The happy difcernment which guided the commencement of this undertaking hardly

Jan.

equalled the activity, the intrepidity, the prudence which were exerted in haftening it to a fuccefsful period. Without ftratagem, force, bloodshed, or money, the work which his ancestors had revolved in their thoughts for fome ages was performed by him in a few hours: his foes were fubdued, and his country and himself delivered from flavery.

The general complexion of his adminiftration, fince he became abfolute, has been in a high degree favourable to his reputation. He has been vigilant in reftoring his kingdom to order, confirming its laws, and regulating its police he has continually directed his attention to the ease of his fubjects, and when he could not immediately relieve them, he has fympathifed with them: nor has he exercifed yet, in one inftance, those abfolute powers with which he is now vefted by the general consent and approbation of his fubjects. In a word, if he is happy enough to difengage himfelf from those French chains which at prefent neceffarily enthral him, he will be equally powerful at home and refpectable abroad.

For the LONDON MAGAZINE.

No. III. OF ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.

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ONDON, London, what a place art thou! What a world of novelty! what a mafs of variety! What manners! What men! how numerous how various how oppofite!

If you ask the reafon, I do not profefs to tell you. You must ask the philofophers.

There are two men whom I know, who have a fingularity in their characters. I will call the one Cacafogo, the other Dick Slim. La Bruyere knew them too, and defcribed them. They are faithfully exhibited in the following portraits.

CACAFOGO has a fresh complexion, a fmooth face, a fteady and refolute look, large fhoulders, a full cheft, a firm and deliberate ftep. He fpeaks boldly, must have every word repeated that is fpoken to him, and is but indifferently pleafed with any

thing. He difplays a large handkerchief, puts it to his nofe, and blowshard enough for all to hear him. He fpits about the room, and fneezes aloud. He fleeps much by day, by night he fleeps foundly, and he fnores loudly in company. He takes up more room than any one elfe in walking, or at table. He takes the wall of his equals; he ftops, they ftop; he goes forward, they go forward all are governed by his motions. He interrupts the perfon that speaks; but let him talk as long as he thinks fit, he is never interrupted: the company is always of his opinion, and his news is conftantly the trueft. If he fits down, you fee him in an elbow chair; and he croffes his legs, wrinkles his brows, pulls his hat over his eyes, and will fee nobody. He raises himfelf afterwards, and difcovers a proud and confident forehead. If he fays

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1773. Dick Slim, the poor Man.---Dramatic Strictures.

the meat is good, it is fo: if he fays
the wine is bad, it is fo. If he is
merry, fo is the company: if he is
angry, the circle applauds him. He
fays he is a wit, and they believe him :
he fays he is a great genius, and no-
body contradicts him.

Do you afk the reason of this?
Cacafogo is RICH.

The CONTRAST. DICK SLIM has hollow eyes, obedient features, a meagre look, and a lean body. His fleep is little, and his flumbers light. He is penfive, thoughtful, and with good fenfe has the air of one that is ftupid. He forgets to fpeak what he knows, or to talk of thofe accidents with which he is acquainted. If he speaks fometimes, he comes but ill off: he is never hearkened to, nor taken notice of. He praifes, he laughs at others jefts, he is of their opinions, he runs, he flies to do them little fervices. He is a flatterer, complaifant, bufy, myfterious in his affairs, fuperftitious, fcrupulous, timorous, and sometimes a lyar. He fteps lightly and foftly, feemingly afraid to tread the ground: he walks with his eyes downwards,not daring to raise them to look on those who pafs by him. He never makes one in any of those companies who meet on purpose to discourse : he puts himfelf behind him who speaks, hears but

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by ftealth, and fneaks off if observed He has no place, no room any where he pulls his hat over his eyes, that he may not be feen: he folds himself up in his cloak, and there is no street or gallery fo crouded or thronged but he finds a way to get through without joftling, and creep along without being perceived. If he is defired to fit, he feats himself on the edge of the chair, talks low in converfation, and not very plain. He seldom opens his mouth but to reply, blows his nofe under his hat, fpits in his handkerchief, gets into a corner to fneeze, that the company may not perceive it. He will laugh with you, he will cry with you, he will pity with you, he will rail with you: he will do any thing with you but be affuming. He cofts nobody a compliment, or a falutation. He troubles nobody, and nobody takes any trouble about him. Do you enquire the reason of all this?

THE BRITISH

Dick Slim is POOR.

Let not the reader be furprised when I tell him, that these two men have fouls exactly fimilar, of the fame caft: but they act, like the reft of the world, from circumstances; they have oppofite characters only because they have oppofite fituations. If Cacafogo was poor, he would be Dick Slim: If Dick Slim was rich, he would be Cacafogo.

THEATRE.

IT is perhaps no news to our rea- wit and playful humour. Where is

ders, that our theatres have been very dull fince our laft. Drury-Lane has fed upon a new pantomime, and Covent Garden upon an old one.

We will not spend many words about it; but we affirm, that fince the first exiftence of the theatre in Britain (unless indeed at that infant period when the theatre and the church were fynonymous) it did not ftand upon fo defpicable an eftablishment as at prefent. It is not neceflary to recur for comparisons to the golden times of Elizabeth: the laft age is fufficient. The brilliant example which the age of Anne tranfmitted to us is clouded with phlegmatic fentiment and cold reafoning: a kind of Gallic mift has extinguished every ray of genuine

now the exuberant wit of Wycherly? the random and plenteous vein of Congreve? or the elegant liveliness of Farquhar? Thefe expired with the poffeffors of them.

We are told, and we know it to be true, that the managers of our theatres damp the ardour of rifing genius by unfair and unworthy dealings; that they extinguish the youthful flame by indulging in themfelves a mean partiality for avarice and felf-intereft. --They will not, we believe, deny, that they have fuppreffed many an excellent performance, to make room for their own pieces --- either tranflated from the French, or altered from Shakespear or Johnfon. By this practice of unfeafonable economy, they receive into

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