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    The Rev . Mr . Higginson ' s vindication of the late pr . Percivai ' s character shall appear as early as our various pledges will permit .

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    2 ^ 2 Currcsj ) O 72 dtnce .

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    We scarcely know what to do with the following letter , from an unknown hand . It is written with too tniich good humour to be angrily thrown aside , and at the same time with ^ ome portion of that levity , which it is designed to rebuke . In all douKtful cases , however , . we incline in favour of our correspondents , especiall y when our own conduct is arraigned . Such as it is , then , the reader shall have it : if we deservei * fhe lash of irony , » we will not , by a stretch of prerogative , skreeri ourselves from , it .

    A GENTLE REBUKE OF THE EDITOR . To the Editor of the Monthly Repository .

    Mr . Editor , Idle Lane , May 19 th , 1808 . I am a new correspondent of your ' s , though not quite an unpractised writer For several years , I have amused myself with collecting materials for an edition of Tom Durfey ' s " Pills to purge Melancholy , '* which has been long out of print . To the ' * Mirror of Fashion , " I am an occasional contributor . I also communicated thiee jests , undoubted originals , to the last edition of *< Joe Millar . " Such are my claims to your regard , though I little expected , till very lately , to become a correspondent of th « " Monthly Repository . "

    The title of your work was known to me from Its commencement . I have a neighbour whom J , with a few honest fellows like myself , occasionally visit , from common courtesy , and because he is a well-meaning man , though too sombre for us , and indeed a quits , s He has often tried to make us in love with your magazine , declaring- that it was entertaining as ivell as , instructive . The last epithet was enough to spoil all , and , in phrase theatrical , you were immediately damned . . Looking in at my neighbour ' s this morning , when he happened to be from home , I saw your last number on his table , open at a page where he had written " Com * jnon stuff . " Knowing his false taste , I was encouraged to read ; but I am unable to express to you Mr , Editor , how I was gratified with , the " Original Anecdotes « f Dr . Goldsmith , * ' which my dull neighbour had disapprove *! . The Monthly Repository is now really entertaining . Thus it is when a mere particle of fun comes into the possession of a skilful artist . By minute accuracy and ingenious amplification , he can , like a gold-beater ^ spread it over two pages and a ha'f .

    1 had before heard of a forged letter as a trick often played off by apprentices upon cook maids . The candle and the «« Cheshire cheese , " I am persuaded , is an original . The scene was so admirably described that I could not jrefrain from shewing it to a caricaturist of my acquaintance , who eagerly seized it as a subject for his pencil ; the town Joeing much in want of something new . Look

    pbout you , Mr . Editor , in the high streets , an 4 you may perhaps discover a view of J > r . JVfilner ' s kitchen , William in a morning dregs , suited to a footman , who ** cjeans shoes , &c , ' * and Goldsmith in an usher ' s dishabilJe . " Over the fire placein the kifcehen , " the pretended and the " real candle . " ? My friend promises to make gi due acknowledgment at the bottom of his print , by a reference to " the Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature . *'

    1 had before met with anecdotes of Goldsmith , but with none possessing * ' h ** r mour and chee \ fulness , " to suit my taste . I just remember one which describes the poet pn ) iis rambles through Switzerland , as securing a supper and a lodging fry the enticement of his viphn at a peasant s door ; but this story was intermixed with wis , esaws upon the distresses and resources Of genius , suited ^ only to those whose favourite motto is written , I believe , «* Utiledulci . ^ My motto , Mr . Editor , always was , and I Jiope always will be , " Vive la bagatelle ; ' pray adopt this in future instead of those hard words on your blue cover . —

    Go pn , Sir , to give us anecdotes a la bagatelle ; and then , though you may displease a few dull souls , depend on al \ my relations as constant readers and occar sional correspondents . * W ' c arx * 4 very Jargefanuly , as you will ailow when I have fUib $ cribe 4 myself , your ' s , PICKY QQSSIP * J ? . S . I depend on seeing this in youi ? iie * t *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1808, page 292, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2392/page/64/