uniformly directed against the administration of Walpole; to every paper, indeed, is annexed what is termed an "Index to the Times," consisting of news miscellaneous and political, and frequently charged with the most sarcastic irony.

The assumed name under which the Champion issues his lucubrations, is Captain Hercules Vinegar; and in the introductory number is given a detail of the whole family of the Vinegars, to whom different departments in the paper are distributed. To Mr. Nehemiah Vinegar, for instance, the Captain's father, history and politics are allotted; to Mr. Counsellor Vinegar, Nehemiah's brother, all subjects of law and judicature; to Dr. John Vinegar, the Counsellor's son, medicine and natural philosophy; to Nol Vinegar, the Captain's brother, classical literature; to Tom Vinegar, his eldest son, modern poetry; to Jack Vinegar, his youngest son, the superintendance of fashionable manners; and to Mrs. Joan Vinegar, his wife, domestic news. This good lady, who takes a conspicuous share in the conduct of the work, is celebrated for her loquacity; and in a paper dated February 5th, 1740, her powers-in this department are noticed in the following ludi

crous manner.

" I was waked this morning by a very great noise, which, in my first confusion, I imagined to have been thunder; but recollecting it was a season of the year when that rarely happens, I began to think the great guns were firing on some public solemnity; till at last, I was very much surprized, and I believe the reader will be so too, to understand that this dreadful hurricane was nothing more than my wife Joan, who was laying about her with great vigour, and exercising her lungs on a maid-servant for the benefit of my family.

"This good woman is one of those notable housewives, whom the careless part of the world distinguish by the name of a scold. This musical talent of hers, when we were first married, did not so well agree with me. I have often thought myself in the cave of Æolus, or perhaps wished myself there on account of this wind-music; but it is now become so habitual to me, that I am little more alarmed at it, than a garrison at the tattoo or reveille; indeed, I have, I thank God, for these thirty years last past, seldom laid myself down, or rose up, without; all the capitulations I have made are, that she would keep the garrisonhours, and not disturb my repose by such her performances.

It hath been remarked by some naturalists, that nature hath given all creatures some arms for their defence; some are armed with horns, some with tusks, some with claws, some with strength, others with swiftness; and the tongue may, I think, be properly said to be the arms which nature has bestowed on a woman."*

It is obvious from the plan chalked out in this first number of the Champion, that if properly carried into execution, much variety and entertainment may be expected as the result; nor will the reader be disappointed; for, though the portion employed on politics be now uninteresting, there are numerous essays, where humour, invention, and criticism, will afford ample remuneration. As specimens in the first of these provinces, I would refer to N° 11, vol. 1, p. 69, on a club in the possession of Captain Vinegar, which has the singular property " of falling, of its own accord, on every egregious knave who comes in its way;" to N° 16, p. 111, on the different ages of the world which have occurred since the iron one of Ovid, and what the author divides into the age of flint, the age of lead, and the age of wood; and to N° 47, on the Art of getting a Name. Under the head of Invention, might be enumerated several dreams, visions, and allegories, and I would particularly distinguish the vision of the Palace of Riches in Nos. 19 and 20, vol. 1, p. 132139, which exhibits a fertile stock of satirical imagination. In the critical department are to be found many ingenious dissertations and literary remarks; of these, N° 50, vol. 1, p. 340, on the "Ruins of Rome" by Dyer, is an elegant and pleasing example; and from the literary articles which are frequently appended to the "Index to the Times," I shall beg leave to copy one, which, being on the subject of periodical composition, will require no apology for its insertion.

"Short occasional essays," observes the author, on the follies, vices, humours, controversies, and amusements of the age, have been esteemed both so useful and entertaining, that not a library in the three kingdoms, and scarce a lady's closet, is without those great originals, the Tatlers and Spectators. And that no subsequent pieces have obtained the like success, is perhaps as much owing to an opinion, that those volumes had exhausted all the wit and humour the subject was capable of, as that the merits of Steele and Addison are above comparison and imitation.

"But there's a sort of craft attending vice and absurdity; and when hunted out of society in one shape, they seldom want address to re-insinuate themselves in another: -Hence the modes of licence vary almost as often as those of dress, and consequently require continual observation to detect and explode them anew. There is room, then, for other papers to shine as well as those quoted with so much deference and honour above; and 'tis an affront to the nation to imagine its whole stock of genius depended on any two lives whatever. Those justly celebrated gentlemen have, certainly, a claim to be placed at the head of this Table of Fame, but the door ought not to be shut on their successors; and among them, the Free-Thinker has a legitimate title to be introduced the foremost.

" In the volumes under that title, is contained a great variety of discourses on subjects not touched, or but slightly, by the two accomplished masters, his predecessors; some handled with wit and pleasantry, some with great force of reason, some with the charms of eloquence and persuasion, and all with the strictest regard to politeness, good sense, and virtue. There are in particular certain papers on government, laws, religion, enthusiasın, and superstition, which are admirable; and many short pieces of poetry, that would have done honour to the most eminent writers among us."*

Of the coadjutors of Fielding in this paper, a Mr. Ralph, whom we shall have occasion shortly to notice, was the principal; he, it is probable,

* Vol. 1, p. 258.