ch a tumult had never happened since the first institution of the
assembly, till that very night; and promised that, for the future, he
should have no cause to be scandalized at their behaviour.

Persuaded by these motives and assurances, he trusted himself once more
in the midst of their community, and everything proceeded with great
decorum; all dispute and altercation was avoided, and the college
applied itself seriously to the purposes of its meeting, namely, to hear
the grievances of individuals, and assist them with salutary advice.
The first person that craved redress was a noisy North Briton, who
complained, in a strange dialect, that he had, in the beginning of the
season, presented a comedy to the manager of a certain theatre, who,
after it had lain six weeks in his hands, returned it to the author,
affirming there was neither sense nor English in the performance.

The president, who, by the bye, had revised the piece, thinking his own
reputation concerned, declared, in presence of the whole society,
that, with regard to sense, he would not undertake to vindicate the
production; but, in point of language, no fault could be justly laid to
its charge. "The case, however, is very plain," said he; "the manager
never gave himself the trouble to peruse the play, but formed a judgment
of it from the conversation of the author, never dreaming that it had
undergone the revisal of an English writer; be that as it will, you are
infinitely obliged to him for having despatched you so soon, and I shall
have the better opinion of him for it so long as I live; for I have
known other guise authors than you, that is, in point of interest and
fame, kept in continual attendance and dependence during the best part
of their lives, and, after all, disappointed in the expectation of
seeing their performances exhibited on the stage."

CHAPTER XCIV.

Further proceedings of the College.

This affair was no sooner discussed, than another gentleman exhibited a
complaint, signifying, that he had undertaken to translate into English
a certain celebrated author, who had been cruelly mangled by former
attempts; and that, soon as his design took air, the proprietors of
those miserable translations had endeavoured to prejudice his work, by
industrious insinuations, contrary to truth and fair dealing, importing,
that he did not understand one word of the language which he pretended
to translate. This being a case that nearly concer