long extracts from Prior, Gay, and Fenton. Although there was a
considerable number of epitaphs, riddles, and fables, nearly all the
jests were well known and trite. But the subjoined have a certain amount
of neatness.

TO DORCAS.

"Oh! what bosom must but yield,
When like Pallas you advance,
With a thimble for your shield,
And a needle for your lance;
Fairest of the stitching train,
Ease my passion by your art,
And in pity to my pain,
Mend the hole that's in my heart."

TO SALLY, AT THE CHOP-HOUSE.

"Dear Sally, emblem of thy chop-house ware,
As broth reviving, and as white bread fair;
As small beer grateful, and as pepper strong,
As beef-steak tender, as fresh pot-herbs young;
Sharp as a knife, and piercing as a fork,
Soft as new butter, white as fairest pork;
Sweet as young mutton, brisk as bottled beer,
Smooth as is oil, juicy as cucumber,
And bright as cruet void of vinegar.
O, Sally! could I turn and shift my love
With the same skill that you your steaks can move,
My heart, thus cooked, might prove a chop-house feast,
And you alone should be the welcome guest.
But, dearest Sal! the flames that you impart,
Like chop on gridiron, broil my tender heart!
Which if thy kindly helping hand be n't nigh,
Must like an up-turned chop, hiss, brown, and fry;
And must at least, thou scorcher of my soul,
Shrink, and become an undistinguished coal."

As the idea gradually gained ground that it would be necessary that the
public, or a considerable number of writers, should take part in the
literary work of a periodical, we now find a more important and
promising publication called a magazine, and having the grand title of
"The Wonderful Magazine!" It went through three monthly numbers in 1764.
Even this was not intended to be exclusively humorous, but was to
contain light stories as well as paradoxes and inquiries; the editor
observing in the introduction that "a tailor's pattern-book must consist
of various colours and various cloths; and what one thinks fashionable,
another deems ridiculous." To help the new enterprise, an incentive to
emulation was proposed by the offer of two silver medals, one for the
most humorous tale, and the other for the best answer to a prize enigma.

The Magazine contained a long story of enchantments, a dramatic scene
full of conflicts and violence, some old _bons mots_, and pieces of
indifferent poetry. The editor had evide