th an aspect full of
admiration and esteem, bowed to the ground, while the tears gushed from
his eyes. Affected with these symptoms of an ingenuous mind, I shifted
the conversation, and complimented him on his performance, which I
assured him afforded me infinite pleasure. My approbation made him
happy. Dinner being served, and Jackson arrived, I begged their
permission for Strap to sit at table with us, after having informed them
that he was a person to whom I was extremely obliged; they were kind
enough to grant that favour, and we ate together with great harmony and
satisfaction.

Our meal being ended, I expressed my wonder at the little regard Mr.
Melopoyn had met with from the world: and signified a desire of hearing
how he had been treated by the managers of the playhouses, to whom I
understood from Jackson, he had offered his tragedy without success.
"There is so little entertaining in the incidents of my life," said he,
"that I am sure the recital will not recompense your attention; but,
since you discover an inclination to know them I understand my duty too
well to disappoint your desire.

"My father, who was a curate in the country, being by the narrowness of
his circumstances hindered from maintaining me at the university, took
the charge of my education upon himself, and laboured with such industry
and concern in the undertaking, that I had little cause to regret the
want of public masters. Being at great pains to consult my natural bias,
He discovered in me betimes an inclination for poetry; upon which he
recommended to me an intimate acquaintance with the classics, in the
cultivation of which he assisted me with a paternal zeal and uncommon
erudition. When he thought me sufficiently acquainted with the ancients,
he directed my studies to the best modern authors, French and Italian as
well as English, and laid a particular injunction upon me make
myself master of my mother tongue.

"About the age of eighteen, I grew ambitious of undertaking a work of
some consequence; and, with my father's approbation, actually planned
the tragedy you have read; but, before I had finished four acts, that
indulgent parent died, and left my mother and me in very indigent
circumstances. A near relation, compassionating our distress, took us
into his family, where I brought my fable to a conclusion; and, soon
after that period my mother quitted this life. When my sorrow for this
melancholy event had subsided, I told my kinsm