a neighbouring baronet, to whom

Some Demon whisper'd, L----, have a taste!

A little Wilson in an obscure corner escaped the man of _virtu_, and
was carried off by a Bristol picture-dealer for three guineas, while
the muddled copies of the owner of the mansion (with the frames) fetched
thirty, forty, sixty, a hundred ducats a piece. A friend of mine found a
very fine Canaletti in a state of strange disfigurement, with the upper
part of the sky smeared over and fantastically variegated with English
clouds; and on inquiring of the person to whom it belonged whether
something had not been done to it, received for answer 'that a
gentleman, a great artist in the neighbourhood, had retouched some parts
of it.' What infatuation! Yet this candidate for the honours of the
pencil might probably have made a jovial fox-hunter or respectable
justice of the peace it he could only have stuck to what nature and
fortune intended him for. Miss ---- can by no means be persuaded to quit
the boards of the theatre at ----, a little country town in the West of
England. Her salary has been abridged, her person ridiculed, her acting
laughed at; nothing will serve--she is determined to be an actress, and
scorns to return to her former business as a milliner. Shall I go on? An
actor in the same company was visited by the apothecary of the place in
an ague-fit, who, on asking his landlady as to his way of life, was told
that the poor gentleman was very quiet and gave little trouble, that he
generally had a plate of mashed potatoes for his dinner, and lay in bed
most of his time, repeating his part. A young couple, every way amiable
and deserving, were to have been married, and a benefit-play was bespoke
by the officers of the regiment quartered there, to defray the expense
of a license and of the wedding-ring, but the profits of the night did
not amount to the necessary sum, and they have, I fear, 'virgined it
e'er since'! Oh, for the pencil of Hogarth or Wilkie to give a view of
the comic strength of the company at ----, drawn up in battle-array in
the _Clandestine Marriage,_ with a _coup d'oeil_ of the pit, boxes, and
gallery, to cure for ever the love of the _ideal_, and the desire to
shine and make holiday in the eyes of others, instead of retiring within
ourselves and keeping our wishes and our thoughts at home!--Even in the
common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little
security have we when we trust our happiness i