HILARIS BENEVOLUS, & Co. To the Literary Public, GREETING. [OFFICIAL NOTICE.] MIDDLESEX TO WIT.* WHEREAS We the undersigned have of our own free willt and consent, formed ourselves into a duly organized body, society, club, or institution, and have associated and united our Though this may be deemed middling wit, yet the most fastidious critic cannot disaprove, that it has some wit in it, and therefore commencing thus wittily in word, it is hoped that we may end witty indeed. In a subsequent part, we shall prove that the language of the law abounds with wit. † As Man may impeach his "free agency," unless he thus declares his sentiments, our Solicitor informs us the above phraseology is absolutely necessary. Though the profound Mrs. Piozzi, and the equally erudite Doctor John Trusler, have written very scientifically and shrewdly on synonomy, yet they have left the above terms, with many more, in sublime obscurity. The law, however, acts cautiously on these doubtful points, and, like a garrulous gossip, takes care to have a sufficient number of words to explain its meaning a law to enforce brevity, would certainly kill the one and ruin the other. Perry's "Synonimous, Etymological, and Pronouncing Dictionary," has lately been introduced to our society, and afforded much satisfaction on these and other similar points. selves into a body corporate, for the avowed and ostensible purpose of examining, canvessing, and discussing the most noted and popular acts, deeds, and things, done, performed and committed in the British Metropolis. Every branch of Literature, the Fine Arts, and the Sciences, will demand our first, or primary consideration, and will constitute the leading subjects of our deliberations and discussions. Public Amusements, Fashionable Propensities, and all events of Notoriety will occasionally be canvassed and investigated. In furtherance of our views, we have thought it necessary, by and with the advice of council, to sketch out a plan of a Constitution, and adopt a few* rules for the regulation of our establishment. *On this subject, we had a long and warm dispute with the solicitor, who contended,argued, and indeed almost insisted, that numerous rules were absolutely and positively necessary. He referred to, and quoted a long string of precedents, and even adduced the authority of the British Parliament which, he observed, could scarcely move or act without precedent. To these objections our Chairman candidly replied, that honesty and sincerity did not require even written laws, much less preceding authority, to enforce them to their duty and that concise simplicity was preferable to protracted ambiguity.. : 1 TAUTOLOGY RIDICULED. 3. These we intend to publish with the first volume of our Transactions (like the "Lite Besides, he observed, that whenever man became entangled with a large, loose net of laws, he could not easily disengage himself without breaking some of the meshes!!! Among numerous examples of official tautology, and circumlocutory phraseology, the following, from the newspapers, was adduced as a case in point, in which brevity, perspicuity, and simplicity, are happily blended: "CITY, Borough, and Town of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex.-Notice is hereby given, that the Grand Jury for the said City and Liberty of Westminster did at the General Quarter Session of the Peace of our Lord the King, holden at the Guildhall, in King-street, Westminster, in and for the Liberty of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, the City, Borough, and Town of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, and St. Martin's le grand, London, on Thursday, the 26th day of June, in the 45th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, present the Gaol for the said City and Liberty, situate in Tothill-fields, for the Insufficiency and Inconveniency thereof; and that it is the intention of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said City and Liberty, to take the same into consideration at the next General Quarter Session of the Peace, to be holden for the said City and Liberty,at the Guildhall aforesaid. By the Court, T.-W.-V. "Clerk of the Peace." rary and Philosophical Society of Manchester," and some other learned institutions); but, after mature deliberation, it was voted that this measure should be postponed till a future opportunity. Given under our hands and seals, HILARIS BENEVOLUS, D. C. C. PHILO DRAMATICUS, F. T. I. LUCINDA LIBERAL. CAROLINE CANDID. JOHANNES IRONICUS.. AMELIA LIVELY. SAMUEL SARCASM. P. S. For reasons which we hope every intelligent lady will approve, we have admitted a few of that sex into our society and are experimentally convinced, that the company of the virtuous, cheerful, and enlightened female, is not only necessary to render society interesting, but that it tends to polish, vivify, delight, and improve the mental and corporeal constitution of man.. "Oh, woman! lovely woman! Nature made you To temper man; we had been brutes without you." Otway's Ven. Pres. INSTITUTIONS, &c. 5 SUCH is the official notice of a newly established society, the title and purport of which may awaken curiosity in some minds. In addition to what has already been announced on this head, we shall briefly observe, that A few individuals, who are particularly attached to literature, the fine arts, the sciences, &c. have occasionally associated, for the express purpose of interchanging opinions on, and freely discussing, these subjects. Though we have not yet obtained a charter of incorporation, like the Royal and London Institutions, &c. nor are nationally provided with premises, like the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, and though we have not erected a repository, library-rooms, &c. like the Society for the Encouragement of Arts in London, the Athenæum at Liverpool, the Portico,* at Manchester, &c. yet we have all these, and much greater objects *Courteous and sagacious reader, could you even conjecture that by this appellation the Gothamites of Manchester mean to designate a handsome and spacious building appropriated to a news-room, book-room, &c.? |