The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-02 00:00:00

DONXIBROoK F.IIR.

Yes, said the Lord Dlayor,
" There be things that we must dream and dam,
And execute ere thought be halt' awar.:.."
It was resolved, and ere the sun hail set behind the
western hill, an aid-dc-camp was despatched from his
Lordship's head-quarters (Mr. Morrison's residence at
Donnybrook), to desire that before rite o'clock there
should not a vtstige remain, where but a few little hours
before thentands of hearts, eagerly Lent on pleasure, ex-
panded themselves in a thousand different ways. " Con-
version to the Lord, :Mayor," bad been so frequently least's'
during the week, and so frequently ejaculated by the
Brookonian devotees, accompanying their libations of
" mountain dew," and his Lordship having so often visited
the fair and exhibitions, with which be expressed Isimaelf
so exceedingly delighted, that it was currently reported
during the week his Lordship had " cut the Saints," and
numerous were the convivial assignations for yesterday
(Sunday), after divine service, upan the faith of these
senseless expectations. But though it is known his Lord-
ship was in a wavering mood during the early part of Sa-
tunlay, piety triumphed, and it was at length sagely de-
termined to be more conducive of religion and public goal,
that Irishmen should discuss the grievances of Ireland,
and the good likely to result from the Catholic Rent, in
licensed whiskey shops, than that they should enjoy under
canvass roofs, the exhilarating sensations occasioned by na-
tive planxty.
The orders issued, the Commissariat were in attendance
by the prescribed hour, and his Lordship, attended by
Sheriff Perrin and his entire staff, quit his champagne, and
sallied forth from his comfortable quarters to rout all those
who were equally inclined to be comfortable in the :amp,
and by ten o'clock the ruthless command was so punctu-
ally executed, that nought but the heavy luggage, and a
few second-hand joints of cold meat, remained, and not a
vcitige could be discovered of the once notorious " Dame-
street."

Though the retreat was rapid, no accident or unpleasant
occurrence took place, Eor have we heard of any during
the fair, owing to the excellent arrangements of the police,
under the command of Mr. Coodisson, Chief Peace Officer
of College-street Police-office, and the unwearied art ntion
of peace offisers 11PCartney and Robinson, of the Head-
office, the former of whom attended curing the entire
week, and preserved the most admirable regularity amongst
the charioteers.

From the general expectation that the amusements
would be continued on Sunday after Church hour, the
shiners were reserved for that occasion, and consequently
" the lirrok" was not numerously atterded on Saturday-,
till towards night, when visitors went but to experience
vexation and disappointment.
Without meaning to retract a syllable of what we have
hitherto advanced respecting the nnpolicy and unreason-
ableness of depriving the people of a ecnsiderable portion
of their annual recreation, we readily admit, that the com-
' fort and safety of the better classes of visitota were pro-
inoti d by the daily sup< rinundence of the Lord Mayor.—
Dellis Freeman's Jourial.

In an action for trespass on a free warren, brought at the
I late York Assizes by Stephen Tempest, Esq. of Broughton
hall, he produced a grant of Edward the First, in *per-
tet state of preservation.

rnoporAts FOR SETTING FIRE TO
.F4TERNOSTER ROW.

Mom. the Area' Monthly Megezimej
quas to diztiti nogas, non ease putasti;
;Neil dito mires case, sed case pint).
" Young folks tali of what they arc doinr, old ones of
what they have done, fools of what they wish to do
unfortunately true, atel still more unfortunate titat I moat
include myself in the : atter class; for here have I been
wishing, during a whole rainy morning, to write a paper
for the New Monthly, and threatening most fiercely to per-
form it the moment I coed it upon a subject. With
thin, however, I still remain as unprovided as the Ex-em-
peror Iturhitle, or any of the ejected MAjeeies of Napo-
leon's family, most of whom haVe nevertheless been re-
cently wining and publishing, and I begin to think it per-
fectly unnecessary to make any such provision before one
sits down to compose either an_ essay or book. Commit-
ting one's thoughts to paper -fltvourile phrase with
many writers, who are merely tram cribing the thoughts of
others, or evincing the total want or any such progeny of,
the brain in theie own persons. Li' entry highwaymen of
the former class sometimes wear a cr ape to prevent detec-
tion ; sometimes, as Sheridan says, they after and disfigure '
their plagiarisms to avoid discovery, h ec gip sies who dis-
gnise their stolen children to make limn pass for their
own ; and he might Lave added that when they take hold
of them by the wrong end, and drag them willy-nilly
into the empty chambers of their brain, they arc like
('aen; who served the herd of Hercule* in the same way,
that they might appear to have issued from his den,
instead of having been purloined and fenced into it.
Every body knows that cxtcmpores require a good deal of
deliberation, but it is not sa generally understood that the
insist profound writing is best executed when it Is en-
tirely unpremeditated. There are shoals of thoughts; as of
fish, which lie upon the surface ready to till our nets at the
first haul ; while, if we sink our tackle deeper we should
rots-11)1y ring up nothing but sand, and seaweed, or
Rometifing even " vilior alga." Besides, we cennot plunge
them so low without a good many leaden weights, danger-
ous accessories to a writer, who may be carried by them
down to the waters of oblivion, which, as every body knows
who has read Sadak and Kulasrztle, are not to be tasted
without death.

If one's own nonsense be not better than another man's
sense, it is at least more original—no mean praise in this
golden age of plagiarism. If Horace could exclaim against
the servile crew of ini i tatots—l leavens ! how would he now
ejaculate and apostrophise, when the human faculties re-
n:aining the same, and the field in which they are to be
exercised unenlarged, the number of competitors is in-
creased a thousand foli, until the writers threaten to ex-
ceed the readers ! Well might Champfort assert that the
greater portion of modern books have the air of being writ-
ten in the tnonting, with the assistance of those read on
the previous afternoon. What are termed original cornmu-
nations are the liv.t pew combination from old materials,
and our profound writers arc like mirrors which merely re-
flect the images of others. A pond is not the less shallow
beeauie a mountain seems to be in v..rteel in its bosom, nor
is the page the &Iry or the more powerful, because the
literary giants of antiquity may be made to figure upon its
surface.

knew by heart. Could he have decompounded this irn-
rense niass of literature, and condensed it into its first
elements, it is possible that all the generations of human .
minds as well as of their bodies might be tray d back and
limited to one original man and one original emutre.
To a certain extent we are all in the melancholy situa-
tion of Magliabeclii. We have an dat a crisis front
I which we can only escape by sonic desperate expedient,
• and as none seems more efrectual or practicable than that
adopted by the provident Caliph Omar I would reaps-d-
-i fully submit to the public the propriety Of calling a general
meeting—" To consider the wisdom, in the present alarm-
ing state of our literature, of a general book-combustion,
to be commenced by setting fire to Paternoster-row." This
would be attacking the enemy in his head-quarters : the
public and private libraries might subsequently be piled
up in Sinitlitit Id or other appointed ustrinee, and a day be
proclaimed for their indiscriminate cremation. Heavy
tines should he imposed for accreting a single volume, but
u no evil could result from the conservation of such Looks
as are never read, ft may be right t) make a special exeep-
tion in favour of the Roxburgh Club, the reprints of the
Archaic*, lieliconia, and other collections of scarce nth-
hish. The author of this proposition, who knows the
exact value of his production', would willingly thro* him-
i self into the fl`e (in print), like a second Curtius, for the
goal of his ebuntry, an example which lie trusts woulil
not be lost upon his brethren. After having suffered our
lives to lie felicity for a reasonable time, we should then all
start fair, re:id,rs as nett u Writers, to tojof a new youiTl
of intellect, and luxuriate in the fresh bloom and May-day
blossoming of to untrodden Parnassus. We should be
like the Argonauts of the early world, Who encountered
some enchanting tision or supernatural beauty at every
step they took. Unhaunted by literary reminiscences,
we should realise the averment that " men are hut children
of a larger growth," and plunge into the pages of the poet
with all the raciness and enthusiasm of our boyhood..
Make ready then, ye patriotic authors—fresent your
works with alacrity—and hesitate not when the command
is given—tofu! 11.