The Sun.
London, England, 1815-01-20 00:00:00

(No. LXIV.)

The NlAsx.r.as Of Mooamt,ost a Vis;r. By the late itiv-
TlintiY GRIFFINIzow, Pent. Elino. pp. 87.-price 3s. John
Milkr, Bow-street, Covent-garden.
This is a satirical trifle, which, under the fanciful

picture of a great Annual National Masquerade in
Moorfichis , takes a rapid glance at many of the public
~ch:rractei•s who. figure in the common places of the
passing time. Highly to the honour of the Writer,
he does nut permit his humour to invade the re-

ce-ses of private life ; he aims no anonymous blow
at what is good, and great, and estimable in the
enuntry ;—what he has set down, no man need be -
ashamed to acknowledge—and while the Maskers
of Moorfields may serve to amuse an idle hour, it
is not calculated to inflict a personal pang, nor
injure aught that is deserving of the veneration
of every true Briton.

It is no disparagement to the Author to notice,
that his assumed name did belong to a very clever
Satirist and able Humorist : it might have been as
well to avoid the contrast, and trust to his own
merits for public favour, instead of -striking at a
catching appellation ,which would
have better, be-
come a worse writer. AVe are aware of the dan-
ger to which nameless talent is exposed; many
still-born, sheets have passed under, our almost
solitary notice; and we are not sitrprized that any,
one should aim at the captivating magic of a fa-
vourite nante Once borne aloft by the puff of
popularity, the joyous Scribbler -may announce
his own, and ever after be sure of being at least
read, should he indite whole tomes of folly. and
stup:dity. -

We shall not enter into. any analysis ''of this
further than to note that great Law and
Poetical Lords, great Lake and other Poets, great
Pamphlet and Newspaper Editors, great Patriots
and great Orators, great Rogues'and great Fools,
come under its lash, and are in some instances
tickled with considerable skill.. Truth is more
apparent in the similitudes than we generally find
in, productions of the sort, and a little exaggeration
would probably have added to that' whitusicallity
which is expected where the form and nature of the
performance does not require the strict adherence
to accuiacy:which is congenial to more serious EE.
says.

We have room for only one extract—after
ridiculing the Psetdo-Statesinen,.wtio are as thick
noishrooms'in this " thinking" Country, the
Author has the following just observation :
" 'What .you now. tell me, Signor Be:llamado,
said 1, interrupting hint, puts me in mind of the
observation of an ancient Philosopher, who says,
" Although no one undertakes even the meanest

without some previous education, every one
thinks himself at once qualified for the art of go-
verning, so much more difficult than any trade."
Very true, replied nny-conductor, and this Country
affords, perhaps, greater encouragement than any
other to the delusion. The number of•ehartered
'companies, the constitutional right of holding
popular assemblies, and the frequency of public
meetings of 'every-description, conspire to sprea•l
this delusion like wild-fire through the
_comunt-
nit ; and it becomes, in consequence, a very
hard matter, if not wholly impossible, for a poor
tradesman to keep himself in his sober senses, to
say nothing of the numberless bankruptcies that