and at night, when their feverish heads were become more inflamed with the potations which they had swallowed in honour of their hero.

It remains therefore for me to present my distant readers with an accurate account of this democratic festival, of which I was a spectator. Having obtained intelligence that the procession would not pass through that part of the Strand where my office is, I took my station on the first floor of a house in Cockspur-street, whence I had a complete view of the whole, and of the hero of the piece. Such a groupe! such a caricature of every thing tasteful or splendid! were never before exhibited to the world. Even the processions of the poissardes, and of the liberty boys of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine in Paris, surpassed this long promised ceremony in arrangement. It is true the baronet could not call in the assistance of M. David, to sketch with his pencil the plan of his machinery, but unless it was meant that the exhibition should be essentially democratical, more attention ought to have been paid to general appearances, especially as it had been announced by the managers of the farce, that it was "beneath the dignity of an human being to draw a fellow-creature" in a cart. The first column of enlightened citizens, who were preceded by marrow-bones and cleavers, absolutely appeared to be a burlesque upon the business of the day. They consisted of a collection of ragged sans-culottes, who surely were not electors of Westminster; or, if they were, they must have disfigured themselves for the purpose, I presume, of giving a greater degree of democratic effect to the scene. It is much more probable that this select groupe must have been a picked detachment from the three hundred Good Intent millers who rendered such service to the baronet at the Middlesex election; for it is difficult to suppose that men of their appearance were bona fide electors of Westminster. It is also probable, that some wag had put it into the heads of the managers to form this collection, in order to throw a ridicule upon "the day of glory;" for they excited bursts of laughter from the spectators as they passed along.

sions.

These respectable gentry were followed by trumpeters, and by electors better accoutred, with a number of flags descriptive of the object of their festivity. But there was one part of the evolutions of this patriotic fraternity which created great merriment among the British who witnessed the scene, and considerable surprise amongst the foreigners who were present-this was, the rapid fight of the ginbottles through all the ranks. Both cavalry and infantry were hotly engaged in this work, and as these bottles were handed from one to another, above twenty different mouths were applied successively to the same bottle. When twenty or thirty of these bottles were thus applied, you might have supposed that the presiding geniuses of the day had invented a new musical wind instrument through which the choice spirits were blowing in honour of their victory; but the taste of these geniuses was of a different description; it was spiritual in the fullest extent of the word. The jacobins of France ordered these matters better in their procesThere were also two other faults; one of omission, and another of commission. The omission consisted in their neglecting to exhibit amongst the trophies, a bleeding calf's head upon the pinnacle of a pike; and the commission, in the display of the sacred cap of liberty, which was represented in a blue, instead of a blood colour. This unaccountable perversion of the natural and imprescriptible right of the cap of liberty, forcibly struck every one as a great derogation from the majesty of the spectacle. At all events, the spectators should not have been left to form idle conjectures respecting the motive of this alteration in the ordinary course of things; and therefore if it were resolved that blue should be the colour, the butchers who led the line of march ought to have decapitated a bullock, and the cap should have been sprinkled with its blood. Various were the endeavours of commentators to expound this mysterious appearance; but with all these notis variorum, I give the preference to the criticism of an Irish gentleman in our room, who observed that several of the united Irishmen were hanged with blue caps, instead of white, upon their heads. I leave the learned reader to judge for himself whether this annotation be not plausible, and founded upon the strictest principles of sympathy.

There was another circumstance which occasioned a mixture of mirth and surprize among the spectators: One of the bands of music played the national air of

God save the king!!! and neither Ca ira, nor the Marseillois hymn were performed. But the procession of the cavalry surpassed every other part of the shew. There were but few persons on horseback, and, with the exception of six or seven good horses, all the children of freedom were mounted on wretched Rosinantes. Most

of the horses seemed to have been taken from hackney coaches, and they were equipped accordingly. The poor broken-winded and spavined animals crawled along in a sober and measured pace, neither turning to the right nor to the left, nor even presuming to hold up their heads. There were no prancing, no rainbow necks, no curvetting, no springing before, nor kicking behind; but forward they went, much to the satisfaction and safety of their riders, as well as for the convenience of the bye-standers, with all the slow solemnity of a funeral. This was well-judged on the part of the committee of managers; for, if they had mounted their journeymen shoemakers and taylors upon spirited horses, it is probable that most of them would have arrived at Brentford, before the expedition could have reached the Crown and Anchor tavern, besides endangering the necks of their riders, and putting his majesty's liege subjects into great tribulation.

At length the triumphal car appeared. It was a wooden cart, with a tub at its poop, on which tub was mouted a semicircular chair, whereon the "GREAT KatTERFELTO" sat. This wooden machine, which I have been informed cost 1501. was drawn by four grey horses, profusely decorated with blue ribands. It was followed by four or five private carriages, in one of which were the baronet's lady and family, and on the coach-box of another was Mr. Jones Burdett; a third contained Mr. Timothy Brown, the brewer, better known to my readers by the name of "Brown Stout," which he received from our old correspondent, Ajax Flagellifer. Two or three hackney coaches and an hearse closed the procession. I should have observed, that at a small distance before the cart, which carried sir Francis, there went a little cart, drawn by a single horse, with only one person in it. The spectators instantly greeted the charioteer with the epithet of Jack Ketch; but I have had the honour of seeing that respectable gentleman operate, and I can assure my readers that he was not in the cavalcade. The person who rode in the little cart was a young man. But the appearance of this little inachine in front, and of the hearse in the rear of the baronet, necessartiy raised queer thoughts in the minds of some of the spectators, which convulsed them with laughter. I looked attentively for the old man of Wimbledon, but he was not amongst the party, or, if he were, he escaped my sight,

Such, reader! is the account of this famous ceremonial. The windows of the streets through which the baronet was drawn, were ornamented with a great num ber of females, whom we cannot find fault with for being desirous of seeing Katterfelto the Great in the shape of an handsome young man; for sir Francis is unquestionably entitled to be so called. This was the second and best time I ever had an opportunity of seeing him; and, if I may be allowed to form an opinion of his character, according to the rules of Lavater, I should say, that his countenance bears a very strong resemblance to that of a celebrated methodist preacher, who is a very facetious, pleasant, good-natured gentleman in private life; but the moment he ascends into his favourite tub, he throws off all his agreeable habits, becomes morose, and gives strong symptoms of maniacal propensities. The baronet seems to me to labour under a similar affection of the mind, though in the one case it be a religious, and in the other a political disorder. He is reputed to be a very respectable man in private life; but when he is upon his favourite hustings, or at a dinner at the Crown and Anchor, the disease breaks out with astonishing force, and no considerations of propriety can arrest his progress. The speech which he delje vered after the dinner on Monday, and which I have extracted from the Morning Chronicle of the following day, is a proof of the justice of my remark,

"Gentlemen, it is quite impossible for me to express, in adequate terms, the sense I feel of the affectionate manner in which you have been so good as to compliment me.

"Your confidence in my public principles, and in the sincerity of my professions, has called me, when I least expected it, from the retirement I had chosen. I have but small hope, that any weak endeavours of mine will be able to benefit my

country; because the choice of a new house of commons is not what it ought to be, and what it is hypocritically pretended to be, an Appeal to the Sense of the People.

"In November last, the then Ministry, by an unusual dissolution of parliament, affected to appeal to the sense of the people. And this sense of the people immedidtely consented to drive themselves from the first floor to the garret, and to beggar their posterity, by granting to the ministry a yearly tenth of all the income and profits of the property and industry of the whole nation, together with an additional ten per cent. upon the already enormous assessed taxes.

*Only six months afterwards, another set of men, the present ministry, follow the example of the last set, and affect, in their turn, by another dissolution of parliament, to appeal likewise again to the sense of the people. What this last taken sense of the people will produce it is easy to foresee, and we stiail soon expe rience.

t

"Gentlemen, they both of them laugh at the people-they despise the peopleand those who have robbed us most, have justly the most contempt for us. It is the common cant of both parties to deny that there is any such thing as the people— and they insultingly ask us, where such a thing as a People is to be found in England-I can now answer their question-in Westminster-in the metropolis of England. And, if the corrupt and mercenary tactions shall see the other inhabitants of England act firmly and perseveringly like a people, they will quickly acknowledge them to be such-and these who now tread oppressively upon their necks, will be found humble at their feet.

"I cannot, gentlemen, go back to my place at table without returning my sin cere thanks to the electors of Westminster, for the honour they have conferred upon me; assuring them that my whole life shall be devoted to their service."

These ravings confirm my observation respecting the effect of the disease upon the unfortunate patient; they are produced only when he is in the presence of the rabble; and the paroxysms are more or less violent in proportion to the greater or lesser number of his auditory. It is also worthy of attention, that this disease is sometimes fatal to the patient, when its exacerbation is so extremely violent as to render it necessary to the public quiet to apply the pilula salutaria, known by the name of "the 25th Edw. 3. c. 2." Many distinguished patriots have, in our times been obliged to submit to the operation of this remedy; and it was not long ago administered with signal effect to col. Despard, the friend of sir Francis Burdett. There is no quackery, (or as Mr. Perry of the Morning Chronicle will have it," по сооhackery,") in this medicine; for it is a statutable remedy which even the college of physicians are bound to recommend, when the occasion calls for it; and it possesses besides the certain efficacy—of being sure to kill those who will not be cured.

The speech which I have inserted above, is the result of one of the paroxysms which ultimately lead to the worst and last stage of the disease. It contains exactly the same delirious expressions as all the preceding harangues of the baronet; for it is a property of this malady, and which, I believe is common to every other species of insanity, that the mind broods over one object only, and the tongue harps only upon one string. Thus, in his address to the freeholders of Middlesex, Sir Francis Burdett says, "it is impossible to imagine that any efforts of ours can at this time procure redress in this desperate situation of affairs, (for such I esteem it,) I cannot consent to become a candidate for any seat in parliament:" also, in his letter of April 29, addressed to Paull, at the meeting of the electors of Westminster, assembled at the Crown and Anchor tavern, he remarks, " my own mind is quite made up; the country cannot be served by taking a part, and thereby aiding in the decision." Again, in his subsequent address to the electors after they had returned him to parliament, he says, "forgive me for feeling something like despair of any good to the Country; and lastly, in the fit after the dinner at the Crown and Anchor on Monday, he tells the deluded multitude, "I have but small hope, that any weak endea Yours of mine will be able to benefit my country; because the choice of a new house of commons is not what it ought to be, and what it is hypocritically pretended to be, an appeal to the sense of the people." There was much truth in the expression that his weak endeavours would not benefit the country, and the consistency of his

doctrines proves the confirmed state of the disease to which I have already alluded, We may discover also, the full force of the disease in the further correspondence of his sentiments at this dinner with all his former notions: thus,

"Lord Melville, with his associates and abettors, under the pretence of loyalty; the leaders of the whigs, under the pretence of the constitution; and the leaders of the catholics, under the pretence of religion, are all struggling for one and the same object~a share of the common spoil; whilst the wholesome power of the crown, the fair liberty of the subject, and the real interests of any religion, are all sacrificed to the common object-plunder."--Address to the freeholders of Middlesex.

"Gentlemen, figure to yourself a gang of robbers, combined to plunder the peaceable and industrious inhabitants of several surrounding parishes, and agreeing amongst themselves to share the booty, in such proportions as the leader of the gang shall appoint to each. From time to time it will happen, that some thief or other amongst them will purloin a part of the booty, and clandestinely appropriate to himself more than his appointed share. The purloiner is detected: and the gang, with open mouths, exclaim against the atrocity of cheating the regiment, the only crime of the kind which they acknowledge to be so. Would it not be ridiculous in these plundered parishes to take any part in such a dispute, and to divide themselves into strong parties for the accusers or the accused? as long as the thieves, in common, take all they can seize, what is it to the plundered people who share the booty, how they share it, and in what proportions ? ought they not rather to destroy the gang and abolish the combination? such is my conception of the different corrupt ministers we have seen, and their corrupt adherents; and unless the public, with an united voice, shall loudly pronounce the abolition of the whole of the present system of corruption, I must still continue to despair of my country."—Address to the electors of Westminster after his election.

"Gentlemen, they both of them laugh at the people-they despise the people→→ and those who have robbed us most, have justly the most contempt for us. It is the common cant of both parties to deny that there is any such thing as the people, and and they insultingly ask us where such a thing as a people is to be found in England? I can now answer their question-in Westminster-in the metropolis of England. And, if the corrupt and mercenary factions shall see the other inhabitants of Eng? land act firmly and perseveringly like a people. they will quickly acknowledge them to be such and those who now tread oppressively upon their necks, will be found humble at their feet."-The speech on Monday at the Crown and Anchor.

These extracts will suffice for the present to substantiate the correctness of the resemblance which I find between the theological and political maniac. The speech of sir Francis deserves no further commentary in this place, because I have already animadverted upon the same subject in the preceding numbers of this work. As he is once more a member of the house of commons, the public will have better opportunities of appreciating his talents than they can possibly derive from any exposure of his ignorance and incapacity upon paper: they will perceive that vanity and folly go hand in hand, and that it is not a novelty in human affairs to find imposture enjoy a momentary triumph over the reason and best interests of mankind.

THEORY OF MONEY (CONTINUED).

1st, To state what appears to be the ground-work, or true first principle, upon which the existence of money, or a circulating medium, depends.

The great mistake into which, it is conceived, the writers upon money have fallen, is, that they have not gone deep enough for a foundation, whereon to rear their speculations; finding that gold and silver had, in all ages, been employed as the circulating medium, and that the quantity of these in a coin was always equal, or nearly equal, to the value it passed for, they concluded that these metals were the * standards of value;" and, therefore, they have employed all their labours and skill in vain endeavours to reconcile the different phænomena of money to this idea; and this they did, although, at the same time, they allowed that the metals themselves varied in value, consequently, they ought to have seen the absurdity of at tempting to establish any article of variable value, "the invariable standard of

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value." Now, had they only examined a little deeper, they must have discovered that, in every country, there exists another standard of value, a nominal or imaginary one, of which the coins passing in circulation are only simbols or tokens, and which standard, from its nature, is perfectly invariable. Montesquieu says, "the blacks, on the coast of Africa, have a sign purely ideal; for fixing the value of their com modities, when they wish to make an exchange of them, they say, such an article is worth three macutes, such another is worth five macutes, and such another tea; and yet à macute can neither be seen, nor felt, it is entirely an abstract term, and not applicable to any sensible object. Is it a coin? Is it a token? Is it a measure? It is neither a coni, a token, nor a measure, for they do not exchange their mer chandise for three, five, or ten macutes, but for some article worth the same aumber of macutes." This is an exact description of what is meant by an imaginary standard, and it also shews that such a standard is to be found, even in uncivilised nations, where the use of coins is not known; indeed, it is conceived, that without it, little or no intercourse could be carried on betwixt man and man, because all value being comparative, it would be impossible for mankind, especially in the present improved state of society, to make the daily exchanges of property, without assuming some fixed point, upon which to found their calculation of the value of each article; and the only difference to se observed betwixt the practice of these blacks, and that of civilised nations, is, that in place of actually giving one commodity for another, the latter employ sensible objects, as tokens or simbols of the ideal sign, and which, by mutual agreement, are passed from hand to hand, in exchange for those commodities at certain fixed values. In doing this, these tokens or simbols are not employed as articles of value themselves, but merely as representatives of the standard; they have been so long in use, however, that the original bas been completely overlooked, and the types have been taken for the thing signi fied. It seems to have been owing to this, that the existence of the standard itself, has hitherto escaped the notice of all the writers on this subject, even Dr. Adam Smith appears to have been quite ignorant of it. In talking of the northern nations having more silver than gold, he says, "In England therefore, and for the same reason, I believe, in all the other nations of Europe, all accounts are kept, and the value of all goods, and of all estates, is generally computed in silver; and when we mean to express the amount of a person's fortune, we seldom mention the number of guineas, but the number of pounds sterling which we suppose would be given for it; and from this he argues, that silver is the standard of these countries. Had the pound sterling continued to have consisted of all weight of fine silver, as it did originally, then would there have been some appearance of ground for his argu ment; but, when a pound sterling comes to be represented by about four ounces of silver, that is at an end; and the existence of a standard of value, of which the metals are only simbols, may be clearly proved from this very quotation; for, in Great Britain, the pound sterling is really and truly the standard by which the value of all articles is regulated and ascertained; and the gold, silver, and copper coins, which have been issued by the government, and pass in common circulation, being just the simbols, or tokens of that standard, are employed expressly as such, and not as articles of real value themselves; and, therefore, when it is said, that such a man is worth ten thousand pounds, it is not meant that he is really possessed of tem thousand lb. weight of silver or any quantity of silver, nor has it any relation whatever to silver or gold; it is merely to be understood that he holds property in the country in lands, houses, merchandise, debts due to him, &c. the relative value of which, were they to be exchanged for other aricles of valne, would be stated at ten thousand pounds, or ten thousand times the standard of the country; accordingly, when a man makes up a state of his property, the value of the gold and silver he really has, generally bears a very small proportion, and it is always stated at so many pounds, or parts of a pound sterling.

This ideal standard, or as it will in future be called, the standard unit, appears to be something of the same nature with the letter placed for the unknown quantity in algebra; it has no real value itself, but, by it, the relative value of all articles are fixed, all accounts are kept, and all exchange of property is settled. Accord