In short, if Horace is right, we are the very princes of poets; for I dare say, Mr.MacGrawler, that you--and you, too, my little gentleman, perfectly remember the words of the wise old Roman,-- "'Ille per extentum funem mihi posse videtur Ire poeta, meum qui pectus inaniter angit, Irritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet.'" ["He appears to me to be, to the fullest extent, a poet who airily torments my breast, irritates, soothes, fills it with unreal terrors."] Having uttered this quotation with considerable self-complacency, and thereby entirely completed his conquest over Paul, Mr.Augustus Tomlinson, turning to MacGrawler, concluded his business with that gentleman,--which was of a literary nature, namely, a joint composition against a man who, being under five-and-twenty, and too poor to give dinners, had had the impudence to write a sacred poem.

The critics were exceedingly bitter at this; and having very little to say against the poem, the Court journals called the author a "coxcomb," and the liberal ones "the son of a pantaloon!" There was an ease, a spirit, a life about Mr.Augustus Tomlinson, which captivated the senses of our young hero; then, too, he was exceedingly smartly attired,--wore red heels and a bag,--had what seemed to Paul quite the air of a "man of fashion;" and, above all, he spouted the Latin with a remarkable grace! Some days afterwards, MacGrawler sent our hero to Mr.Tomlinson's lodgings, with his share of the joint abuse upon the poet.
Doubly was Paul's reverence for Mr.Augustus Tomlinson increased by a sight of his abode.

He found him settled in a polite part of the town, in a very spruce parlour, the contents of which manifested the universal genius of the inhabitant.

It hath been objected unto us, by a most discerning critic, that we are addicted to the drawing of "universal geniuses." We plead Not Guilty in former instances; we allow the soft impeachment in the instance of Mr.Augustus Tomlinson.

Over his fireplace were arranged boxing-gloves and fencing foils; on his table lay a cremona and a flageolet.