"A print of my Lord Monboddo in his quadruped form. I must, therefore,
most earnestly beg that you will purchase for me a copy of it in some
of the Macaroni print shops. It is not to be procured at Edinburgh.
They are afraid to vend it here. We are to take it on the footing of a
figure of an animal, not yet described; and are to give a grave, yet
satirical account of it, in the manner of Buffon. It would not be
proper to allude to his lordship but in a very distant manner."
It was not, however, ventured on; and the nondescript animal was still
confined to the windows of "the Macaroni print shops." It was,
however, the bloom of the author's fancy, and promised all the mellow
fruits it afterwards produced.