?:< 
 
 ./I* 
 
 /
 
 S A 
 
 ON THE 
 
 MANNERS AND GENIUS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LITERARY CHARACTER, 
 
 BY I. D' .ISRAELI. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINT-ID FO* T. CADELL, JUNR. AND W. DAVIES. 
 1795- 
 
 [<ntm& at

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 1 PRESENT the Reader with an im- 
 perfect attempt on an important 
 topic. The materials defigned for 
 this EfTay, with others, have been 
 accidentally deftroyed. The fol- 
 lowing Sketches are therefore not fo 
 numerous as I could wifh, and as 
 the fubjecl: appears to promife. They 
 claim all the indulgence of the title. 
 I have long confidered, what I ima- 
 gine will be readily acknowledged, 
 that there is a fimilarity in the cha- 
 racters of Men of Genius, perceivable 
 a 2 to 

 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 to a contemplative mind, and that 
 reflections on their character may be 
 exemplified by a fufficient number 
 of facts. To feife the difpofitions 
 of the Literary Character, I looked 
 therefore into Literary Hiftory, and 
 my collections exceeded my hopes. 
 
 When RoufTeau compofed his Dif - 
 fertation on the Equality of Man, 
 this eloquent philofopher fought for 
 faffs, on which to found his reafon- 
 ings; thefe he collected from an 
 extenfive perufal of voyages and ac- 
 counts of remote nations. I conli- 
 dered that to form juft reflections on 
 Men of Genius, it was proper to 
 collect facts from their biography, 
 and their concatenation produced all 
 my reflections. 
 
 The
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 The more I meditate, the more I 
 am perfuaded that all fpeculations 
 are illufory and unfatisfactory, unlefs 
 they are eftablifhed on prominent 
 fafts, which are to be firft collected 
 before we venture to indulge meta- 
 phyfical difquifitions. It is an ob- 
 fervation of Bolingbroke, that " ab- 
 " ftracl: or general proportions, 
 " though never fo true, appear oh- 
 " fcure or doubtful to us very often, 
 " till they are explained by exam- 
 **' pics when examples are pointed 
 " out to us, there is a kind of appeal, 
 " with which we are flattered, made 
 '* to our fenfes, as well as our un- 
 " derilandings. The inilruction 
 ** comes then from our authority ; 
 <' <we yield to fact, when ive refift 
 ^ /peculation" If we compare the 
 a 3 labours
 
 Vi PREFACE. 
 
 labours of Machiavel with thofe of 
 Montefquieu, we may obferve, that 
 the illuflrious Frenchman had all the 
 delicacy, the refinement, and the 
 fenfibility of his nation, and his gene- 
 ral reflections are therefore brilliant, 
 but often fallacious, becaufe not built 
 on the permanent bafe of experience. 
 The crafty Florentine, verfant in the 
 manners of Princes, with fagacity 
 equal to his genius, deduces all his 
 reflections from thofe prominent 
 faffs which pafTed under his eye, or 
 which he collected from the records 
 of instructive hiftory. Lord Bacon 
 introduced that wife philofophy 
 which is only founded on experi- 
 ments ; the fludy of Nature in her 
 operations. And I believe eveiy ju- 
 dicious phyfician prefers the manner 
 
 of
 
 PREFACE. vii 
 
 of Sydenham, who derives his medical 
 fame from the vigilant obfervation, 
 and the continued experience of 
 tracing the progrefs of a&ual cafes, 
 in the operation of aftual remedies, 
 to that of fome modern medical 
 writers, who, dazzled by fpecula- 
 tive phantoms, promulge paradoxes, 
 which, unconfirmed by facts, produce 
 much more ferious confequence than 
 literary paradoxes.* 
 
 The LITERARY CHARACTER 
 has, in the prefent day, fingularly 
 degenerated in the public mind. The 
 rmeft compofitions appear with- 
 out exciting any alarm of admiration, 
 they are read, approved, and fuc- 
 a 4 ceeded 
 
 * The Readers of " A Diflertation on Anecdotes" 
 will pleafe to accept thefe obfervations, as a final 
 fupplement to that tracl.
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 ceeded by others ; nor is the prefence 
 of the Author confidered, as for- 
 merly, as conferring honour on his 
 companions; we pafs our evenings 
 fometimes with poets and hiftorians, 
 whom it is probable will be admired 
 by pofterity, with hardly any other 
 fenfation than we feel from inferior 
 aflbciates. 
 
 The youth who has more reading 
 than experience, and a finer imagi- 
 nation than a found logic, will often 
 be furprifed when he compares the 
 fplendid fails ftored in his memory, 
 with the ordinary circumftances that 
 pafs under his eye. In the hiflory of 
 all ages, and of all nations, he ob- 
 ferves the higheft honours paid to 
 the Literary Character. Statues, 
 tombs, feflivals, and coronations, 
 
 croud
 
 PREFACE". IX 
 
 croud in glittering confufion, while, 
 when he condefcends to look around 
 him, he perceives the brilliant en- 
 chantment diflblved, and not a vef- 
 tige remains of the feftivals and the 
 coronations. 
 
 Before I attempt to alledge a reafon 
 for a fingular revolution in the human 
 mind, I mail arrange a few flriki'ng 
 fads of the numerous honours which 
 have been paid to the Literary Cha- 
 racter. 
 
 I muft not dwell on the diftinc- 
 tions beftowed on the learned by the 
 Greeks and the Romans j their tem- 
 ples, their ftatues, their games, and 
 fleets difpatched to invite the Stu- 
 dent ; thefe honours were more 
 numerous and fplendid than thofe of 
 modern ages. I muit.not detail the 
 
 magnificent
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 magnificent rewards and the high 
 veneration paid by the Perfians, the 
 Turks, the Arabians, the Chinefe, 
 &c. The Perfian Ferdofi received 
 facks of gold for his verfes ; the 
 Arabs have fent ambafladors to con- 
 gratulate poets on the fuccefs of their 
 works -, Mahomet took off his man- 
 tle to prefent to an Author; and 
 literature in China confers nobility. 
 But I pafs this romantic celebrity, to 
 throw a rapid glance on our own 
 Europe. 
 
 Not to commence more remotely 
 than at the thirteenth century, 
 when Nobles, and even Kings, afpi- 
 red to literature. Authors, of courfe, 
 were held in the higheft eftimation. 
 Fauchet and Pafquier inform us, that 
 the learned received magnificent 
 
 drefles,
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 drefTes, fteeds richly caparifoned, 
 and arms refplendent with diamonds 
 and gold. The Floral games at 
 Touloufe were eftablimed ; and three 
 prizes of golden flowers were re- 
 fer ved for the happy poets. It was 
 in the fourteenth century that the Ita- 
 lians raifed triumphal arches, tombs, 
 and coronations, for diftinguifhed 
 Authors. Ravenna erected a marble 
 tomb to the memory of Dante ; Cer- 
 taldo a ftatue to Boccaccio, and Pe- 
 trarch was at once invited by the city 
 of Rome and the court of France, to 
 receive the crown of laurel. Rome 
 was preferred, and there he was pub- 
 lickly crowned with fuch magnifi- 
 cence of pomp, and ceremonies fo 
 fplendid and numerous, that his own 
 imagination could not have furpafTed 
 
 the
 
 Xli PREFACE. 
 
 the realities of this triumph.* TafTo 
 died the evening of his coronation. 
 In the fifteenth century, Sannazarius 
 received from the Venetians for fix 
 verfes, fix hundred piftoles, and 
 
 poets 
 
 * I lament much that Dr. Burney, whofe learning 
 excels my praife, and whofe elegance is not inferior 
 to his learning, has treated this fubject with great 
 levity. He fays, in his valuable Hiftory of Mufic, 
 vol. 2. p. 332, that this was a cenfureable vanity 
 and that " the blame can only be laid on his youtb t 
 " or rather on the praSice of the times.'"' And he 
 continues in a drain of ridicule to cenfure thcfe tefti- 
 jnonies of national fenfibility. But I obferve, that 
 the learned Doflor, while he fniiles at this popular 
 difplay and vanity, has prefixed to his performance 
 bis own portrait in (what fome may confider) the af- 
 feEled poflure of beating time, painted by Reynolds, 
 and engraved by Bartolozzi. The Doctor makes an 
 animated appearance j but this public exhibition of 
 Burney, has not lefs vanity than that of Petrarch j 
 inuft not we apply to the Doclor his own words, and 
 " lay the blame on his youth, or rather on the 
 " praffite of the times /*" 
 
 The error of Dr. Burney, in this inftance, pro- 
 ceeds fom his not confeffing that there was no va- 
 nity in the coronation of Petrarch ; for the lov of 
 glory is lomething very fuperior to vanity.
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 poets were kifled by princefTes. Later 
 times faw the phlegmatic Hollander 
 raife a flatue to the excellent Erafmus. 
 Let us not omit that Charles IX. of 
 France referved apartments in his 
 palace, and even wrote a poetical 
 epiftle to Ronfard ; and Baif received 
 a filver image of Minerva from his 
 native city. Charles V. and Francis I. 
 in the fixteenth century, poured 
 honours, preferments, and gifts, on 
 the learned of their age. Literary 
 merit was the road to promotion, and 
 feignories and abbeys, feats in the 
 ftate council, and ambafladormips 
 were beflowed upon the Literary 
 Character. 
 
 Since all this is truth, yet at 
 prefent appears much like fiction, it 
 may be enquired if our anceftors 
 
 were
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 were wifer than we, or we more wife 
 than our anceflors. 
 
 It is to be recolle&ed, that before 
 the art of printing exifted, great 
 Authors were like their works, very 
 rare ; learning was then only ob- 
 tained by the devotion of a life. It 
 was long after the art of multiplying 
 works at pleafure was difcovered, 
 that the people were capable of par- 
 ticipating in the novel benefit ; what 
 Alexander feared, when he reproached 
 Ariftotle for rendering learning po- 
 pular, has happened to modern lite- 
 rature ; learning and talents have 
 ceafed to be learning and talents, by 
 an univerfal diffufion of books, and 
 a continued exercife of the mind. 
 Authors became numerous, but as 
 the body of the people, till within 
 
 the
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 the prefent century, was fufficiently 
 unenlightened, their numbers were not 
 yet found inconvenient ; and as dic- 
 tionaries were not yet formed, every 
 man was happy to feife on whatever 
 particles of knowledge accident of- 
 fered ; fo late as the middle of this 
 century, Tranflators were yet ef- 
 teemed, and Compilers were yet re- 
 fpefted. 
 
 But fince> with incefl&rrt induftry, 
 volumes have been multiplied, and 
 their prices rendered them acceflible 
 to the loweft artifans, the Literary 
 Character has gradually fallen into 
 difrepute. It may be urged that a 
 fuperior mind, long cultivated, and 
 long exercifed, adorned with polite, 
 and enriched with folid letters, muft 
 
 retain it's pre-eminence among 
 
 the
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the inferior ranks of men ; and there- 
 fore may flili exact the fame refpect 
 from his fellow-citizens, and ftill 
 continue the dignity of an Author 
 with the fame juft claims as in pre- 
 ceding ages. 
 
 I believe, however, that he who 
 would be reverenced as an Author has 
 only one refource ; and that is, by 
 paying to himfelf that reverence, 
 which will be refufed by the multi- 
 tude. The refpect which the higher 
 claiTes me w to the Literary Character, 
 proceeds from habitual politenefs, 
 and not from any fenfibility of ad- 
 miration ; and that this is true, ap- 
 pears from this circumftance, that, 
 mould the Literary Character, in re- 
 turn, refufe to accommodate himfelf 
 to their regulations, and have not the 
 
 art
 
 PREFACE. Xvii 
 
 art of difcovering what quality they 
 expect to be remarked in themfelves, 
 he will be foon forfaken -, and he 
 may fay what Socrates did at the 
 court of Cyprus, " what I know is 
 *' not proper for this place, and 
 " what is proper for this place, I 
 " know not." Men of the world 
 are curious to have a glance at a 
 celebrated Author, as they would be 
 at fome uncommon animal -, he is 
 therefore fometimes exhibited, and 
 fpectators are invited. A croud of 
 frivolifts gaze at a Man of Letters, 
 and catch the founds of his ideas, as 
 children regard the reflections of a 
 magic Ian thorn.* 
 
 b Nor 
 
 * The obfervation of the great Erafraus on Men of 
 Letters, is notlefs juft than admirable. He laid, that 
 they were like the great figures in the tapeftries of 
 Flanders, which lofe their efteft, when not feen at a 
 diftance.
 
 XVlii PREFACE. 
 
 Nor will the Literary Character 
 find a happfer reception among others 
 if he exacts an obfervance of his 
 dignity. Authors are a multitude ; 
 and it requires no inconiiderable 
 leifure and intelligence to adjuft the 
 claims of fuch numerous candidates. 
 
 De Foe called the laft age, the 
 age of Projectors, and Johnibn has 
 called the prefent, the age of Au- 
 thors. But there is this difference 
 between them ; the epidemical folly 
 of projecting in time cures itfelf, for 
 men become weary with ruination j 
 but writing is an interminable pur- 
 fuit, and the raptures of publication 
 have a great chance of becoming a 
 permanent fafhion. When I reflect 
 that every literary journal confifts of 
 50 or 60 publications, and that of 
 
 thefe,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 thefe, 5 or 6 at leaft are capital per- 
 formances, and the greater part not 
 contemptible, when I take the pen 
 and attempt to calculate, by theie 
 given fums, the number of volumes 
 which the next century muft infal- 
 libly produce, my feeble faculties 
 wander in a perplexed feries, and 
 as I lofe myfelf among billions, tril- 
 lions, and quartillions, I am obliged 
 to lay down my pen, and flop at in- 
 finity. 
 
 " Where all this will end, God 
 " only knows," is the reflection of 
 a grave hiftorian, in concluding the 
 Memoirs of his Age. Nature has, 
 no doubt, provided fome concealed 
 remedy for this future univerfal de- 
 luge. Perhaps in the progrefs of 
 fcience, fome new fenfes may be dif- 
 b 2 covered
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 covered in the human chara&er, and 
 this fuperfluity of knowledge may be 
 effential to the underftanding, We 
 are confiderably indebted, doubtlefs, 
 to the patriotic endeavours of our 
 grocers and trunkmakers, whom I 
 refped: as the alchemifts of literature ; 
 they annihilate the grofs bodies, with- 
 out injuring the finer fpirits. 
 
 We are, however, fincerely to la- 
 ment that the dignity of great Au- 
 thors is at all impaired. Every kind 
 of writers find a correfpondent kind 
 of readers, and the illiterate have their 
 admirers, and are of fome ufe. But it 
 is time that we mould diftinguifh be- 
 tween Authors, and fubmit ourfelves 
 to refpedt thofe, from whom we ac- 
 quire inftrudtion,and to cherim thofe, 
 from whom we derive the moft ele- 
 gant of our amufements.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP, ^w 
 
 I. V^/F Literary Men ---- 
 II. Of Authors ----<--- 3 
 
 III. Men of Letters - - - - - - n 
 
 IV. On fome Characleriflics of a Youth of 
 
 Genius -------- 25 
 
 V. Of the Domeftic Life of a Man of 
 
 Genius -------- 52 
 
 VI. Of Literary Solitude 61 
 
 VII. On the Meditations and Converfations 
 
 of Men of Genius ----- yg 
 
 VIII. Men of Genius limited in their Art - 96 
 IX. Some Obfervations refpe&ing the In- 
 firmities and Defects of Men of 
 Genius -------- 103 
 
 JC. Of Literary Friendfhips and Enmities 125 
 XL The Characters of Writers not difco- 
 
 verable in their Writings - - - 138 
 XII. Of fome private Advantages which 
 induce Men of Letters to become 
 Authors --------150 
 
 XIII. Of the Utility of Authors to Individuals 165 
 
 XIV. Of the political Influence of Authors 17., 
 XV. On an Academy of polite Literature, 
 
 Penfions, and Prizes - - - - 195 
 
 fc 2 ADDENDA.
 
 ( xxiii ) 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 P. 24. TT is, perhaps, unneceflary to remind the 
 * Reader that Cicero has written on Friend- 
 fhip and Glory of his work on Glory, no- 
 thing has reached us but the title ; yet of his 
 numerous competitions, this, as a production 
 of eloquence, promifed to be moft grateful 
 to the ftudent of tafte. 
 
 P. 141. The county of Eflex was diftinguiflied by the 
 Romans by the name of Tribonantes, and it 
 was in this province that Seneca opprefled 
 the inhabitants with the loan of immenfe 
 fums at an immenfe intereft. 
 
 P. 14.7. I omitted to obferve, that the impiety of 
 Satan has actually been cenfured by Clarke. 
 Johnfon even applauds the obfervatioh of our 
 Divine. I tranfcribe that great Biographer's 
 words. " For there are thoughts, as he 
 ' (Clarke) juftly remarks, which no obfer- 
 " vation of character can juftify, becaufe no 
 " good man would willingly permit them to 
 " pafs, however tranfiently, through his own 
 " mind." Here we obferve two of our moft 
 profound thinkers, deciding on a fubjeft of 
 tafte ; but their edift I prefume is anti* 
 poetical. Their piety was too ponderous for 
 the exertion of their fancy. The divinity 
 of Clarke, and the logic of Johnfon, were 
 alike fatal to certain delicious ftrokes in the 
 arts of fancy ; the moft fubtile particles of 
 poetical refinement efcaped their unelaftic or- 
 gans, and fell on the folidity of their minds, 
 like feeds fcattered upon rocks ; where they 
 muftperifli without germinating.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Ibe Reader is requeued to correct the following Err at ft 
 with his pen 5 and to excuf* federal typographical 
 errors, for *whtcb the fevers indifpofuion of the Author 
 'wilt apologize, 
 
 j 8 Laft line, for unconnected, read unconcocJed. 
 
 74 L. 4, for exciting, read citing. 
 104 L. 3, after converfe, place a comma. 
 1*8 Dele * 
 131 L. 7, from the bottom, for Que importent, read 
 
 Que fimportent, 
 
 *35 L. 3, from ditto, for port, read part. 
 144 L. 4, from ditto, for charity read cbaftity,
 
 A N 
 
 ESSAY, 
 
 CHAP. T. 
 
 Of Literary Men. 
 
 JLJL NUMEROUS and an important body 
 of men, diffufed over enlightened Eu- 
 rope, and clafled under no particular 
 profeffion, are, during the mod arduous 
 period of their life, unaflifted and unre- 
 garded ; and while often devoting them 
 felves to national purpofes, are expofed 
 not only to poverty, the fate of the many ; 
 to calumny, the portion of the great ; 
 but to an ugly family of peculiar misfor- 
 tunes. Thefe are men of letters ; men 
 whofe particular genius often becomes 
 B that
 
 that of a people ; the fovereigns of rea- 
 fon ; the legiflators of morality ; the ar- 
 tificers of our moft exquifite pleafures. 
 
 Every bther body of ingenious men 
 (whether the corporation of ufeful me- 
 chanics, or the fociety of great artifts) 
 are allowed fome common afTociation ; 
 feme domeflic feat devoted to the genius 
 of their profeffion, where they arc mu- 
 tually enlightened and confoled. Men 
 of letters, in our country refcmble ' 
 
 ' Houfelefs wanderers,' 
 
 fcattered and folitary, difurtited and lan- 
 guid ; \vhofe talents are frequently un- 
 known to their companions, and by the 
 inertncfs of an unhappy fituation, often 
 unperceived by themfelves. 
 
 It is remarkable that thofe men in the 
 nation who are moft familiar with each 
 other's conceptions, and moft capable 
 of reciprocal efteem, are thofe who are 
 often moft eft ranged. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ( 3 ) 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Of Authors. 
 
 is neceflary to diftinguifh between 
 an Author, and a Writer ; becaufe, the 
 defcriptions which I propofe to (ketch 
 of the fituations to which genius is fre- 
 quently expofed, will not happen to thofe 
 whofe productions are their occafional 
 effufions ; and who feldom propofe in 
 the puerile age, to become Authors. I 
 fhall confider that no Writer, has a jufl 
 claim to the title of Author, whofe 
 
 CHIEF EMPLOYMENT is not that of STUDY 
 
 and COMPOSITION. Richardfon the no- 
 velift, and Geflher the poet, were both 
 printers, and this will, occafionally, ex- 
 clude them from the idea I at prefent 
 attach to an author. Ffume and Bayle, 
 Johnfon and Voltaire, are ftudents who 
 aflumed the profeflion of authors. The 
 B 2 occafional
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 occafnnal productions of a man of genius 
 are fo many fportive offerings laid on 
 the altar of the Graces ; the more volu- 
 minous labours of great authors, are fo 
 many trophies raifed on a triumphal 
 column. 
 
 I totally exclude from thefe {pecula- 
 tions two kinds of writers. Thofe who 
 difgrace letters and humanity by an ab- 
 ject devotion to their private intercfts, 
 and who like Atalanta, for the fake of 
 the apples of gold, lofe the glory of 
 the race ; and thofe who intrude on the 
 public notice without adequate talents, 
 whofe vanity liftens to a few encomiafb 
 whofe politenefs is greater than their dif- 
 cernment, or who applaud loudly and 
 cenfure in whifpers. 
 
 If we enquire into the character of an 
 author, we find that every clafs of men 
 entertains a different notion of his occu- 
 pations. We perceive alfo that the lite- 
 rary
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 rary world a re divided into parties ; and 
 that they are mutually unjuft. Few are 
 capable of honouring this character ; in- 
 dividuals err from various motives ; the 
 public only are enlightened and juft. 
 
 The importance of an author in fo- 
 ciety, is yet fo little known, that it is 
 rarely apparent even to authors them- 
 felves. 
 
 The fafhionable circle conceive an au- 
 thor mull be an amufing companion * f 
 they confider his prefence, like the other 
 ornaments of their tables'. It implies 
 that they are perfons of tafte. 
 
 The bufy part of mankind fuppofe an 
 author to be a trader ; and are only afto- 
 nifhed to obferve men perfevere in an 
 occupation fo unprofitable. 
 
 The ftatefman only regards a philofo- 
 
 phical writer as a man of dangerous fpe- 
 
 culations, who, if left in fecurity, is 
 
 daring, if attacked by perfecution, is 
 
 B 3 intrepid.
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 intrepid. One who makes him tremble 
 jn the darknefs of his moft fccret coun- 
 cils. 
 
 The man of fcience regards his pro- 
 ductions with contempt, and at the moft 
 favourable view only as fo many amufing 
 futilities. He marks his fuperior fuccefs 
 with a jealous eye ; and complains of a, 
 frivolous public. A geometrician can 
 draw no deductions, and fees nothing 
 proved, by the fineft verfes of a poet ; 
 an antiquary marvels that an elegant hi- 
 torian fhould be preferred to a chrono- 
 loger ; and a metaphyfician wonders at 
 the delight communicated by faithful re- 
 prefentations of human life, written by 
 one whom he thinks incapable of com- 
 prehending a page of Locke. 
 
 It will furprife the young and virtuous 
 reader, when I muft alfo add that the 
 character is fometimes conftdered as 3, 
 kind of difgrace. To excel in thofe ac- 
 
 complifhments
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 complifhments which enlighten or araufe 
 a polifhed people, has ceafed to be a 
 merit with fome, becaufe of the nume- 
 rous claimants for this honour. But it 
 is with authors as with thofe military 
 fops who frequent the theatres, and af- 
 fume with their cockade, the title of 
 captain. Enquire, and you find that 
 the obftreperous gentleman has been 
 only an enfign for a week, and often 
 that he has no claims at all to the bor- 
 rowed cockade. Thus with authors, if 
 the pretenders are difcerned, and the 
 ranks diftinguimed, a man will reduce 
 the number to a very inconfiderable por- 
 tion of a numerous acquaintance. Every 
 one who prints a book is not an author ; 
 publication is the teft of literature, and 
 there are an infinite number of works 
 which are printed, but which all the in- 
 ventive induftry of the author could 
 never publifh. 
 
 B 4 Many
 
 ( * ) 
 
 Many of that clafs of focicty whofe cru 
 tire nights are rotations of inanity, and 
 whofc days are too fhort for neceffary re- 
 pofe, blu(h for a friend who i-5 an au- 
 thor ; and, as the daughter of Addifon 
 was taught, defphe even a parent who 
 had given Go a faihionable and unworthy 
 woman, an iHuftrious name. Thefe are 
 they who gaze in the filence of Cupidity 
 when an unufual topic glides into con- 
 ver{atk)n 3 and will pardon any fpccies of 
 rudenefs, fooner than that of good fenfe. 
 
 Others know themfelves incapacitated 
 co becoQQf authors, and ficken at the re- 
 colleclion of rioeir abortions. Literary 
 attainments are depreciated, to confole 
 their deficiencies ; as bankrupts, out of 
 mere envy, calumniate the fuccefsfal 
 merchant. 
 
 There is, however, a race of ingenious 
 men, who derive their merit and their 
 fortune from their fludies, and yet con- 
 temn
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 temn literature and literary men. This 
 is a paradox of the heart, of which 
 the folution may appear difficult. Adrian 
 VI. obtained the pontificate, as the re- 
 ward of his learning ; and men of letters, 
 indulged the moft golden hopes, at his 
 acceffion ; but on the contrary, he con- 
 temned literature, and perfecuted ftu- 
 dents. A living orator, whofe chief 
 merit confifts in his literary powers, it hag 
 been faid, performs in the prefent day, 
 the part of Adrian. Such men treat 
 fcience, as a barbarous fon, who fpurns 
 at that parent, the milk of whofe bofom 
 nurtured him in infancy, and whofe 
 hand fupported him in youth. A lite- 
 rary friend obferves, that the pope feared 
 left men of letters might (hake the pon- 
 tificate, and the orator, left they might 
 detect the errors of his politics ; an ob- 
 fervation which mews the political in- 
 fluence of authors. 
 
 Thofe
 
 Thofe to whom nature has beftowed 
 callous organs, and who are really infen- 
 fible to the charms of fancy, or the force 
 of reafon, we pardon ; imbecillity muft 
 be accepted as an apology for errors, 
 iince it often is for crimes. 
 
 How hard is the fate of the author, 
 who, when he once publiflies, becomes 
 in the minds of all, whatever theychufe 
 to make him ! 
 
 r - 
 
 .-IAP.
 
 ( II ) 
 
 CHAP. Ill,' 
 
 Of Men of Letters. 
 
 E diftinguifh two kinds of Men 
 of Letters. Both alike make their prin- 
 cipal occupation to confift in ftudy ; but 
 the one are induced from many concur- 
 ring circumftances not to publifh their 
 
 labours ; and the other devote their life 
 to communicate their fpeculations to the 
 world. Few men of letters reject the 
 honours of an author, out of modefty ; 
 but fome are inert through terror, and 
 fome through eafe. The French (rich 
 in expreflions relative to polite letters) 
 diftinguim thefe learned and tranquil 
 ftudents, by the happy title of littera- 
 teurs. 
 
 The popular notion of a man of let- 
 ters is as unfettled, as unjuft. It is fup- 
 pofed that becaufe a taylor makes a 
 
 famionable
 
 fafhionable coat, and a builder creels a 
 houfe according to modern tafte, a man 
 of letters muft therefore produce a book, 
 adapted to the reigning mode. It is 
 not necefTary that every man of letters 
 fhould become an author, though it is 
 the indifpenfible duty of an author to be 
 a man of letters. Some fuppofe that it 
 is fufficient when they commence au- 
 thors, to ftudy what they write, it would 
 be advantageous if we write alfo what we 
 ftudy ; for without learning, few works 
 are valuable. ; and he who employs not a 
 ujeful cement, will fee his brilliant edifice 
 fcattered by the winds, in fhining frag- 
 ments. 
 
 The man of letters, is in general, 9 
 more amiable character than the author. 
 His paflions are more ferene, his ftudies 
 more regular, his folitude more foothing. 
 He encounters no concealed or public 
 enemy, and his tranquillity is not a 
 
 feather
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 feather in the popular gale. Every dif- 
 covery he makes is a happy conqueft ; 
 every charm of tafte a filent enjoyment. 
 
 Nor are fuch characters as the multi- 
 tude imagine unufeful in the republic of 
 letters. To the elegant leifure of thefe 
 fludents we are indebted for many of the 
 ornaments of literature ; and authors 
 themfelves have recourfe to thefe fages, 
 as their conductors, and fometimes as 
 their patrons. Thefe men of letters, like 
 guides over the Alps, though no travel- 
 lers themfelves, warn the adventurous 
 explorer of impending danger, and in- 
 ftrucl him in his paffage. 
 
 No literary character is more fre- 
 quently amiable than fuch a man of let- 
 ters. The occupations he has chofen, 
 are juftly called the ftudies of humanity ; 
 and they communicate to his manners, 
 his underftanding, and his heart, that 
 refined amenity, that lively fenfibility, 
 
 and
 
 ( H ) 
 
 and that luminous acutenefs which flov*- 
 from a cultivated tafte. He is an enthu- 
 fiaft ; but an enthuiiaft for elegance. He 
 loves literature, like virtue, for the har- 
 mony it diffufes over the paffions ; and 
 perceives, that like religion, it has the 
 fingular art of communicating with an 
 unknown and future date. For the love 
 of pofterity is cherifhed by thefe men of 
 letters j and though they want the energy 
 of genius to addrefs the public, often for 
 that public, they labour in filence. Tt 
 is they who form public libraries ; father 
 neglected, and nurture infant genius; 
 project and fupport benevolent inftitu- 
 tions, and pour out the philanthropy of 
 their heart, in that world, which they ap- 
 pear to have forfaken. 
 
 Their mild difpolitions firft led them 
 into the province of literature. They 
 found in books an occupation congenial 
 to their fentiments ; labour without fa- 
 tigue ;
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 tigue } repofe \vith activity ; an employ- 
 ment, interrupted without inconvenience, 
 and exhauftlefs without fatiety. Thjey 
 remain ever attached to their ftudies; 
 for to give a new direction to life, would 
 require a vaft effort, and of exertion they 
 are incapable. Their library and their 
 chamber are contiguous ; and ofcen in 
 this contracted fpace, does the opulent 
 owner confume his delicious hours. 
 His purfuits are ever changing, and he 
 enlivens the auflere by the lighter ftu- 
 dies. It was faid of a great hunter, that 
 he did not live, but hunted ; and it may 
 be faid of the man of letters, that he 
 does not live, but meditates. He feels 
 that pleaiing anxiety, which zefts defire, 
 arifing from irritative curiofity ; and he 
 is that happy man who creates hourly 
 wants, and enjoys the voluptuoufnefs of 
 immediate gratification. The world pity 
 the man of letters inhumed among his 
 
 books,
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 books, and their miftaken wit infcribcs 
 on his door, " here lies the bod} of our 
 " friend !" Yet unthinking men are not 
 without cxcufe ; his pleafures are filent 
 and concealed. Whatever is not tran^ 
 quil alarms ; whatever is ferene attracts ; 
 he therefore becomes a Mecenas, but 
 never a Virgil ; protects letters, but never 
 compofes books ; a lover of art, but never 
 an artift. 
 
 Thefe men of letters form penetrating 
 critics, vvhofe tafte is habitual, and whofe 
 touch is firm and unerring. Criticifm 
 is happily adapted to their powers of 
 action; becaufe in criticifm they par- 
 take of the pleafures of genius, without 
 the painful exertion of invention ; and as 
 they are incapable of exerting invention, 
 and direct their ftudies to form and 
 polifh judgment, this latter faculty is 
 often more cultivated, and more vigo- 
 rous, than even that of men of genius. 
 
 Few
 
 Few writers attain to any perfection un- 
 affifted by fuch a connoifTeur ; the viva- 
 city and enthufiafm of genius are indulged 
 often in violations of delicacy and truth ; 
 and what the author wants is precifely 
 what this critic can alone give. It is 
 not to be doubted that the familiar ac- 
 quaintance which exifted between Racine, 
 Boileau, and Moliere, was moft precious 
 to them. We kno-v that they commu- 
 nicated their arts of compofition, and 
 flood centinels over each other with the 
 fevereft and moft vigilant eye. Hence 
 that equable power, and finifhed elegance 
 "which diftinguifh their productions. 
 Corneille, who aflbciated with neither, 
 and like a fultan would mfpire awe, by 
 concealing himfelf in folitary grandeur, 
 loft thefe invaluable conferences, and 
 indulged genius carelefs of the rafures of 
 tafte. Hence his grofs defeds and ir- 
 regularities. In England, where fuch 
 C an
 
 an union has been rare, we can trace the 
 fame effects. Pope, Swifr, and Bolin^- 
 broke, were of mutual advantage ; Pope 
 had not been a philofopher without the 
 aid of Bolingbroke ; and Swift, an in- 
 ferior poet, without the falutary coun- 
 fels of Pope. Milton, fevered from all 
 literary friends, has left in his fublime 
 epics, too many traces of this feparation; 
 and it may be faid that his greateft works 
 contain his greateft blemiihes. In the 
 fmifhed pieces of his youth, when he 
 had a critical eye at every hour on every 
 page, we find no want of corrective 
 touches. Churchill, a great and irre- 
 gular genius, with fuch friends had not 
 only left his fatires more terfe, and more 
 harmonious, but had been incapable, irn 
 his feebleft hours, to have fo frequently 
 
 CQ *&- 
 
 compofed, fuch a feries of unconnected 
 
 and profaic rhimes. 
 
 Ofteiy 
 
 
 
 

 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 Often, by an excellent difcernment, 
 thefe critics give a happy direction to 
 the powers of a young writer. Such 
 was the obfcrvation of Walfh, whofe ad- 
 vice to Pope, that correctnefs in our 
 poetry was the only means which re- 
 mained to diftinguifh himfelf, animated 
 the poet, to form that prominent and 
 beautiful feature in his poetical character. 
 
 To prove their great utility to men of 
 genius, the following inftance may ferve. 
 Not always he whofe abilities are capable 
 of adorning the page of hiflory, is alike 
 capable of difcovering the hidden and 
 perplexed tracks of learned refearch. 
 Men of genius rarely read catalogues. To 
 whom is the philofophic writer of mo- 
 dern hiftory to have recourfe, but to fuch 
 a man of letters ? When Robertfon pro- 
 pofed writing his various hi (lories, he 
 was ignorant of his fubjedr., and irrefo- 
 lute in his defigns. We had nearly loft 
 C 2 his
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 his elegant competitions. He confeffed 
 in letters, which I have feen addrefled to 
 Dr. Birch, that " he had never accefs to 
 " copious libraries, nor an exteniive 
 " knowledge of authors." Dr. Birch, 
 who was an admirable litterateur, in his 
 anfvver has given a copious and critical 
 catalogue of proper authors, accompa- 
 nied by valuable information, which is 
 acknowledged by our elegant hiftorian 
 with warmth. It was certainly that kincj 
 of nccefiary knowledge, which only the 
 learning of our fcf olar could fupply, and 
 without which the projedofRobertfon's 
 hifiories inuft have periihed in the con- 
 ception.^ Thefe ftudents are therefore 
 ufe ml members in the republic of letters, 
 and may be compared to thofe fubterra- 
 neous dreams, which flow into fpacious 
 lake?., and which, though they flow in- 
 viiibly, enlarge the waters which attract 
 
 the public eye. 
 
 Some- 
 
 #rt6i
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 Sometimes thefe men of letters dif- 
 tinguifh themfelves by their productions 
 but though thefe may be excellent, they 
 always rank in the inferior departments 
 of literature; and they rarely occupy 
 more than the firft place in the fecond 
 clafs. Their works are finifhed com- 
 pofitions of tafte, or eccentric refearchcs 
 of curiofity, fcldom the fervid labours of 
 high invention. They are ingenious 
 men, not men of genius. If they pour 
 forth their effulions in verfe, we may 
 have fome delicate opufcula ; elaborate 
 beauties, but not of an original kind. 
 Such are] many of our minor poets, dif- 
 tinguifhed for the refinements, but not 
 the powers of their art. They may ex- 
 cel in happy verfions of a claffic ; of 
 which we have many admirable proofs. 
 Their inquiries may be learned, the fruits 
 of inceffant labour, and long leifure; 
 and they fometimes chufe for their dif~ 
 C 3 fertations, 

 
 ( 9* ) 
 
 {citations, uncommon topics. Thefc 
 they treat often with ingenuity, but 
 chiefly enchant by a feduclive manner. 
 They have a certain glow, like a gentle 
 and regular fire ; but which never flafhes 
 and flames like a powerful inventive 
 mind. It is rather the fire raifed in a 
 forge, than burfting from a natural vol- 
 cano. Such writers are the authors of 
 thofe little effays, which are- precious to 
 men of tafte; on painting, and on poetry; 
 on beauty, and on deformity. El'egant 
 minds, that imbue with elegance light 
 fubjects ; their ftrokes are not continued 
 and grand, but occafional and brilliant ; 
 and if they rarely excite admiration by 
 new combinations of reflexion or ima- 
 gery, often paint, with a mellbw warmth, 
 the beauty of ferttiment. In fuch at- 
 tempts they fucceed ; becaufe they feleet 
 tbek fubjeft, with the fondness of a 
 lover, and are familiar with its referved 
 
 graces.
 
 graces. When unfortunately they at- 
 tempt higher topics, which require ele- 
 vated conceptions, and fervid genius, we 
 perceive their feeble energies. Such 
 writers, like the lark, muft only rife on 
 a playful wing, and refound their favou- 
 rite notes ; but a man of genius, like a 
 hawk, elevates himfelf to difcover the 
 country, and to dart on his prey. 
 
 We (hall elucidate thefe reflections b/ 
 the character of M. Sacy. He was 
 modeft, ingenious, and fenfitive. He 
 cultivated his talents with ardour, and 
 foothed the labours of the bar, with the 
 itudies of polite letters. He gave a 
 verfion of Pliny, which has not injured 
 the delicacy of the original. Admitted 
 to the circle of the Marchionefs de Lam- 
 bert, he enjoyed the familiarity of men 
 of genius ; and by the fenfibility of his 
 heart, engaged the affections of the 
 Marchionefs more forcibly than even the 
 C 4 genius
 
 genius of fuperior minds. Animated by 
 his focial enjoyments, he wrote with 
 amenity, an interefting EfTay on Friend- 
 fhip. In this he fucceeded ; for no mind 
 could be more fufceptible to it's foft and 
 domeftic raptures. He afterwards com- 
 pofed an Eflay on Glory ; but here he 
 did not fucceed. A man of genius alone 
 can write on fuch a topic ; it requires a 
 mind that expands from the limits of a 
 family to a nation; from a nation to the 
 world j from the world to pofterity. Vaft 
 and gigantic operation of the foul ! This 
 is no tranquil fentiment of tafte, but an 
 impetuous paffion of genius. A Cicero, 
 not a Sacy, fhould have written on 
 Glory; but Cicero did not feel more 
 exquifitely than the amiable Sacy, on 
 the fubjetft of Friendfhip. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Onfome Charaflertftics of a Toutb of Genius. 
 
 A PROPOSE to fketch fome of the mif- 
 fortunes -which often attend a writer, or 
 an artift. Should my picture prove to be 
 a faithful reprefentation, my feelings will 
 difpofe me to lament my talent. 
 
 To what an unknown height might an 
 adequate education elevate the human 
 character, if it were poflible at his birth 
 to detect the future genius. The oftrich 
 has the fagacity to difcover in it's eggs, 
 thofe which are worthy of her genial 
 warmth, and feparates them from the 
 reft, which would have proved fterile to 
 the felicitous cares of a mother. It is not 
 thus with the human race. If we could 
 perceive the man of genius, in " the na- 
 " tal hour," we might felect him from 
 the croud, and nourim the giant, with 
 
 the
 
 the aliment a giant may be fuppofed id 
 require. At the age of twenty his ma- 
 turity would appear ; and he would have 
 performed at thirty whatever a Horace 
 or a Livy have done j while the vigour 
 of life yet remained to (hew us fomething 
 more exquifite in fancy, and more com- 
 plicate, yet clear in reafoning, than at 
 prefent we. can poffibly conceive. But, 
 alas ! it is only the romantic eye of the 
 poet, which can obferve the graces 
 wreathing his cradle with myrtles. I quit 
 my fantaftic man of genius to defcend to 
 nature and to experience. 
 
 It is rather fmgular that none but 
 princes, and monfters, have the privi- 
 lege of exciting public curiofity at their 
 birth. A man of genius is dropt among 
 the people, and has firft to encounter the 
 difficulties of ordinary men, without that 
 confined talent which is adapted to a 
 mean deftination. Parents, of honed 
 
 difpo-
 
 difpofitions, are the victims of the de- 
 termined propenflty of a fon, to a Virgil 
 or an Euclid ; and the firft ftep into life 
 of a man of genius is difobedience and 
 grief. 
 
 The frequent fituation of fuch a man 
 is defcribed with great fimplicity, by the 
 aftrologer Lilly, whether he were a man 
 of genius or not, in the curious memoirs 
 of his life. He there tells us, that having 
 propofed to his father that he fhould 
 try hi* fortune in London, where he 
 hoped his learning and his talents might 
 prove ferviceable to him, he obferves 
 that his father (wha was incapable of dif- 
 covering his latent genius in his ftodious 
 difpofitions) very wittingly confented tt> 
 get rid of him, * for I could not work, 
 u drive the pkmgh, or endure any coun- 
 " try labour ; my father oft would fey I 
 "was rood for nothing "~~- The fathers of 
 
 t> -J o 
 
 moft of our men ef genius have employed 
 
 the
 
 fhe fame expreflions as the father of 
 Lilly. 
 
 An apparent indolence hangs about 
 contemplative genius ; he loves the re- 
 pofe of the body, and the activity of the 
 mind. It is known that moft men of 
 great abilities in their puerile days, have 
 retired from the fports of their mates, 
 and while they were folded up in their 
 little wild abftractions, have appeared 
 dull to dunces. We often hear, from 
 the early companions of intimates of a 
 man of genius, that at fchool he had 
 been remarkably heavy and unpromifing; 
 but, in truth, he was only remarkably 
 penfive, and often pertinaciouily afii- 
 duous. The great BofTuet at fchool would 
 never join with his young companions, 
 but preferred plodding over a book. 
 They revenged themfelves by a boyifh 
 jeft of calling him, hsfuetus aratro t an ox 
 daily toiling in the plough. It is curious 
 
 to
 
 C 29 ) 
 
 to obferve, that the young painters, to 
 ridicule the conftant labours of Domeni- 
 chino in his youth, did him the honour 
 to diftinguifli him alfo by the title of 
 great Ox. Chatterton offers ftill a 
 better, though a more melancholy in- 
 ftance. It is in this manner that one man 
 of genius generally refemblcs another. 
 
 This inaction of body, and activity of 
 mind, they retain throughout life. A 
 man of genius is rarely enamoured of 
 common amufements. And the boy who 
 was unadroit at marbles, and refufed fca- 
 ling the wall of an orchard, when a man, 
 feldom excels as an agile hunter, or an 
 elegant dancer. I am dtfcribing the en- 
 thufiafm of talent, not it's unimerefting 
 mediocrity. A man of genius is the 
 fureft teftimony on this point. Let us 
 attend to the minftrel of Dr. Beattie. 
 
 " Concourfe
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 Concourfe, and noife, and toil lie ever fled, 
 
 " Nor cared to mingle in the clamorous fray 
 
 " Of fquabbling imps ; but to the fcn-eft fped." 
 
 " The exploit of ftrength, dexterity or fpeed, 
 To him nor vanity, nor joy could bring." 
 
 " Would Edwin this majeftic fcene refign, 
 " For aught the huntfman's puny craft fupplies ?* 
 
 J repeat, his mind alone has activity. 
 The fire fide in the winter, and fome 
 favourite tree in the fummer, will be his 
 feats; his amufements become ftudies, 
 and his meditations are made in his 
 walks, as well as in his chair. Thefe 
 are fome of the marks which diftinguifli 
 him from the man of the world. 
 
 We have been able to difcover this 
 difpofition in youthful genius ; the fame 
 charaderifes his age. It was thus when 
 Mecenas, accompanied by Virgil and 
 Horace, retired one day into the country, 
 the minifter amufed himfelf with a ten- 
 nis-ball; the two poets repofed on a 
 vernal bank, beneath a delicious fhade. 
 
 Pliny
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 Pliny was pleafed with the Roman mode 
 of hunting, which admitted him to fit a 
 whole day with his tablets and ftylus, 
 that (he fays) if 1 return with empty 
 nets, my tablets may at leaft be full. 
 
 Among the inauipicious circumftances 
 which frequently attend the lirft exertions 
 of juvenile genius, is the want of fenfi- 
 bility and difcernment, in the literary 
 man or artift whofe regard and counfels 
 he foiicits. Remote from the world of 
 tafte, he cultivates with ardour, but not 
 with art, talents which/ tremble in the 
 feeblencfs of infancy. When the intel- 
 lectual offspring is ftruggling with pain, 
 and fear, into exiftence, the hand that 
 mould aid it's delivery repels with an un- 
 natural barbarity. As Churchill fays, 
 
 They cruJh a Bard, juft burfting from the fhell '." 
 
 In thefe wild hours of youth and fancy, 
 the juvenile writer roves like an infulated 
 
 wanderer.
 
 wanderer. Thrown on an enchanted ifle, 
 his ear liftens with an artlefs impatience 
 for the celeftial tones of an Ariel. It is 
 his unhappy fate to encounter a brutal 
 and malicious Caliban. Such has been 
 the fituation of feveral men of genius 
 when they firft addrefTed themfelves to 
 an unworthy man of letters for their 
 protector. 
 
 Another unfriendly influence over 
 young genius is the want of difcernment 
 in thofe, who have the direction of their 
 talents. Pope was often heard to fay, 
 that he could learn nothing from his 
 mailers, for they wanted fagacity to di- 
 cover the bent of his genius; and the 
 preceptors of Tnomfon, reprimanded the 
 poet, for being too poetical in fome of 
 his exercifes. The judicious Quintilian 
 obferves, that it is not fufficient that a 
 matter inftru&s his fcholars in fcience ; 
 but he mould alfo cultivate thofe par- 
 ticular
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 ticular good qualities nature has be- 
 flowed on each ; to add, to thofe which 
 are deficient, to correct fome, and to 
 change others. 
 
 It is a melancholy truth, that the 
 period at which men receive the colour 
 of their life, is that which is generally 
 leaft regarded. When we mod want 
 judgment, we have none ; and age is 
 often palled only in lamentations over 
 youth. The eventful moment which 
 determines our future years, is min- 
 gled and loft among hours which can- 
 not be recalled. Phylicians tell us, 
 that there is a certain point in youth, at 
 which our conftitution takes it's form, 
 and on which the fanity of life revolves. 
 The exiftence of genius, experiences a 
 fimilar dangerous moment. Tafle er- 
 roneoufly directed, or genius unfubdued; 
 feeblenefs not invigorated, or vigour not 
 foftened ; are the accidents which render 
 D even
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 even a fuperior mind defective in it's 
 beft performances. Children by the neg- 
 ligence of their parents become ricketty, 
 and all their life retain fome trace of the 
 unhappy diftortion of their limbs. The 
 predominant blemifhes of an author, if 
 enquired into, will be found generally to 
 originate in their indulgence at a time 
 when they wanted a Quintilian, to deter 
 them by exercifing fome contrary quality 
 to that, of which they were vitioufly en- 
 amoured. The epigrammatic points, and 
 fwelling thoughts of Young ; the remote 
 conceits of Cowtey, and the turgidity of 
 Johnfon, might probably have been, 
 avoided by their authors, had the bent 
 of their mind at an early period, been, 
 moulded by a critic hand. Few literary 
 vices are radical, unlels permitted to 
 flrike deeply in the foil. Oaks, are but 
 faplings, till they are fuffered to become 
 oaks. 
 
 The
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 The peculiarities of genius are often 
 derived from local habits, or accidental 
 circumftances ; and this remark mews 
 the unwearied vigilance neceflary to be 
 obferved in the progrefs and formation 
 of genius. Rembrandt is one inftance ; 
 his peculiarity of made was derived from 
 the circumftance of his father's mill re- 
 ceiving light from an aperture at the top, 
 which habituated him afterwards to than 
 fmgular manner of broad fhades. The 
 fame analogy may be traced in the hu- 
 man intellect. A man of genius is often 
 determined to (hape his mind into a par- 
 ticular form, by the books of his youth. 
 Dr. Franklin tells us, that when young, 
 and wanting books, he accidentally found 
 De Foe's Effay on Projects, from which 
 work he thinks impreflions were derived 
 that afterwards influenced fome of the 
 principal events of his life. It was by a 
 ftudious perufal of Plutarch's illuftrious 
 D 2 men.
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 men, that Roufleau received that gran- 
 deur of fentiment which diftinguifhes all 
 his compofitions, and created him that 
 romantic and fenfitive being he ever re- 
 mained. 
 
 If \ve except fome rare inftances, no 
 writer can difplay his talents fo indifpu- 
 tably that the world mall be confcious of 
 his exalted genius, at an early period. 
 Du Bos and Helvctius have fixed that 
 great hour in the fhort day of man, about 
 the age of thirty and I recollect an old 
 Spanim writer lays it down as an axiom, 
 that no author mould publifh a book 
 under the age of thirty-five. It is cer- 
 tain that many of our fiift geniufes, 
 have not evinced their abilities till forty. 
 Some indeed fpring fuddenly like a 
 flower; while others expand gradually 
 like a tree. Some are like diamonds 
 which receive their fine polifh froman ela- 
 borate
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 borate art, while others refemble pearl;; 
 which are born with their beautiful luftre. 
 
 Is it enquired if during this long pe- 
 riod a ma.i of genius does not give fome 
 evident marks of his future powers ? I 
 anfwer that fometinics he does j fomc- 
 timcs he does not -, and fometinics they 
 are dubious. They are frequently dubi- 
 ous, becaufe the grofleft pedant attends 
 to his ftudies, if not with the fame af- 
 fection, at leaft with as much conftancy 
 as the fineft genius. Who can diflinguifli 
 between pertinacity and genius ? It is, 
 perhaps, impoflible to know if a young 
 ftudent will be a compiler, or an hiftorian. 
 
 The flrft effufions of a man of genius 
 may be fo rude, as were thofe of Swift 
 and Dryden, that no reafonablc hope 
 can be formed of his happy progrefs. 
 The juvenile productions of many great 
 writers evince nothing of that perfection 
 they afterwards obtained ; and probably 
 D 3 Raphael
 
 Raphael when he firft fnadowed his rude 
 man, on his father's earthenware, had 
 not one ftroke of that ideal beauty, which 
 one day his head was to conceive, and 
 his hand to attempt. 
 
 Sometimes a fuperior mind gives no 
 evidence of it's great powers; genius 
 may, like ^neas, be veiled by a cloud, 
 and remain unperceived even by it's af- 
 fociates; as in the cafe of Goldfmith, 
 whom even his literary companions re- 
 garded as a compiler, not as a writer of 
 tafte. Hume was confidercd for his fb- 
 briety and afliduity, as capable of be- 
 coming a good merchant; of Johnfon it 
 was faid. that he would never offend in 
 converfation, and of Boileau, that he had 
 no great underftanding, but would fpeak 
 ill of no one. Farquhar, who afterwards 
 joined to great knowledge of the world, 
 the liveliefr talents, was at college a 
 heavy companion, and unreafonably dull. 
 
 Thefe.
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 Thefe, from numerous inftances, will be 
 fufficicnt. Again, when a fuperior mind 
 evinces it's early genius, it is not always 
 done with all it's energy ; we have feveral 
 who began verlifiers, and concluded poets. 
 It happens, however, tbat fometimes 
 genius unequivocally difcovers itfelf in 
 the puerile age. Some appear to have 
 meditated on the art they love, on the 
 bofom of their nurfe ; and they are pain- 
 ters and poets before they know the 
 names of their colours, and the fabric of 
 their verfe. Michael Angelo, as yet a 
 child, wherever he went, employed him- 
 felf in drawing, which fo much alarmed 
 his noble parents, who were fearful their 
 family might be diftionoured by a man 
 of genius, that they mingled caftigations 
 with their reprimands. Angelo relin- 
 quifhed the pencil, but it was only to 
 take the brufh. When he attempted 
 ftatuary, his father blufhed to think his 
 D4 fo.n
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 fon was a frone-cutter. Angclo perfiftcd, 
 and became a great man in opposition to 
 his noble progenitors. Velafquez, a Spa- 
 nifh painter, when he performed his 
 fchool tails, filled them with {ketches 
 and drawings ; and, as ibme write their 
 names on their books, his were known 
 by exhibiting ipecimens of his genius. 
 
 ^\n obfervation may be introduced 
 here which is due to the parents of a man 
 of genius. 
 
 We never read the biography of a 
 great character, whether he excelled in 
 letters, or the fine arts, without repro- 
 bating the domeftic perfecution of thofc, 
 who oppofed his inclinations, and en- 
 deavoured to unfeather the tender pinion 
 of juvenile genius. No poet but is roufed 
 with indignation, at the recoileclion of 
 the Port Royal Society thrice burning 
 the poetical romance, which Racine at 
 length got by heart ; no geometrician 
 
 but
 
 C 41 ) 
 
 hut bitterly criminates the iaiher of 
 Pafcal for not fufrering him to read 
 Euclid, which he at length underftood 
 without reading ; no painter, but exe- 
 crates the parents of A ngelo, for fnatch- 
 ing the pencil from his hand, though at 
 length he became fupcriorto every ardft. 
 All this is unjuft. 
 
 Let us place ourfelves in the fituation 
 of a parent of a man of genius, and we 
 fhall find another affociation of ideas 
 concerning him than thofe we have at 
 prefent. We lee a great man, they a 
 difobedicnt child ; \ve fee genius, they 
 obrHnacy. The career of genius is rarely 
 that of fortune ; and very often that of 
 contempt. Even in it's moft flattering 
 afpect, what is it, but plucking a few 
 brilliant flowers from precipices, while 
 the reward terminates in the honour? 
 The anxious parent is more defirous of 
 his fon's cultivating the low-lands where 
 
 induftrv
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 induflry may reap, in filcnt peace, no 
 precarious harveft. But I even confefs 
 that many parents are themfelves not fo 
 infenfible to glory, but that they would 
 prefer a fplendid poverty, to an obfcure 
 opulence ; but who is to be certain that 
 a young man is obeying the felicitation 
 of true genius, or merely the fondnefs 
 for an art, in which he muft nevei be an 
 artift ? Literary men themfelves fre- 
 quently are averfe to encourage the lite- 
 rary difpofhions of their children. 
 
 It is certain that a love for any art, in 
 
 youth, is no evidence of genius. The 
 
 cafual perufal of Spenfer, \vhich might 
 
 produce a Cowley, has no doubt given 
 
 birth to a croud of unknown poets. We 
 
 have a confiderable number of minor 
 
 artifts, of all kinds, whenever attain to 
 
 any degree of eminence, and yet in their 
 
 youth felt a warm inclination for their 
 
 art. If the impulfe of genius, and the 
 
 per-
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 perfeverance ofdcfire, if conception and 
 imitation, could ever be accurately dif- 
 tinguimed in the philofophy of the mind, 
 it would be one of the moft ufeful of mc- 
 taphylical fpeculations. But philofo- 
 phers have not yet agreed of the nature 
 of genius, for while fome conceive it to 
 be a gift; others think it an acquifition. 
 
 We now proceed to fome reflections 
 on the friends of youthful genius. 
 
 The friends of a young writer are ge- 
 nerally prejudicial. To find a fage 
 Quintilian in a private circle, is as rare 
 as to difcover a filver mine in Devon- 
 mire ; it is fuppofed there are feveral, 
 but it is difficult to know where nature 
 
 has placed them.* 
 
 We 
 
 * It is a duty I owe as an individual, not to pafs over 
 in filence the mention of Devonftiire, which I have 
 Ions; confidered as the claffical county of England. It 
 has it's poets and it's antiquaries, it's muficians and 
 it's painters. There is, perhaps, in conlequence, that 
 
 diffufion
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 . We may obferve, that the productions 
 of tafte are much more unfortunate than 
 thofe of reaioning. Every man has a 
 tolerable degree of judgment, and with 
 a flight exertion, atchieves the compre- 
 heniion of a piece of argument ; but 
 tafte is of fuch rarity, that a long life 
 may be pafTed by fome, without ever 
 meeting with a perfon of that cultured 
 and fure tafte, which can touch and feel 
 
 the 
 
 diffufion of urbanity in the manners of maiiy of it's 
 chief inhabitants, which graces enlightened opulence. 
 Devonfliire has produced more illultrious characters 
 than I believe any other county. A Montefquien 
 and a Du Bos would attribute this to the felicity of 
 the climate, where myrtles grow unftieltered in the open 
 a ; r. And perhaps the air which cherimes myrtles in 
 our northern clime, may have no inconfiderable eftc.51 
 on men. The (peculation may not be merely fanci- 
 ful ; here the earth difplays a more luxuriant herbage 
 on a fofter mould ; the fides a brighter azure, and the 
 airs bfow with what poets call, 
 
 " The filky-foft favonian gale." Young. 
 
 A Devonfhire poet is the only Englifh bard who has 
 a right to tranfpofe the epithets of Virgil in his de- 
 fcriptions of Spring. It is a foil favourable to myrtles 
 and artifts.
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 the public opinion, before the public 
 forms it's opinion. 
 
 When a young writer's firft effty is 
 ihovvn, fome, through mere inability of 
 cenfure, fee nothing but beauties ; others, 
 with equal imbecillity can fee none ; and 
 others, out of pure malice, fee nothing 
 but faults. Few great writers have been 
 born in that fortunate and rare circle, 
 where every man has tafte, and fome 
 have candour. A yoiwg writer, if he 
 fuffers his mind to float from uncertainty 
 to uncertainty, will only lofe many years 
 before he difcovers the imbecillity and 
 defective tafte of the narrow circle of 
 his critics. 
 
 A young artift muft banifli defpon- 
 dence, even in the rudeft efforts of art. 
 He muft obey the fervid impulfe at the 
 coft of the pleafures of his age, and the 
 contempt of his aflbciates. It may alfo 
 be no improper habit to preferve his ju- 
 venile
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 venile competitions. By contemplating 
 them he may perceive fome of his pre- 
 dominant errors -, reflect on the gradual 
 corrections ; refume an old manner more 
 happily, invent a new one from the old 
 he had neglected ; and often may find 
 fomething fo fine, among his moft irre- 
 gular productions, that it may ferve to 
 embellifh his moil finimed compofitions. 
 I cannot but apply to this fubject, a 
 happy fimile ofDryden, which a young 
 writer, in the progrefs of his ftudies, 
 fhould often recollect. 
 
 " As thofe who unripe veins in mines explore, 
 " On the rich bed, again, the warm turf lay, 
 
 " Till time digefts the yet imperfect ore, 
 " And know it will be gold another day." 
 
 Let him therefore at once fupply the 
 marble, and be himfelfthe fculptor; he 
 muft learn to hew out, to form, and to 
 polifh his genius. He muft appeal from 
 a contracted circle, to the public ; and 
 
 throughout
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 throughout life, mull hold this as a 
 maxim, if he would prefcrve the neccf- 
 fary tranquillity to purfue his ftudies, 
 that the opinion of an individual muft be 
 accounted as nothing ; not even if this 
 opinion (hould appear in print. Helve- 
 tiusjuftly obferves, what does the opi- 
 nion of any individual mean? Only, 
 that if favourable > he entertains the fame 
 ideas as myfelf; and if unfavourable, 
 that we differ. 
 
 Who but the public can arbitrate be- 
 tween an artift and his critic ? Should 
 even the cenfures of the critic be juft, 
 and the artift notwithftanding pleafe, it 
 is an additional evidence, that he is 
 among the greateft artifts. It is thus 
 with Shakefpeare and Churchill. 
 
 If feveral of our firft writers had at- 
 tended to the fentiments of their friends,. 
 we mould have loft fome of our mod 
 precious competitions. The friends of 
 
 Thomfort
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 Thomfon could difcern nothing but 
 faults in his early productions, not ex- 
 cepting his fublime Winter ! This poet 
 of humanity has left a vindictive epi- 
 gram againft one of thefe friends, and it 
 is perhaps the only ill-natured lines, he 
 ever wrote. He came with impatience 
 to London, publiihed, and made his 
 genius known. Voltaire, when his Brutus 
 was unfuccefsful, was advifed not to turn 
 his attention to the ftage. He replied to 
 his friends by writing Zara, Alzire, and 
 Mahomet. The Mirror when publi (bed 
 in Edinburgh was " faftidioufly" re- 
 ceived ; the authors appealed from Edin- 
 burgh to London, and they have pro- 
 duced the literary pleafures of thoufands! 
 It is dangerous for a young writer to 
 refign himfelf to the opinions of his 
 friends; it is alike dangerous to pafs 
 them with inattention. What an em- 
 barraffment ! If he has not an excellent 
 
 judgment
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 judgment he will not know what to re- 
 ject and what to receive of thofe varying 
 opinions ; and if he has an excellent 
 judgment, he wants little of their aid. 
 
 A young writer muft long and dili- 
 gently fludy his great models without 
 venturing on the vanity ofcriticifm. He 
 who begins to analyfe before he is ac- 
 quainted with the nature of his materials, 
 like an ignorant chymift, may fuppofe 
 he is making experiments, when he is in 
 the act of injuring his untutored and au- 
 dacious hand. He muft read for many 
 years his authors, as fome the gofpels, 
 with the fame faith and the fame admU 
 ration. For what he once wanted in- 
 tellectual relifh, he will come to admire, 
 and what he admires he will imitate. He 
 cannot too often perufe thofe many criti- 
 cal performances which the philofophical 
 tafte of the age has produced. It fhould 
 be considered, that by reading an excel- 
 E lent
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 lent critic, he receives the knowledge of 
 many years in a few hours. The dif- 
 coveries of art are tardy, and criticifm 
 fupplies this deficiency. The more ex- 
 tenfive an artift's knowledge of what has 
 been done, the more vaft will be his 
 powers in knowing what to do. Thofe 
 who do not read criticifm, will not even 
 merit to be criticifed. Yet we have un- 
 reflecting ftudents who inquire of the 
 utility of criticifm ? Nothing may be 
 of happier confequence than a habit of 
 comparing his thoughts and his ftyle 
 with the compofitions of his matters. If 
 in the comparifon, the filent voice of 
 fentiment exclaims in his heart, " I alfo 
 " am a painter," it is not improbable 
 that the young artift may become a Cor- 
 regio.* If in meditating on the con- 
 
 feflions 
 
 * This fentiment is nobly exprefled by Montefquieu 
 in the clofe of his preface to his great work on laws. 
 There he fays, with a confcioufnefs of mind" I da 
 
 " not
 
 ( 5' ) 
 
 fcflions of Roufleau, he recolle&s that he 
 has experienced the fame fenfations from 
 the fame circumftances, and that he has 
 encountered the fame difficulties, and 
 vanquifhcd them by the fame means ; he 
 may hope one day that the world will re- 
 ceive him as their benefactor. If in a 
 conftant perufal of the fineft writers, he 
 fees his fentiments fometimes anticipa- 
 ted, and in the tumult of his mind as it 
 comes in contact with their's, new ones 
 arife, let him profecute his ftudies, with 
 ardour and intrepidity, with the fair 
 hope, that one day, he may acquire the 
 talents of a fine writer. Let him then, 
 
 " wake the ftrong divinity of foul, 
 That conquers chance and fate. 
 
 Altenfide. 
 
 E 2 CHAP. 
 
 not think that I have been totally deficient in point 
 of genius. When I have feen what fo many great 
 men, both in France and Germany, have writ be- 
 fore me, I have been loft in admiration, but I have 
 not loft my courage. I have faid with Corregio, 
 Ed lo anche fon Pittore."
 
 ( 52 ) 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of the domeftic Ufe of a Man of Genius. 
 
 J.F we contemplate the domeftic life of 
 a man of genius, we rarely obferve him 
 placed in a fituation congenial to his 
 purfuits. 
 
 The houfe of a man of letters Ihould 
 be the fanftuary of tranquillity and vir- 
 tue. The moral duties he inculcates, 
 the philofophic fpeculations he forms, 
 and the refinements of tafte he difclofes, 
 mould be familiar to his domeftic circle. 
 It is then he is great without effort, and 
 eloquent without art. 
 
 The porch and the academy of the 
 ancients muft have communicated an 
 enthufiafm the moderns can never ex- 
 perience. In the golden age of Greece, 
 a Demofthenes faw himfelf encompafled 
 by future orators; and Plato liftencd to 
 
 the
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 the plaudits of future philofophers. It 
 was a moment of delicious rapture, not 
 felt in the folitary meditations of the 
 modern philofopher, in whofc mind fen- 
 fations arife cold and artificial compared 
 to their burft of fentiment and their fer- 
 vour of paflion. 
 
 Yet a virtuous citizen, amidft the dif- 
 folution of manners, may give to his re- 
 iidence a Roman aufterity, and difplay 
 the fublime in life, as well as in compo- 
 iition. He may be feated at an attic 
 fupper, and, 
 
 " Enjoy, fpare feaft ! aradifli and an egg." 
 
 Coivper. 
 
 Nor is fuch a purity of manners incom- 
 patible with refined paflions, and delicacy 
 of fentiment ; a penetrating glance, a 
 tender preflure, a lilent fmile, may in- 
 fufe into his heart thofe genuine emo- 
 tions which are ever wanted and never 
 E 3 found
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 found at tables more fplendidly profufc, 
 and more elegantly crouded. A vene- 
 rable parent, a congenial friend, and a 
 female fufceptible of a kindred enthu^ 
 fiafm, are perhaps the utmoft number 
 of happy companions, which a fortunate 
 man could ever afTernbie around him. 
 
 Is he deprived of thefe focial confola- 
 tions, like Johnfon, he calls thofe whofe 
 calamities have exiled them from fo- 
 ciety ; and his houfe is an aflbmblage of 
 the blind, the lame, and the poor. In 
 the ardour of his emotions, he difcovers 
 that a word is wanting in the vocabulary 
 of humanity, and like the Abbe de Saint 
 Pierre, has the honour of fixing a new 
 word in the language ; a word that 
 fcrves to explain his own adtions Bien- 
 faijance. 
 
 His look is ferene, for ftudy, not for*- J 
 tune, forms his fole occupation ; and 
 accident cannot injure the liability of his 
 
 foul,
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 fou!, for virtue has long been a habit. 
 Is it enquired why this man appears an 
 anomalous being among his fellow citi- 
 zens ? Becaufe he is the contemporary 
 of the greateft men. He pafTes his morn- 
 ings with Cicero and Demofthenes, and 
 gives his nights to Socrates and Plato. 
 
 Such an one is the living exemplar of 
 that fubhme morality which we learn 
 with our latin at fchool, and which, when 
 we come into the world, we coniider, 
 like our latin, to be merely a dead lan- 
 guage. 
 
 He renders poverty illuftrious, and 
 proves that every man may be indepen- 
 dent. But we would be independent 
 only, in commanding (laves. He who 
 lives like a Spartan in voluptuous Sybaris, 
 is, however, independent ; and this age 
 has produced men who paffed the fer- 
 vours of youth in a philofophical feverity, 
 and ftudied (as fome ftudy a language) 
 4 to
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 to become great characters. Such were 
 Franklin and Elliot, Chatham and 
 Hume! 
 
 The aliens and ftudies of fuch men 
 are not the only utility they beftow on 
 the world ; they leave fomething of a 
 more diffulive energy ; they leave the 
 eternal memory of their CHARACTER ,- 
 they leave to rempteir. pofterity their im- 
 mortal veftiges, while virtuous youth 
 contemplates them with enthufiafm, and 
 follows them with confidence. 
 
 We clofe any further reflections on the 
 character of a philofophic writer, and 
 rcftrain ourfelves to obfervations more 
 obvious, and to facts more ufual. 
 
 Too often we fee the fublimeft minds, 
 and the tendered hearts, fublime and 
 tender only in their productions. They 
 are not furrounded by perfons of ana*, 
 logous ideas, who are alone capable of 
 Drawing forth their virtues and affec- 
 tions ;
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 tions ; as the powers of the magnet re- 
 main dormant unlefs applied to particles 
 capable of attraction. We hear of feve- 
 jral great men, that they were undutiful 
 fons becaufe they difpleafed their fa- 
 thers in becoming great men that they 
 were difagreeable companions beeaule. 
 dullnefs or impertinence wearied that 
 they were indifferent hufbands becaufe 
 they were united to women who did no 
 honour to the fex. Thefe are ordinary 
 accusations, ever received, while it is 
 forgotten that an accufation is not al- 
 ways a crime. 
 
 It were not difficult to defcribe the 
 domeftic life of mod men of genius, and 
 to obferve that their inmates have ren- 
 dered their Lares but rugged deities. I 
 would never draw conclufions from par- 
 ticular circumlances, fuch as, that Ad- 
 difon defcribes his lady under the 
 character of Oceaua, and Steele deline- 
 ates
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 atcs his wife under that of Mifs Prue ; 
 the one was a ftormy ocean, and the 
 other a ftagnated ftream. But I re- 
 mark that many of the confpicuous 
 blemilhes of fome of our great compo- 
 fitions may reafonably be attributed to 
 the domeftic infelicities of their authors. 
 The defultory life of Camoens probably 
 occalioned the want of connection in his 
 Epic ; Milton's diffracted family thofe 
 numerous paflages which efcaped era- 
 fure ; and Cervantes may have been led, 
 through the hafte of publication, into 
 thofe little flips of memory obfervable 
 in his Satirical Romance. The befl 
 years of Meng's life were embittered by 
 the harlhnefs of his father ; and it is 
 probable that this domeftic perfecution, 
 from which he was at length obliged to 
 fly, gave him thofe morofe and faturnine 
 habits which he ever afterwards retained. 
 Of Alonfo Cano, a celebrated Spanifh 
 
 painter,
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 painter, it is obferved by Mr. Cumber- 
 land, that he would have earned his art 
 much higher, had not the uncealing per- 
 fecution of the inquiiitors deprived him 
 of that tranquillity which is fo neceflary 
 to the very exiftence of the fine arts. 
 Our poetry had probably attained to it's 
 acme, before Pope, had the unfortu- 
 nate circumftances of Dryden not occa- 
 fioned his inequalities, his incorreclnefs, 
 and his copious page. 
 
 It is therefore an, interefting obferva- 
 tion for a man of letters, and an artift, 
 to liberate himfelf early from domeftic 
 anxieties. Let him, like RoufTeau, leave 
 the rich financier, (though he might be- 
 come one himfelf,) fell his watch, and 
 iflue from the palace, in independence 
 and enthuliafm. He muft alfo, if ne- 
 ceflary, like Crebillon, be fatisfied with 
 the refpectable fociety of a confiderable 
 
 number
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 number of greyhounds.* The moft ar- 
 dent paflion for glory can alone ftimulato 
 to fuch a retirement ; and indeed it is 
 only in folitude that the moft eminent 
 geniufes have been formed. Solitude is 
 the nurfe of enthufiafm, and enthufiafm 
 is the parent of genius. Literary folitude 
 ftiall therefore form our next object for 
 {peculation, 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 * Crebillon pafled much of his life in folitude, and 
 pleafed himfelf with the company of a dozen fine large 
 dogs in his room, which rendered the approach to our 
 poet: as formidable to the timorous, as to the delicate.
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 On Literary Solitude. 
 
 IVlEN of Letters are reproached with 
 an extreme paflion for retirement ; and 
 fome of the warmeft philanthropies are 
 calumniated as haters of the human race. 
 Literary Retirement can have no guilt, 
 even if merely paflcd, in the uninter- 
 rupted examination of the trcafures of 
 literature. When tafte is formed, and 
 curiofity becomes habitual, the mind 
 will not forego gratifications at once fa- 
 cile and exquifite. If it is fard why the 
 fame ingenuity of mind, that loves to 
 trace the caufe, and to arrange the ef- 
 fects, is not turned to the objects of the 
 times, and thus render itfelf of more 
 apparent utility, I anfwer, that in the 
 contemplation of exifting fcenes, the 
 mind finds not the fame gratification as 
 
 in
 
 in thofe of the paft. What is prefent is 
 not yet terminated ; the folly of the age 
 is not yet folly, and judgment paufes 
 over myfterious paflions. But in the 
 hiftory of the human mind, to be calmly 
 traced in the volumes of other times, 
 every illufion is diflipated ; and we re- 
 ceive the fame pleafure, as the fpedator 
 who beholds the cataftrophe of the tra- 
 gedy, or the comedy, which excited his 
 curiofity. The hiftory of the paft yields 
 a conclufion, and therefore a perfedion 
 which cannot accompany that of the 
 prefent. 
 
 The horizon of Refearch is illimitable, 
 and the difcoveries of Truth are infinite. 
 New materials ferve but as the founda- 
 tions of others j we do not remain fa- 
 tisfied with building a houfe, a palace, 
 or a ftreet ; but by imperceptible gra- 
 dations we ered a city. 
 
 This,
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 This, perhaps, may ferve as an apo- 
 logy for Men of Letters, who confume 
 their days with innocence and philofo- 
 phy ; but who are frequently confidered 
 to withdraw from duties which thofe 
 who live to buttle, and thofe who buftle 
 to live, are very far themfelves from 
 pradifing. An aclive virtue, whieh in 
 the prefent day may be called heroifm, 
 is frequently the amiable child of Soli- 
 tude, but rarely the companion of the 
 bufy and the gay. 
 
 I propofe to (hew the neceffity, the 
 pleafures, and the inconveniencies of So- 
 litude, to thofe who enlighten the world 
 from the obfcurity of their retirement. 
 
 Solitude is indifpenfable for literary 
 purfuits. Every poet repeats, 
 
 Carmina feccflum fcribentis et oth quarunt. 
 
 No confiderable work has yet been com- 
 pofed, but it's author, like an ancient 
 
 magician,
 
 magician, retired firft to the grove or 
 the clofet, to invocate his fpirits. Every 
 competition of genius is the production 
 of enthufiafm ; and while enthufiafm 
 agitates the mind, trie folitude of a man 
 of letters refemblcs a fcene of antient 
 Greece j a grove becomes facred, and 
 in every retired fpor a divinity appears. 
 
 But it's enchantments are refervcd 
 alone for him. When he fighs for the 
 intellectual decencies, and the grace of 
 fancy, and languifhes in an irkfome fo- 
 litude among crouds, that is the moment 
 to fly into fecluiion and meditation. He 
 alone experiences the delights of that 
 day, which is compreflfed into a fevr 
 hours. Where can he indulge, but in 
 folitude, the delicious romances of his 
 foul ? And where but in folitude can he 
 occupy himfelf in ufeful dreams by night, 
 and when the morning rifes, fly, with- 
 out interruption, to his unfinifhed la- 
 bours?
 
 ( 6, ) 
 
 bours ? He finds many fecret pleafures, 
 and forne glowing anticipations. There 
 is a fociety, in the deepeft fo.lk.ude, to 
 which a polifhed mind fprings with ar- 
 dour ; k embraces a thousand congenial 
 fentiments, and mingles with a thoufand 
 fxquifite fenfaticns. The folitude of 
 retirement to the frivolous prefents a vaft 
 and dreary defert ; but to the man of 
 genius it blooms like the enchanted gar- 
 den of Armida. 
 
 Such is the fituation in which the poet 
 of fentiment and nature, amidft the 
 works of his matters, exclaims 
 
 ' Firft of your kind, Society divine !' 
 
 fbotitfon. 
 
 In this ftillnefs of foul, nature feems 
 more beautiful, and more vaft. We 
 obferve men of genius, in puiDtic fitua- 
 tipns, %hing for this folitude^ it is 
 there only they feel their fuperiority, 
 F and
 
 ( 66)) 
 
 and live in a future age. Cicero was 
 uneafy amidft applaud ing Rome, and he 
 has diftinguifhed his numerous works 
 by the titles of his various villas, where 
 they were compofed. It will not be de- 
 nied that Voltaire had talents and a tafte 
 for fociety ; yet he not only withdrew 
 by intervals, but at one period of his 
 life paffed five years in the moft fecrct 
 feclufion, and perfcverance of ftudy. 
 Montcfquieu quitted the brilliant circles 
 of Paris for his books, his meditations, 
 and for his immortal work ; and for this 
 he was ridiculed by the .gay trif]ers,J?ie 
 relinqui fried. Harrington, to compofe 
 his Oceana, fevered himfclf from the 
 fociety of his friends, and was fo wrapt 
 
 in abftraction, that he was pitied as a 
 
 ... ' . ' ' 
 lunatic. 
 
 A heart thus difpofed, tears' 'it felf, 
 
 - 
 
 with reluctance, from it's cohtempla- 
 . . 
 
 t'ions, and comes into fociety'without a 
 . i 
 
 poflibility
 
 ( 6? ) 
 
 poilibility of receiving, or producing it's 
 pleafures. It may be urged that feveral 
 men of genius have found no 'difficulty 
 to level themfelves to ordinary under- 
 ftandings, I have heard that Hume 
 found great delight in the fociety of two 
 old maids, at his evening whift; Fonte- 
 nelle and La Motte would patiently 
 liften to the frivolous and the dull j but 
 Fontenelle and La Motte, whofe genius 
 our hiftorian's greatly refcmbled, were 
 two ingenious Frenchmen, celebrated 
 for their politenefs and their wit, not 
 for their feniibility and erithufiafm. 
 
 When a man of letters feeks the con- 
 folations of fociety, he would reft a* 
 mind enfeebled with one continued pur- 
 fuit j or exercifc it by fuffering it to take 
 thofe infinite directions which the diver- 
 iities^of converfation offer. If it is wea- 
 ned, the fimpleft actions pleafe ; it is a 
 child that would fport with flowers and 
 F 2 pebbles ;
 
 pebbles ; if it iflues in all it's forge, ic 
 is an athlet that leaps in the arena, and 
 calls for an adverfary. It is Montaigne 
 fporting with his cat, or John fon main- 
 taining a theiis amidft his marvelling 
 friends. 
 
 In either cafe, ordinary fociety offers 
 no charms, and can never be charmed. 
 A feeble mind knows not to unbend 
 becaufe it was never yet extended ; nor 
 can it elevate itfelf becaufe the foul, ac- 
 cording to the figure of Plato, has no; 
 wings. 
 
 Thus die mind of gejoitis feds a con- 
 tinued irritation in the croud. Let us 
 attend Jo the expreflions of genius, 
 which can beft defcribe it's peculiar fen- 
 fibilities. Petrarch frequently with- 
 drew to his immortal valley, alike djf- 
 gufted with the groffnefs of the vulgar, 
 arvd the frivolity of the courtier ; he 
 could not patiently fefter thatBeing^hoao 
 
 he
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 he calls ' un huom del vulgo!' Cowlcy 
 regarded the common people as he did 
 hearts, and was difplcafcd as much with 
 what he Calls "the great as the little 
 " vulgar." Among the perverted images 
 of a living orator, is that " of the hoofs 
 " of the fwinifh multitude," and a ve- 
 nerable ancient prefers the fociety of his 
 dog to fuch men. Fools (cries Du Clos) 
 reconcile men of genius to each other; 
 from the ifnpoffibility of living with 
 fools. And to clofe our teftimonics, with 
 a fine expreflion from Milton, 
 
 " Among unequals what fociety 
 
 " Can fort, whae"harmony or true delight r 
 
 The interruption of vilitors have been 
 feelingly lamented by men of letters. 
 The mind, occupied in maturing it's 
 fpeculations, feels the approach of the 
 vifitor by profeflion, as the fudden gales 
 of an eaftern blaft, pafling over the blof 
 F 3 forrjs
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 foms of fpring. We are afraid, faict 
 fome of. the vilitors to Baxter, that we 
 break in upon your time. To be fure 
 you do, replied the difturbed and blunt 
 icholar. Urfmus was laborious in his 
 literary avocations, and to hint as gently 
 as he could to his friends, that he wag 
 avaricious of time ; he placed an iiv 
 fcription over the door of his ftudy, dc- 
 firirig, that if any one chufed to remain, 
 they muft join in his labours. The ami- 
 able Melanclhon, incapable of a harfh 
 expreffion, when he received thefe idle 
 vifits, only noted down the time he had 
 expended, that he might reanimate his 
 induftry, and not lofe a day. Among 
 the difturbers 'of domeftic tranquillity, 
 may be claffed thofe unhappy wanderers 
 who befiege the houfes of their neigh- 
 bours, and like the barbarian foldier, 
 enter the apartment of an Archimedes, 
 and murder him in the midft of his 
 ftudies. But
 
 C 7- ) 
 
 But, I am now to fkctch a. different 
 pitkire of literary folitude. 
 
 Zimmerman has compofcd aa elabo- 
 rate work on Solitude, in a general 
 manner. His fentiments are glowing, 
 ajftCJr perhaps they arc dangerous. Of 
 folitude, men of genius mutt always be 
 fuffioiently enamoured, without having 
 read that fcducmg description of it's 
 fublime pleafures. Let us not, how- 
 ever, forget nature in enthuliafm. A 
 man of genius, though he addreifespof- 
 terity, has fenfibilities and defircs which- 
 can only be gratified by his contempo- 
 raries. When great minds cannot readily. 
 find that in the world they feek, they 
 haften into feclufion. The craving void 
 remains unfilled ; and for him who fighs 
 for popularity in folitude, every hour 
 fharpens defire, and aggravates difap- 
 pointment. 
 
 F 4 The
 
 ( 7* )' 
 
 The fblitude which is fought bjr (!he 
 young ftudent is riot bbfrife without re- 
 pining. To tame the fervid wildffefs of 
 youth, to the ftrict regularities of ftiuty,- 
 is a facrifice which requires all the en- 
 thtiiiaffn of the iincereft vota'ry. 'the 
 Academic Bovver is not without it's rathj' 
 days. Milton, not apt to vent com- 
 plaints, appears to have felt this irkfome 
 period of life. He employs thefe ttU 
 preffioris in the preface tb Smedymnus. 
 " It is but juftice, not to defraud of due 
 tl efteem the wearifome hlours and ftudiotts 
 " Thatchings, wherein I have fperit, and 
 " tifed out, almoft a whole youth." 
 
 Perhaps folitude iri a later period of 
 life; or rather the neglect wfiich attcHds 
 that folitude, is felt with more fenflbi- 
 lity. It was thus that Cowlcy, that en- 
 -thuflaft for rural feclufion, in his retire- 
 ment called himfelf " the rrielancholf 
 .Cowleyj" and Mr. Mafon has judici- 
 
 qufly
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 eufiy transferred tht fame efrttneti for 
 < iray. Can we read His letters, and n6E 
 feel it's juftnefs ? we hnierrf tflfo, 
 lofs oFCowtey's cor'refpondcrice, 
 the miftakch notion of Sprat, a left 
 tainly as invaluable, as irre'tfcK^r 
 Thefe are the ^eft memoirs of a 
 heart ; the rcgifter of his feelings. But 
 Shenftone has Filled his pages with tHe 
 cries of an amiable heart that bleeds in 
 the oblivion of folitude. In one of his 
 letters, are thefe melancholy expref- 
 iions : " Now I am come from a vifit, 
 every little uneafmefs is fufficient to in- 
 troduce my whole train of melancholy 
 condderations, and to make me utterly 
 diifatisfied with the life I now lead, and 
 the life I forefee I fhall lead. I am an- 
 gry, and envious, and dejected, and fran- 
 tic, and difregard all prefent things as 
 becomes a madman to do. 1 am infi- 
 nitely pleafed (though it is a gloomy joy) 
 
 with
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 with the application of Dr. Swift's com-, 
 plaint, that he is forced to die in a rage, 
 like a poifoned rat in a hole." Without 
 ^citing fimilar paffages in profe, let 
 the lover of folitude mufe on it's picture 
 throughout the year, in the following, 
 fta-nza. 
 
 " Tedious again to curfethe drizzling day ! 
 
 " Again to trace the wintery tracks of fnow ! 
 " Or foothed by vernal airs again furvey, 
 
 " The felf-fame hawthorns bud, and cowflips blow/' 
 
 Swift's letters paint a terrifyng piifture 
 of folitude, and at length his defpair 
 clofed with idiotifm. The amiable 
 
 Greffet, could not fport with the bril- 
 
 ' 
 liant wings of his fancy, without fornc 
 
 querulous exprcflioris of an irkfome foli- 
 tude. In his "Epiftle to his Mufe," 
 he thus exquifitely paints the fituation 
 of men of genius. 
 
 " Je les vois, viSimes du genie, 
 
 " Au foible prix d'un eclat paflager, 
 " Vivre ifoles fans jouir de la vie." 
 
 And
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 And afterwards he adds, 
 
 *' Vir.gt ans d'Ennuis pour quelque jours de glbire!" 
 
 The following anecdote may amufe 
 the reader. When Menage was attacked 
 by fome, and abandoned by others, in 
 a fplenetic humour, he retreated into the 
 country, and gave up his famous Mer- 
 curiales, when the literati afferribled at 
 his houfe. He expected to find that 
 tranquillity in the country which he had 
 frequently defcribcd in his verfes ; but, 
 as he was only a poetical plagiarift, it is 
 not wonderful that he was greatly dif- 
 appointed. Some malicious perfon hav- 
 ing killed his pigeons, it gave him more 
 vexation than his critics. He haftened 
 his return to Paris. It is better, he 
 cried, fince we are born to fuffer, to feel 
 only reafonable forrows. 
 
 It is reafonably to be fufpecled, that 
 he only prefers folitude, who cannot ac- 
 
 complifli
 
 eomplifh his wilhes in fociety. I have 
 not yet been able to difcovcr a great ge- 
 nius, who, courted by an attentive world, 
 perfifted iri his retirement. Voltaire, 
 tohen his reputation was not yet efhi- 
 feii filed, fees only happinefs in feclufioh { 
 all his letters abound with quotations 
 from the poets, of the raptures of foli- 
 tude. When his tragedies gave him ce- 
 lebrity, then his letters found a different 
 ftrain, and he hefitates not to declare to 
 his friends, how unhappy was his fitu*. 
 ition ; conftraincd to remain in folitude 
 while his tragedies were acling every 
 night at Paris. 
 
 TO have ftood infulated amidft fociety 
 has been the hard fate of fome whole 
 jjrefence would have embellifhed the 
 fnoft felecl. This rtegleft of the world 
 has infpired their corripofitions with a 
 querulous fenfibility ; a foftcning charm^ 
 that whatever it may have cod their 
 
 feelings,
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 feelings, renders their beautiful lamenta- 
 tions more interefting. The tender 
 (hades of melancholy throw a grace 
 amidft the brilliant lights of their fancy. 
 It is faid that the nightingale, with a 
 thorn in her breaft, does not fing with 
 a Icfs enchanting melody. Is not the 
 voice of the heart heard in thefe verfes ? 
 
 " Poor moralift ! and what art thou > 
 
 u A Solitary fly. 
 
 " No hive Jjaft jfccm pf hoarded /'ets." 
 
 Gray. 
 
 On the whole it n>ay be faid, th#t a 
 great experience of the world, united 
 with a great love of virtue, render foli- 
 tude deferable. When they exift fepa- 
 rately, it becomes irkfome. A great 
 experience of the world, without virtue^ 
 will pine in folitu.de, r,o exert it's talent 
 on tbofe who are fimple and unexperi- 
 enced. A great love of .virtue, without 
 experience of phe world, forms in the 
 Teifyre of retirement, thofe Utopian pro- 
 je<5ls, which it pants to call into exigence.
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 I 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 On the Meditations and Conversations oj 
 
 '*/! .r/' ' 
 
 Men of (jemus. 
 
 
 A- 
 CONTINUITY of attention is one of 
 
 the grand characteriftics of genius, and 
 in proportion to the degree of the in- 
 tenfenefs of abftraction are it's powers 
 often obtained. A work on ABSTRAC- 
 TION, or the ART OF MEDITATION, is a 
 defideratum. It would be a valuable 
 prefent to all, and might prove of im- 
 menfe advantage to him, who never had 
 more than one folitary idea. 
 
 Among the regulations of this art, it 
 might not be improper to recommend 
 darknefs. Several profound thinkers, 
 could never purfue the operations of 
 their minds, in the diffraction of light,, 
 when the lead remiffion of thought pro- 
 duces a new object, and an extraneous 
 
 idea, 
 
 1
 
 '( 79 ) 
 
 idea. Mallebranche and others, dofed 
 their mutters when they wifhed to ab- 
 Itrad: themfelves. That darknefs is a 
 great aid to thinking, would appear from 
 what mod men experience relative to 
 their thoughts during the night. The 
 iilence and obfcurity of that time arc 
 mod friendly to abftradion, and often 
 when flecp forfakes us, and we mufe, our 
 thoughts furprife by the vividnefs of 
 fancy. If at that moment, in the words 
 of one of our molt elegant poems, we 
 do not, 
 
 " Snatch the faithlefs fugitives to light." 
 
 , Pleafures of Memory . 
 
 If Memory does not chain the children 
 of Imagination, they are fcattcred, and 
 fly the beams of the morning. Our mind, 
 among a tumultuous croud, fuddenly 
 finds itfelf forfaken and folitary. It is at 
 that unregarded period of our exigence, 
 
 that
 
 that men of moderate rapacities fad ail 
 extraordinary expaniion, and men of 
 genius fome of their moft original com- 
 binations. Yet then, how &w, like Pope, 
 have an old woman at hand, to bring 
 pens and paper ! 
 
 Men of genius muft confider them- 
 felves as fo many vigilant guardians of 
 fhe infinity of nature. So treacherous is 
 Recollection, and fo capriciously does 
 'Memory fuppiy her treafures to F,any, 
 that iomexjf the happieft conceptions of 
 genius are fortuitous ; they come, \ve4o 
 not know fi;om where, and fpring we 
 do not know how ; but if not feifed at 
 the moment of perception, they are l&e 
 mnal clouds, whofe romantic figiwes 
 , jas we gaze. 
 
 It is faid that collections have been 
 -mack, fmall.qn.es no doubt, ofbonmots 
 by perfons who never faid but one gopd 
 thing ; it would form no incurious mif- 
 
 cellany,
 
 cellany, if it were poffible to felect fome 
 of thofe thoughts of great thinkers, 
 which were never written. We ihould 
 find many admirable ones. The painters 
 have this advantage over writers, their 
 flighted Iketches are immediately fiefed, 
 and become as valuable to poftcrity as 
 their more complete labours. 
 
 The ART OF MEDITATION is an art 
 which we may inccflantly exercife, and 
 need not remit for long intervals of re- 
 pofe, as every other art. And yet, not - 
 withstanding the facility of practice, and 
 we Ihould fuppofe the hourly fkill we 
 might obtain, every manual art, is 
 brought to perfection, while of the art 
 of the mind, millions are yet ignorant 
 of the firft rudiments. Quintilian finely 
 obferves, that men of genius command 
 it at all times, and in all places. In 
 their walks, at table, and at affemblies, 
 they turn their eye inwards, and can 
 G form
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 form an artificial folitude. The powers 
 of abstraction, which fbme men have 
 exercifed, appear to puny thinkers to 
 have fomething of the marvellous; in 
 the regions of the mind, they look like 
 fo many Gullivers among a million of 
 Lilliputians. Of Socrates it is faid, that 
 he would frequently remain an entire day 
 and night in the fame attitude, abforbed 
 in meditation ; and why mail we doubt 
 this when we know that La Fontaine 
 and Thomfon, Defcartes and Newton, 
 experienced the fame abftraction ? In 
 Cicero's Treatife on Old Age, Cato 
 praifes Caius Sulpitius Gallus, who, 
 when he fat down to write in the morn-, 
 ing, was furprifed by the evening, and 
 when he took up his pen in the evening, 
 was furprifed by the appearance of the 
 morning. Of the Italian poet Marinj, 
 it is faid, that he was once fo abforbed 
 in the revifion of his Adonis, that he 
 
 fuffered
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 fuffered his leg to be burnt, fur feme 
 time, without any fenfibility. 
 
 This enthufiafm renders every thing 
 that furroiinds us as diflant as if an im- 
 menfe interval feparated us from the 
 fcene. It is related of a modern aftro- 
 nomer, that one fummer night when he 
 was withdrawing to his chamber, the 
 brightnefs of the heavens fhevved a phe- 
 nomenon. He patTed the whole night in 
 obferving it, and when they came to 
 him early in the morning and found him 
 in the fame attitude, he faid, like one 
 who had been recollecting his thoughts 
 for a few moments, " it muft be thus ; 
 " but I'll go to bed before 'tis late." He 
 had gazed the entire night in meditation 
 and did not know it. 
 
 Enthufiafm, which is aclive genius, 
 
 prefents an object more fingular than 
 
 genius in it's quiefcent meditations. The 
 
 flowing flrcam is loft in an ocean rolling 
 
 G 2 impc-
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 impetuoufly. This phrenzy of abftrac- 
 tion, and wonderful agitation of the 
 foul, is required not only in the fine arts, 
 but wherever a great exertion muft be 
 employed. It was felt by Gray in his 
 loftieft excurlions ; and is it not the 
 fame power which impels the villager, 
 when to aftonim his rivals, in a conreft 
 for leaping, he retires back fome fteps, 
 ferments his mind to a fervent refolu- 
 tion, and clears the eventful bound ? It 
 was a maxim with one of our ancient and 
 great Admirals, in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, that a height of paffion, amounting 
 to phrenzy, was neceflary to qualify a 
 man for that place. A variety of in- 
 flances might be given of this fine en- 
 thufiafm, which has ever accompanied 
 the artift, at the moment he produced 
 excellencies. 
 
 It has fometimes arifen into a delirium. 
 The foul of Roqfleau was bewildered in 
 
 thq
 
 ( 85 ) 
 
 the delufions of fancy, and the momen- 
 tary difpofitions of his mind coloured 
 exterior objects. Petrarch in that mi- 
 nute narrative of a vifion in which Laura 
 appeared to him, and Tafib in the con- 
 verfations with his invifible fpirit, ex- 
 panded their fublime imaginations to a 
 dangerous phrenzy. This delicious ine- 
 briation of the heart, occafions fo intenfe 
 a delight, that to defcribe this character 
 of the foul, requires, what one of thefe 
 exquisite minds has called 
 
 " Thoughts that breathe and words that burn !" 
 
 The ancients faw nothing iliort of a di- 
 vine infpiration in this agitation of the 
 mind. It affects men of genius phyfi- 
 cally. Fielding fays, " I do not doubt 
 " but that the moft patheti^ and affecting 
 " fcenes have been writ with tears !" 
 He, perhaps, would have been plea fed 
 to have confirmed his obfervation, by 
 G the
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 the foi lowing circumftance. Metaftafio 
 has written a beautiful Sonnet, on occa- 
 fion of having fhed tears in writing an 
 Opera.* When the firft idea of the 
 EfTay on the Arts and Sciences ruined 
 on the contemplation of Roufleau, it oc- 
 cafioned fuch a fever of the mind, and 
 trembling of his frame, that it ap- 
 proached to a delirium. The tremors 
 of Dryden, after having written an Ode, 
 (a circumftance accidentally handed to 
 us by tradition) were probably not un- 
 ufual with him. 
 
 Chance has preferved but a few of 
 fimilar inftances ; this enthufiafm, in- 
 deed, can only be obferved by men of 
 genius themfelves ; but when it mod 
 powerfully agitates them, they can leaft 
 perceive it. At that moment of exqui- 
 iite extravagance, like a religious vifi- 
 onary, they pierce into " the heaven of 
 
 " heavens," 
 * This Sonnet ftiall be given at the clofe of the volume.
 
 " heavens," and when they return to 
 their chair and their table, the effect has 
 ccafed, and the golden hour of fublime 
 rapture muft terminate like other hours, 
 in vulgar appetites that offend Fancy 
 and gratify Nature. 
 
 This irritability of mind has feme- 
 times rendered focicty difpleaiing to fe- 
 veral men of genius. Whenever Roiifleau 
 pafled a morning in company, he (ays, 
 it was obferved that in the evening he 
 was ditfatisficd and difturbed. Roufleau 
 may be confidered by fome, as a mind 
 too peculiar, to be taken as a guide in 
 our examination into the character of 
 men of genius. If our young authors, 
 however, would meditate on certain 
 parts of his character, their virtues might 
 be more elevated, and their ftyle more 
 exquifite, than the model which any 
 other literary character of this age pre- 
 fcnts to them. 
 
 G 4 Abforbed
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 Abforbed in his meditations, the man 
 of genius lives in one continued feries of 
 reflection ; always himfelf, feldom ano- 
 ther ; frequently the real artift loves 
 nothing but his art, and his very amufe- 
 ments and relaxations receive the im- 
 prefiion of this enthufiafm. Not without 
 an apparent haughtinefs, which often is 
 but the natural and dignified expreflion 
 of an elevated mind ; and he appears 
 awkward or ignorant of thole petty at- 
 tentions which form the fcience of thofe 
 who have no fcience. A great Princefs 
 was deiirous of feeing one of the firft 
 Literary Characters of the age; her dif- 
 appointment was inconceivable; he fat 
 awkwardly and filently on his chair, and 
 made the moft perplexed bow, (he had 
 yet feen. 
 
 We often view the man of real genius 
 infulated in a brilliant circle ; while the 
 intriguing and falhionable author, whofe 
 
 heart
 
 heart is more corrupt than his head, is 
 admired becaufe he has difcovered the 
 art of admiring. The trifiers confider 
 him to be a man of genius ; he employs 
 their own ideas ; both are therefore 
 gratified. 
 
 It is however certain, that this ab- 
 ftradlion and awkwardnefs which render 
 a man of genius ridiculous and incon- 
 fiderable in the private circle, are the 
 caufe of his fuccefs with the public. 
 Often his private defecls are the fourcc 
 of his public qualities ; his bluntnefs may 
 be a lively perception of truth ; his cold- 
 nefs a rigid candour; his tedious dif- 
 cuflion may be an accuracy of reafoningj 
 and his difagreeable warmth the ardour 
 which animates his works with the pub- 
 lic. It was the excefllve vanity and 
 felf-love of Cicero and Voltaire, that gave 
 birth 'to all their vaft defigns. To pleafe 
 the public, and his circle is incompa- 
 tible
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 tible to this the frivolous will not aflent 
 when of their numerous body one ac- 
 compliflied trifler (hall be acknowledged 
 as a great genius, this obfervation lhall 
 be deemed erroneous. But to clofe a 
 difpute ofthemoft ancient date, I fhall 
 quote the remark of a Lord. Shaftef- 
 bary (for nobility lofes it's title and often 
 it's rank in the republic of letters) has 
 laid, " that it may happen that a perfon 
 " may be fo much the worfe author for 
 " being the finer gentleman." 
 
 Many reafons may be alledged why 
 genius is defective in ordinary conver- 
 fation ; one may be fufficient ; the wane 
 of analogous ideas. The fpirit of faflii- 
 enable fociety and that of ftudy, are in- 
 compatible. The language of the politeft 
 circle may be defined the art of fpeaking 
 idly to an idler. To fpeak idly, is not an 
 acquirement of facility. A man of ge- 
 nius is rarely verfant in the fafhionable 
 
 vocabulary,
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 vocabulary, and in a dialogue of elegant 
 inanity, which mould be rapid and 
 various, he hefitates to find a remote 
 idea, and flops to correct an imperfect 
 cxprefllon. How often will it be fortu- 
 nate for him if he efcapes being un- 
 derftood ! It is rather fingular that our 
 polifhed focicty fhould bear fo clofe a 
 refemblanee to the converfations of the 
 Hottentots of the Hottentots ? Yes ! 
 for we are told that they confider think' 
 ing as the fcourge of human nature. 
 
 The refined fenfibility of men of ge- 
 nius, renders them uneafy companions. 
 They difcover a character too early, and 
 too fagacioufly, for the interefls of con- 
 verfation. Dunces are excellent com- 
 panions for dunces ; the fame ideas, and 
 the fame j udgments ; the opacity of the 
 intellect is no detriment, for, like the 
 blind, they can perform their ftated 
 rounds in the night without incon- 
 venience. A
 
 ( 92 ) 
 
 A man of genius can rarely be a fa- 
 vourite with fuch a party, even if they 
 fhould have fome tafte and fome infor- 
 mation. His works they applaud, be- 
 caufe that is fafhionable, but they neg- 
 led: the author, who may happen to be 
 very unfafhionable. 
 
 The frivolift author will be the even- 
 ing favourite; he fports not without 
 grace on the brilliant furface of the foul ; 
 but is irrecoverably loft when he pafTes 
 over it's depths ; the fwan that grace- 
 fully glides down rivers, would perifli on 
 feas. The man of genius fits like a me- 
 lancholy eagle whofe pinions are clip- 
 ped, and who is placed to rooft among 
 domeftic fowls. 
 
 A man of genius utters many things 
 in converfation which appear extrava- 
 gant or abfurd ; when printed they are 
 found admirable. How often the public 
 differs from the individual ; there may 
 
 be
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 be a century's opinion betwixt them. 
 This reflection reminds me of an Athe- 
 nian anecdote. A ftatuary at Athens, 
 made a figure of Minerva. Thofe friends 
 who were admitced into his fhop (an 
 ancient cuftom the moderns prefcrve) 
 were furprifed at it's rough ftrokes and 
 coloffal features. Before the artift they 
 trembled for him ; behind him they ca- 
 lumniated. The man of genius fmiled 
 at the one, and forgave the other. When 
 the figure was fixed in a public place, 
 and infpedled by the city, and not merely 
 by individuals, the attic judges admired 
 the foftnefs of the traits, and the majefty 
 of the figure. We mult never forget 
 that there is a certain diftance, at which 
 opinions, as well as ftatues, are to be 
 viewed ; and he who addrefles an attic 
 public, knows, that it's enlightened fen- 
 timents, are rarely to be found in a pri- 
 vate circle. 
 
 It
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 It is not neceflary to produce inftances 
 of the deficiencies of men of genius in 
 converfation. It is fufficient to obfetve, 
 that the fublime Dante was taciturn or 
 fatirical ; Addifon and Moliere were 
 filent ; Corneille and Dryden were no 
 amufing companions. Vaucanfon was 
 faid to be ^as much a machine as any he 
 made. 
 
 To the intimates of thefe fuperior men, 
 who complained of their defects, I would 
 thus have replied Do their productions 
 not delight and furprife you ? You arc 
 filent ; I beg your pardon. The public 
 has informed you of a great name ; you 
 would not otherwife have perceived the 
 precious talent of your neighbour. You 
 have examined his compositions ; and 
 would you have him rcfemble yourfefaes ? 
 You know nothing of your friend but his 
 vamt. 
 
 A
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 A man of genius may, however, be 
 rendered the moft agreeable companion. 
 Few artifts but are eloquent on the art 
 in which they excel. He is an exquifite 
 inftrument if the hand of the performer 
 knows to call forth the rich confluence 
 of his founds. If, 
 
 " The flying fingers touch into a vojce." 
 
 D^Avenant. 
 
 If you love the man of letters, feek 
 him in the privacies of his ftudy ; or if 
 he be a man of virtue, take him to your 
 bofom. It is in the hour of confidence 
 and tranquillity, his genius may elicit a 
 ray of intelligence, more fervid than the 
 labours of poliihed competition. 
 
 CHAP,
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Men of Genius limited in their Art. 
 
 VV E have examined in the preceding 
 Chapter feveral reafons why men of ge- 
 nius are often incapable of plcafing in 
 the verfatile converfation of a mixed fo- 
 ciety. Another obfervation offers ; their 
 powers of pleafing are even limited in 
 the art in which they excel. They are 
 confined (fays Du Bos) to particular 
 branches in that art. 
 
 This obfervation, reiterated without 
 effect, has become trite, while it would 
 appear by moft authors, confidering 
 themfelves univcrfal geniufes, that it was 
 on the contrary, a dangerous novelty. 
 Literary hiftory continually confirms it's 
 verity; and thefe failures of eminent men 
 are fo many inftruclions which Nature 
 dictates ; but her pupils receive her ad- 
 monitions with contempt. 
 
 Nature
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 Nature is " a jealous God," and feve- 
 ral of our great writers when they have 
 rifen in rebellion againft her, have only 
 fuffered by the violation. Fielding, ex- 
 cellent in his novels, when his aid was 
 required for the theatre, could.. never 
 write a tolerable drama. Congreve, ce- 
 lebrated for his pointed wit, when he 
 took up the reigning topic, wrote the 
 feeblefl verfe ; Rowe, fuccefsful in the 
 foft tones of tragedy, is remarkable for 
 a miferable failure in comedy ; La Fon- 
 taine, that exquifite fabulift, found that 
 his opera was hifled. The abfurdities of 
 Voltaire, the moil fuccefsful of univerfal 
 writers, are only forgiven for his inex- 
 hauftible wit and happy irony. 
 
 The moft original genius of our age, 
 with difcernment equal to his wit, con- 
 fines himfelf to that fpecies of poetry in 
 which he can fear no rival. Songs, more 
 delicious than the odes of Anacreon, and 
 H far ires,
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 fatires, more pungent than thofe of 
 Horace; compofitions more admirable 
 than imitable ; thefe are the limits which, 
 like a great politician, he draws round 
 his empire. He has no difpofition to 
 rival Milton in an epic, or Shakefpeare 
 in a tragedy. Peter Pindar will never, 
 therefore, experience the fate of Louis 
 the Great ; to make brilliant conquefls 
 in the prime of life, and view his repu- 
 tation die before himfelf, by a vain at- 
 tempt at univerfal monarchy. 
 
 But fome ingenious men are willing to 
 oppofe this precept, and prefume to 
 think that Nature is never ungrateful, 
 when (he receives the proper attentions. 
 It is not difficult to find fome ingenious 
 artifts, who fhew abilities in various 
 modes of compofition ; but to evince 
 abilities t and to difplay genius^ are re- 
 moved at a long interval from each other. 
 True genius has rarely this fupplenefs ; 
 
 but
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 but what the French call le lei efprit> 
 has it often in a wonderful degree. Wri- 
 ters endowed with the be I efprit t can 
 compofe hiftory and romance, and moral 
 and poetical e flays, with the fame in- 
 genuity. A man of genius will only write 
 a hiftory, or a romance ; moral, or poe- 
 tical eflays ; but his performances remain 
 with the language, while the reputation- 
 of a lei efprit, like fome artificial fires, 
 become fuddenly extinct. And it is cu- 
 rious to obferve, that the very ingenious 
 Du Clos is denied by the French critics, 
 to be a man of genius, becaufe he wrote 
 equally well on a variety of fubjedls. 
 Nor is it furprifing that even a man of 
 genius mould fail in preferving an equal 
 power over every province of his art ; the 
 genius of man being neceflarily limited 
 compared to art itfelf ; and he who raifes 
 admiration by his fkill in one depart- 
 ment, will never equal his faculty in an- 
 H 2 other.
 
 other. He who excels, like a Butler in 
 wit and fatire, will find it impoflible to 
 excel like a Milton, in fentiment antf 
 imagination. The minds of men are fo 
 many different foils ; and the great art 
 conftfts in planting the trees adapted to 
 the foil. 
 
 \ know no inftance to mew that a great 
 poet excelled as a painter, or that a great 
 mufician, excelled as a ftatuary. But it 
 is not difficult to prove, that the mod 
 emineht men of genius have found their 
 talent confined to their art, and even to 
 departments of their art. 
 
 The ancients therefore wifely addicted 
 themfelves only to one fpecies of com- 
 pofition. The poet was not an hiftorian, 
 nor the hiilorian a poet ; but the poet 
 was a poet, and the hiftorian an hiftorian. 
 
 I have been induced to touch on this, 
 critical admonition, becaufe it is fome- 
 times denied j and I thinfc the error 
 
 : 
 
 arifeq
 
 arifes from not diftinguifhing the grand 
 competitions of genius, from the pretty 
 curiofities of the bel efprit, which may 
 be defined mimetic genius. Whenever 
 this well-known verfe (hall be contro- 
 verted, it wilf be fatal to the progrefs of 
 genius, 
 
 " One fcience f^y v> wiH one genius fit." 
 
 Pofe, 
 
 He who writes on topics of different 
 fpecies, cannot meditate much on any ; 
 with him all is a beautiful diftradlion 
 rather than an accomplifhed beauty; he 
 can only repeat what has been already 
 given, or give what will not merit to be 
 repeated. Writers of mediocrity, by a 
 long and patient devotion to one kind of 
 competition, have often attained con- 
 fiderable merit ; but how much more 
 forcibly muft this refolute perfcverance 
 a& on a mind of original powers. We 
 Hj may
 
 may compare thofe who write on dif- 
 ferent arts, or multifarious topics, to 
 excuriivc merchants, who make fmall 
 fortunes in various places, and fpend 
 them there ; writers who concentrate 
 their powers on one objecl, are like thofe 
 who inceffantly accumulate, but exhauft 
 their fplendid opulence, in the proper 
 place, at their native residence. 
 
 It is the obfervation of one of our beft 
 critics and poets, in his admirable pre- 
 face to Homer, that " no author or man 
 " ever excelled all the world in more 
 " than one faculty." It is not, however, 
 denied that a man of genius mould be 
 intimate with the principles of every art ; 
 in many he may become an efteemed 
 artift, but in one only he can be a 
 matter^ 
 
 On ne vit qu'ademi quand on n"a qu'un feul gout j 
 Le veritable efprit fait fe plier a tout. 
 
 Voltaire.
 
 ( I0 3 ) 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Some Obfervatims refpe fling the Infirmities 
 and Defefts of Men of Genius. 
 
 A HE modes of life of a man of genius 
 are often tinclured with eccentricity and 
 enthufiafm. Thefe are in an eternal con- 
 flict with the ufages of common life. His 
 occupations, his amufements, and his 
 ardour, are difcordant to daily purfuits, 
 and prudential habits. It is the charac- 
 teriftic of genius to difplay no talent to 
 ordinary men ; and it is unjuft to cen- 
 fure the latter when they confider him 
 as born for no human purpofe. Their 
 pleafures and their forrows are not his 
 pleafures and his forrows. He often ap- 
 pears to (lumber in difhonourable cafe, 
 while his days are pafTcd in labours, more 
 conftant and more painful than thofe of 
 H 4 the
 
 the manufacturer. The world are not 
 always aware that to meditate, to com- 
 pofe, and even to converfe,with fome, 
 are great labours ; and as Hawkefworth 
 obferves, that " wearinefs may be con- 
 ** traded in an arm chair." 
 
 Such men are alfo cenfured for an ir- 
 ritability of difpofition. Many reafons 
 tnight apologize for thefe unhappy vari- 
 ations of humour. The occupation of 
 making a great name, is, perhaps, more 
 anxious and precarious than that of 
 making a great fortune. We fympathife 
 with the merchant when he communi- 
 cates melancholy to the focial circle in 
 confequence of a bankruptcy, or when 
 he feels the elation of profperity at the 
 fuccefs of a vaft fpeculation. The au- 
 thor is not leis immerfed in cares, or 
 agitated by fuccefs, for literature has it V 
 bankruptcies and it's {peculations. 
 
 The
 
 The anxieties and difappointments of 
 an author, even of the moft fuccefsful, 
 are incalculable. If he is learned, learn- 
 ing is the torment of unquenchable third, 
 and his elaborate work is expofed to the 
 accidental recollection of an inferior 
 mind, as well as the fatal omiflions of 
 wearied vigilance. If he excels in the 
 magic of diction, and the graces of 
 fancy, his path is ftrewed with rofes, 
 but his feet bleed on invilible yet piercing 
 thorns. Roufleau has given a glowing 
 defcription of the ceafelefg inquietudes 
 by which he acquired (kill in the arts of 
 competition ; and has faid, that with 
 whatever talent a man may be born, the 
 art of writing is not eafily obtained. The 
 depreffions and elevations df genius, are 
 defcribed by Pope 
 
 Who pants for glory finds but fliort repofe, 
 
 " A breath revives him, or a breath overthrows.'* 
 
 Tho
 
 The anxious uncertainty of an author 
 for his competitions, is like the ftate of 
 the lover who writes to his miftrefs ; he 
 repents, and thinks he has written too 
 much, and he recollects that he had 
 omitted things of the greateft moment. 
 When, indeed, his work is received with 
 favour, he refembles Latona, as defcribed 
 by Ovid, who contemplated with fecret 
 joy, her daughter Diana, diftinguifhed 
 among the wood-nymphs, and whofc 
 appearance was taller, and more lovely 
 than her companions. 
 
 It is obferved by M. La Harpe (an 
 author by prbfefllon) that as it has been 
 proved there are fome maladies peculiar 
 to artifts, there are alfo forrows which 
 are peculiar to them j and which the 
 world can neither pity nor foften, be- 
 caufe it cannot have their conceptions. 
 We read not without a melancholy emo- 
 tion, the querulous expreflions of men of 
 
 genius.
 
 ( 107 ) 
 
 genius. We have a little catalogue df 
 calamitate Litteratorum ; we might add a 
 volume by the addition of moil of our 
 own authors.* The too fenlible Smollet 
 has left this testimonial to pofterity of his 
 feelings. In one of his prefaces he fays, 
 <f had fome of thofe who were pleafed to 
 " call themfelves my friends, been at any 
 " pains to deferve the character, and told 
 " me ingenuoufly what I had to expect 
 <c in the capacity of an Author, I mould 
 ** in all probability have fpared myfelf 
 " the incredible labour and chagrin I have 
 < f fince undergone." This is a text 
 which requires no commentary. Hume 
 has given the hiftory of his writings, and 
 we find that it required to the full, all 
 4 his 
 
 * The materials are ready for publication ; but the 
 hope of it's utility has paft, fince a Literary Fund efta- 
 blifhed in attic London found too many claimants and 
 too few fubfcribers. It has died away } while the Mu- 
 JicalFund is patronifed by the Great, which feems to 
 prove that they have finer ears than underftandings.
 
 t 108 ) 
 
 his patient philofophy to fupport his iir 
 reception. The reafoning Hume pro- 
 pofed changing his name and his coun- 
 try. Parties are formed agairtft a man 
 of genius, as happened to Corneille and 
 Milton ; and a Pradon and a Settle are 
 preferred to a Racine and a Dryden. 
 What muft have been the agonies of the 
 neglected Collins when he burnt his cx- 
 quilite odes at the door of his publifher ! 
 The great Bacon bequeathed his name 
 and his works to foreigners, and to a fu- 
 ture age ; nor muft we forget the dig- 
 nified complaints of the Rambler, with 
 which he awefully clofes his work in ap- 
 pealing to pofterity. 
 
 The votaries of the arts and fciencies, 
 are called by Cicero, Heroes of Peace $ 
 their labours, their dangers, and their 
 intrepidity, make them heroes ; but 
 peace is rarely the ornament of their fe~ 
 verifh exiftence* 
 
 It
 
 It is a mortification experienced by 
 feveral men of genius, that they have 
 never acquired that reputation they might 
 have merited, by not having been en- 
 abled to carry their genius to it's per- 
 fection. A variety of circumftances may 
 hinder fuch a writer from occupying the 
 diftinguifhed place his abilities promifed. 
 Some authors, of the firft-rate genius, 
 are negleded, becaufe deficient in that 
 tafle, which is alone attained by long 
 
 Culture and an enlarged education. Piron 
 
 i* 
 
 was a writer of as great genius, and ori- 
 ginal powers, as any of the French poets ; 
 but he has failed of fecuring himfelf a 
 feat among the matters of the French 
 ParnafTus. He has himfelf, in fome 
 Sketches of his life^ afligned the reafons 
 of this failure ; till the age of twenty- 
 five, he was confined to the narrow 
 circle of unlettered friends ; he pafied 
 ten or twelve years afterwards at Paris in 
 
 obfcurity $
 
 obfcurity ; fo that he was about forty, 
 when by the advice of Crebillon, he ef- 
 fayed his powers on his faftidious the- 
 atre, and though he has evinced high 
 genius, he has only fatisfied his refined 
 nation by one performance. 
 
 Some are now only agreeable, who 
 might have been great writers, had their 
 application to ftudy, and the modes of 
 their life been different. In Mr. Greaves' 
 lively recollections of his friend Shen- 
 ftone, are fome judicious obfervations on 
 this fubjed. He has drawn a compari- 
 fon between the elevated abilities of Gray, 
 and the humble talents of Shenftone; 
 and he has eflayed to fhevv, that it was 
 the accidental circumftances of Gray's 
 place of birth, education, his admittance 
 into fome of the bed circles, and his 
 afliduous application to fcience, which 
 gave him that fuperiority over the indo- 
 lence, the retirement, and the inertion 
 
 of
 
 ( I" ) 
 
 of a want of patronage, which made 
 Shenftone, as Gray familiarly faid, " hop 
 " round his walks" like a bird in a firing. 
 I muft again remind the reader of an- 
 other apparent paradox of Helvetius, 
 who fays, that it is the different modes 
 of education which influence men fo 
 wonderfully ; and that genius may be ac- 
 quired whenever a proper ftudy is accom- 
 panied by a fervent paflion for any par- 
 ticular art or fcience. This fervent paf- 
 fion may be only another name for what 
 is called genius. I believe, however, that 
 Shenftone, who now occupies a fubordi- 
 nate feat, in the Temple of Fame, might 
 have been placed among the higher 
 clafTes. Perhaps moft men are born 
 with abilities nearly equal ; and Mr. 
 Greaves has more reafon on his fide than 
 fome may be aware, when he fays, " of 
 " two perfons, born to equal fortune, if 
 " one improves his flock by induflry 
 
 "and
 
 " and traffic, and the other lives idly 
 " upon the principal, the confequence is 
 " obvious." 
 
 Others, by an ignorance pf a fine 
 manner, or by a wrong direction long 
 purfued, wafte their talents, on the hum- 
 bler departments of art, when they have 
 fufficient genius to excel in the higheft. 
 This is the cafe among many of our 
 provincial writers, who, with no incon- 
 fiderable talents, are placed often in litu- 
 ations where they ftudy authors whofe 
 tafte is furpafled by the more modern. 
 We often fee ingenious writers, who arc 
 about half a century removed from the 
 public tafte. Among the painters, Al- 
 bert Durer may ferve as an inftance. 
 Vafari (quoted by Sir Jofhua Reynolds) 
 juftly remarked, that he would have pro- 
 bably been one of the firft painters of 
 his age, had he been initiated into the 
 great principles of the art, fo well un- 
 
 derftood
 
 ( "3 ) 
 
 dcrftood by his Italian contemporaries". 
 And Sir Jofhua adds, but unluckily hav- 
 ing never feen or heard .of any .other 
 manner, he confidered his own,, with- 
 out doubt, as perfect. 
 
 Men of genius are often reverenced" 
 only where they are known by their wri- 
 tings. In the romance of life they are 
 divinities, in it's hiftory they are men. 
 From errors of the mind, and derelic- 
 tions of the heart, they may not be ex- 
 empt ; thefc are perceived by their 
 acquaintance, who can often difcern only 
 thefe qualities. The defects of great, 
 men are the confolation of the dunces. 
 
 Degrading vices and fingular follies 
 have difhonoured men of the higheft 
 genius. Than others, their paflions are 
 more effervefcent, and their relifli for 
 enjoyment more keen. Genius is a pe- 
 rilous gift of Nature ; for it is acknow- 
 ledged that the fame materials Ihe em- 
 I ploys
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 ploys to form a Cataline and a Cromwell, 
 make a Cicero and a Bacon. Plato; in 
 his vifionary fketches of a man of genius, 
 lays great ftrefs on his having the naoft 
 violent paffions, with reafon to reftrain 
 them. Helvetius, an accurate obferver 
 of men of genius, alfo- enforces the idea 
 of their inflammable and phyfical pafli- 
 ons. Glory and infamy is the fame 
 violent paffion, but the direction is dif- 
 ferent, and Voltaire has exprefTed this 
 in one verfe, 
 
 " Si Je n'etois Cefar, j'aurois etc Brtus" 
 
 Genius, like a ftorm of wind in Arabia, 
 either directs the myriads of locufts to 
 the land, or with a friendly influence di- 
 perfes them away. 
 
 For their foibles it appears more dif- 
 ficult to account than for their vices ; for 
 a violent paflion depends on it's direction 
 to become either excellence or depra- 
 vity ; but why their exalted mind mould 
 
 not
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 not prefervc them from the imbecillities 
 of fools, appears a mere caprice of Na- 
 ture. A curious lift might be formed of 
 
 " Fears of the brave and follies of the wife." 
 
 Johnfon. 
 
 In the note underneath I have thrown to- 
 gether a few fads which may be pafled 
 over by thofe who have no tafte for 
 literary anecdotes.* 
 
 I 2 But 
 
 * Voiture was the fon of a vintner, and like our 
 Prior, was fo mortified whenever reminded of his ori- 
 ginal occupation, that it was faid of him, that wine 
 which cheared the heart of all men, fickened that of 
 Voiture. Roufieau, the poet, was the fon of a cobler ; 
 and when his honeft parent waited at the door of the 
 theatre, to embrace his fon on the fuccefs of his firft 
 piece, the inhuman poet repulfed the venerable father 
 with infult and contempt. Akenfide ever confidered 
 his lamenels as an unfupportable misfortune, fmce it 
 continually reminded him of his origin, being occafi- 
 oned by the fall of a cleaver from one of his father's 
 blocks, a refpeftable butcher. Milton delighted in 
 contemplating his own perfon, and the engraver not 
 having reached our fublime Bard's " ideal grace," he 
 has pointed his indignation in four iambics. Among 
 the complaints of Pope, is that of " the pictured 
 " fhape." Even ths itrong-minded Johnfon would 
 
 not
 
 { "6 ) 
 
 But it is alfo neceflary to acknowledge^ 
 that men of genius are often unjuftly re- 
 proached with foibles. The fports of a 
 vacant mind, are mifunderftood as fol- 
 lies. The {implicit/ of truth may ap- 
 pear vanity, and the confcioufnefs of 
 fuperiority, envy. Nothing is more ufual 
 than our furprife at forne great writer or 
 artift contemning the labours of another,. 
 whom the public chcrifh with equal ap- 
 probation. We place it to the account of 
 his envy, but perhaps this opinion is 
 erroneous, and claims a concife invert i- 
 gation. 
 
 Every fuperior writer has a MANNER of 
 his own, with which he has long been 
 
 converfant, 
 
 not be painted " blinking Sam." Mr. Bofwell telis 
 us that Goldfmith attempted to (hew his agility 
 to be fuperior to the dancing of an ape, whofe praife 
 hud occafioned him a fit of jealoufy, but he failed in' 
 imitating his rival. The inscription under Boileau's 
 portrait, defcribing his character with lavifh panegyric, 
 and a preference to Juvenal and Horace, is unfortu- 
 nately known to have been written by himfelf.
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 converfant, and too often inclines to 
 judge of the merit of a performance by 
 the degree it attains of his favourite 
 manner. He errs, becaufe impartial men 
 of tafte are addicted to no manner, but 
 love whatever is exquilite. We often 
 fee readers draw their degree of compa- 
 rative merit from the manner of their 
 favourite author; an author does the 
 fame ; that is, he draws it from himfelf. 
 Such a partial ftandard of tafte is erro- 
 neous ; but it is more excufeable in the 
 author, than in the reader. 
 
 This obfervation will ferve to explain 
 feveral curious phenomena in literature. 
 The witty Cowley defpifed the natural 
 Chaucer; the claflical Boilcau, the rough 
 fublimity of Crebillon ; the forcible Cor- 
 neille, the tender Racine ; the affedted 
 Marivaux, the familiar Moliere ; the ar- 
 tificial Gray, the fimple Shenftone. Each 
 alike judged by that peculiar manner 
 13 he
 
 he had long formed. In a free comer* 
 fation they might have contemned each 
 other; and a dunce, who had liftened 
 without tafte or underftanding, if he had 
 been a haberdafaer in anecdotes, would 
 have haftcned to repolit in his ware- 
 room of literary falfitics, a long decla- 
 mation on the vanity and envy of thefe 
 great men. g 
 
 But the charge of vanity has been 
 urged with great appearance of truth 
 againft authors, for the complacence they 
 experience in their works, and the high 
 admiration of theinfelves. An author is 
 pictured as a NarciJTus. 
 
 It has lohg been acknowledged that 
 every work of merit, the more it is ex- 
 amined, the greater the merit will ap- 
 pear. The moft mafterly touches, and 
 the referved graces, which form the 
 pride of the artift, are not obfervablc till 
 a familiar and conftant meditation. 
 
 What
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 What is mod refined is leaft obvious ; 
 and to fome muft remain unperceived 
 for ever. Churchill, in the opening of 
 his fecond book of Gotham, juftly ob- 
 ferves, that to form the beauties of 
 compofition, 
 
 " . few can do, and fcarcely one, 
 " One critic in an age can find when done." 
 
 But afcending from thefe (elaborate 
 ftrokes in composition, to the views and 
 defigns of an author, the more profound 
 and extenfive thefe are, the more they 
 elude the reader's apprehension. I re- 
 fine not too much when I fay, that the 
 author is confcious of beauties^ that are 
 not in his cdmpojition. The happieft wri- 
 ters are compelled to fee fome of their 
 moft magnificent ideas float along the 
 immenfity of mind, beyond the feeble 
 grafp of exprefllon. Compare the ftatc 
 of the author with that of the reader ; 
 how copious and overflowing is the mind 
 I 4 of
 
 ( 120 J 
 
 of the one tcl tnelother ; how more fen- 
 iibiy alive to.ii variety ofcxquifue .flrokcs 
 which the other has not yet perceived ; 
 ihc author is familiar. with every part, 
 and the reader has but a vague- notion oi" 
 the whole. How many noble conceptions 
 of Roufleau are not yet mattered.! How- 
 many profound -reflections of Montefquieu 
 are not yet undc 4 flood ! How many mo- 
 tile IciTons are yet in Lopkc, which no 
 preceptor can teach 1 
 
 Such, .among others, arc the reafons 
 which may induce an author to exprefs 
 himfelf in language which may found 
 like vanity. To be admired, is the noble 
 Simplicity of the ancients, (imitated by a 
 few elevated minds among the moderns) 
 in expreffing with ardour the confciouf- 
 nefs of genius. We arc not more dif- 
 . pleafed with Dryden than with Cicero, 
 when he acquaints us of the great things 
 he has done, and thofe he purpofes to 
 
 do.
 
 ( "I ) 
 
 <3d. Modern modefty might, perhaps, 
 to fome be more engaging, if it were 
 modelly ; but our artificial bluflies are 
 like the ladies' temporary rouge, ever 
 ready to colour the face on any occafiori. 
 Some will not place their names to their 
 books, yet prefix it to their advertifc- 
 meats ; others pretend to be the editors 
 .of their own works ; fome compliment 
 themfelves in the third perfo.1; and. 
 many, concealed under the (hade of ano- 
 nymous criticifm, form panegyrics, as 
 elaborate and long as Pliny's on Trajan, 
 of their works and themfelves ; yet in a 
 converfation, ftart at a compliment, and 
 quarrel at a quotation. Such modeft au- 
 thors referable certain ladies, who in 
 public are equally celebrated for the 
 coldelt chaftity. 
 
 Confcioufnefs of merit characlerifes 
 men of genius ; but it is to be lamented 
 that the illufions of felf-love, are not dif- 
 
 tinguiftiable
 
 ( '22 ) 
 
 tinguifhable from the realities of confci- 
 oufnefs.* Yet if \ve were to take from 
 fome their pride of exultation, we anni- 
 hilate the germ of their excellence. The 
 perfuafion of a juft posterity fmoothed 
 the fleeplefs pillow, and fpread a fun- 
 fhine in the folitude of Bacon, Montef- 
 quieu, and Newton j of Cervantes, Gray, 
 and Milton. Men of genius anticipate 
 their contemporaries, and know they are 
 fuch, long before the tardy content of 
 the public. 
 
 They have alfo been accufed of the 
 rneaneft adulations ; it is certain that 
 many have had the weaknefs to praife 
 
 unworthy 
 
 The following arc inftances. Epicurus wrote to 
 a Minifter of State, " if you defire glory, nothing can 
 *' beftow it fo much as the letters I write to you." 
 Seneca, in quot-ng thefe words, adds, " what Epi- 
 " curus promifed to his friend, that ray Lucilius I 
 " promife you." Thefe -.vere great men. But one 
 La Serre, a French writer of epiftlcs, when he addref- 
 fed them, ufed to fay, " I immortalife you, Sir, and 
 ' this merits at leaft j'our gratitude." How many Ln 
 Serres might we quote !
 
 ( '-3 ) 
 
 unworthy men, and fomc the courage to 
 erafe what they have written. A young 
 writer unknown, yet languiming for en- 
 couragement, when he firft finds the 
 notice of a perfon of fome eminence, has 
 exprefled himfelf in language which gra- 
 titude, a finer reafon than, reafon itfelf, 
 infpired. Strongly has Milton exprefled 
 the fenfations of this paflion, " the debt 
 " immenfe of endlefs gratitude." Who 
 ever pays an " immenfe debt" in fmall 
 Turns ? 
 
 Even extravagant applaufes may be 
 cxcufed. Every man of genius has left 
 fuch honourable traces of his private af- 
 feclions; from Locke, whofe dedication of 
 his immortal treatife is more adulative 
 than could be fuppo fed, from a temperate 
 philofopher, to Churchill, whofe eulo- 
 gies on his friends form fo beautiful a 
 contraft with the acerbity of his fatire. 
 As their fufceptibility is more ardent, 
 
 and
 
 and their penetration keener, than other 
 men, it is not improbable that they often 
 difcover traits in the characters of thofe 
 with whom they are familiar, unper- 
 ceived and unknown to the world. The 
 mod illuftrious of the ancients placed the 
 name of fome friend at the head of their 
 works ; we too often prefix the name of 
 fome patron ; but the moft graceful place 
 is, perhaps, in the mid ft of a work, 
 when a man of genius fhows that he is' 
 not lefs mindful of his focial affection 
 than his fame. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Of Literary Friend/hips and Enmities* 
 
 A , 
 
 jfjL DELIGHTFUL topic opens to our con- 
 templation. I enter the fcene, as Eneas 
 the green Elyfium, where he viewed the 
 once illuftrious inhabitants of the. earth 
 repofmg in focial felicity.- Among the 
 multitude, a Pythias and Damon are 
 rare ; for friend fhip appears too ferious 
 for the frivolous, and too romantic for 
 the bufy. The mutable pafiions of the 
 frivolous oblige them to forfake thofe 
 bofoms in which they have repofited 
 their extinct paffions ; and the varying 
 object of the varying hour requires a new 
 fet of afibciates. The bufy fuffer no in- 
 timacies to intrude on their private 
 views ; the myiterious magnet of friend- 
 fhip is attached only by invifible atoms 
 
 of
 
 of fympathy, but falls without cohefion, 
 on the folidity of gold. 
 
 It is honourable to Literature, that 
 among the virtues it infpires, is that of 
 ardent friendfhip, and it's hiftory pre- 
 fents no unfrequent inftances of it's fineft 
 enthufiafm. The delirium of love is 
 often too violent a paflion for the ftudent, 
 and it's caprices are ftill more incom- 
 patible with his purfuits than it's deli- 
 rium. But friendmip is not only delight- 
 ful, but neceflary to foothe a mind alter- 
 nately elated and deprefledj when infirm, 
 it ftrengthens, when dubious, it en- 
 lightens, when difcouraged, it animates. 
 
 That however it mould be rare in 
 literature, will excite no furprife. The 
 qualities necefTary to conftitute literary 
 friendmip, compared with thofe of men 
 of the world, muft render it's occasional 
 appearance a lingularity. Literary friend- 
 mip has no convivial gaieties or factious 
 
 aflemblies.
 
 aflemblies. Two atoms muft meet, out 
 of the vaft mafs of nature, of fo equal a 
 form that when they once adhere, they 
 ihall appear as one, and refift the utmoft 
 force of fcparation. Their ftudies muft 
 be fimilar, and yet fo far from becoming 
 rivals, each mult find reciprocal aflif- 
 tance ; when one of them is at length 
 found to excel, the other is to be the 
 protedor of his fame. Each muft live 
 for the other, decide with one judgment, 
 and feel with one tafte. In this inter- 
 courfe of minds, the private paflioas are 
 not to be gratified, but often to be cor- 
 rected, and an energetic pafiion for ftudy 
 muit alone be indulged. In their fami- 
 liar converfations, learning is commu- 
 nicated without ftudy, and wit without 
 art. What is given by one is improved 
 by the other ; fancy is. enriched by me- 
 mory : and to fuch converfations the 
 world is indebted for many of it's hap- 
 
 pieft
 
 picft productions. The grcatcil incon- 
 venience attending fuch a fricndihip, is 
 to furvive the friend; nor are there 
 wanting inftances in which this has not 
 been fuffered, and the violence of grief 
 has operated like a voluntary death. 
 
 The friendmips of meii of the world 
 are different both in their features and 
 their completions. There we find with 
 facility, .men of analogous difpolitions ; 
 but fuch intimacies terminate in com- 
 plaint and contempt. A feeble mind 
 acquires ftill more imbecillky with the 1 
 feeble ; a diflblute heart riots in guilt 
 with the diflblute ; and while we delpife 
 our companion, we in return have be- 
 come defpicable. 
 
 Among the moft pleafing effufions of 
 a man of genius, are thofe little pieces 
 which he confecrates to the caufe of 
 friendfhip ; and among his noblefl ac- 
 tions, are thofe fervid and fpontaneous 
 
 teftimonies
 
 ( "9 > 
 
 tcftimonies of affection, of which literary 
 hiftory affords many examples. I fhall 
 have no recourfe to the abundant in- 
 ftances which the ancients have left ; the 
 moderns may be inftrucled by the mo- 
 derns. To notice a few will be fufficient, 
 and not to notice them, would be re- 
 fufing the young reader no ordinary 
 gratification 1 . Such is the memorable 
 friendfhip of Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 that as they have fo clofely united their 
 labours that we know not the productions 
 of either ; it is with equal difficulty bio- 
 graphers compofe the memoirs of one, 
 without running into the life of the other. 
 They pourtrayed the fame characters, 
 while they mingled fentiment with fen- 
 timent, and their days were not more 
 clofely interwoven than their verfes. The 
 poem of Cowley, on the death of his 
 friend Harvey, is not, indeed, free from 
 fome of his remote conceits ; yet the fol- 
 K lowing
 
 lowing ftatrza prefents a pleafing pidure 
 of the employments of two young 
 ftudents. 
 
 " Say, for you faw us ye immortal lights, 
 
 " How oft unwearied have we fpent the nights ! 
 
 " Till the Ledsean ftars, fo famed for love, 
 *' Wond'red at us from above . 
 
 " We fpent them not in toys, in luft, or wine $ 
 " But fearch of deep philofophy, 
 " Wit, eloquence, and poetry, 
 " Arts which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine." 
 
 Milton has not only given the exquifite 
 Lycidas to the memory of a young 
 friend, but in his Epitaphium Damonis, 
 to that of Deodatus, has poured forth 
 fome interefting fentiments. It has been 
 verfified by Langhorne. Now, fays the 
 poet, 
 
 " To whom (hall I my hopes arid fears impart, 
 " Or truft the cares and follies of my heart." 
 
 The elegy of Tickel, malicioufly called 
 by Steele, " profe in rhime," is alike 
 infpired by affection and fancy ; it has a 
 
 melodious
 
 melodious languor, and a melancholy 
 grace. The fonnet of Gray, to the me-> 
 mory of Weft, is a beautiful effufion, and 
 a model for Englifh fonnets. Hclvetius 
 was the protector of men of genius, 
 whom he aflifted not only with his cri- 
 ticifm, but his fortune. At his death, 
 M. Surin read in the French academy, 
 an epiftle to the manes of his friend. 
 Saurin, wreftling with obfcurity and po- 
 verty, was drawn into literary exiftence 
 by the fupporting hand of Helvetius. 
 Our poet thus addrefles him in the warm 
 tones of gratitude. 
 
 " Cell toi qui me cherchant au fein de 1'infortune 
 
 " Relevas mon fort abattu, 
 " Et feus me rendre chere, une vie importune* 
 
 * * 
 
 " Quetimportent ces pleurs 
 
 " O douleur impuiflante ! O regrets fuperflus ! 
 
 " Je vis, helas ! Je vis, et mon ami rf eft plus !" 
 
 IMITATE D. 
 
 " Thy friend, in Mifery's haunts, thy bounties fieze, 
 " And give an urgent life, fome days of eafe j 
 " Ah ! ye vain griefs, fuperfluous tears I chide I 
 44 1 live, alas ! I live, and thou haft died 1"
 
 The literary friendlhip of a father with 
 his fon, is one of the moft rare alliances 
 in the republic of letters. We have had 
 a remarkable inftance in the two Richard- 
 fons ; and the father, in his fine original 
 and warm manner, has employed the 
 mod glowing language to exprefs his 
 fentiments on this affection. He fays, 
 " rny time of learning was employed in 
 "bufmefs; but after all I have the 
 " Greek and Latin tongues, becaufe a 
 " part of me poffeires them, to whom I 
 " can recur at pleafure, juft as I have a 
 " hand when I would write or paint, feet 
 " to walk, and eyes to fee. My fon is my 
 " learning, as I am that to him which he 
 " has not ; we make one man, and fuch 
 " a compound man may probably pro- 
 " duce what no lingle man can." And 
 further, " I always think it my peculiar 
 " happinefc to be as it were enlarged, ex- 
 " panded, made another man by the 
 
 " acquifition
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 " acquifition of my Ton, and he thinks 
 " in the fame manner concerning my 
 " union with him." All this is as cu- 
 rious as it is uncommon. 
 
 But it muft not be fuppofed that men 
 of genius have remained fatisfied with 
 only giving a few verfes to the duties of 
 friendihip. The elevation of their minds 
 has raifed them into domeflic heroes, 
 whofe actions are often only recorded in 
 the unpublilhed regifter of private life. 
 Some for their friend have died, pene- 
 trated with inconfolable grief; fome 
 have facrificed their character to his own; 
 fome have fhared their limited fortune ; 
 and fome have remained attached to 
 their friend in the worft feafon of ad- 
 verfity. In the note underneath I adduce 
 my proofs of what is fo honourable to 
 
 literature.* 
 
 K 3 I 
 
 * Jurieu denounced Bayle as an impious writer, and 
 drew his teftiraonies from the " Avis aux Refugies." 
 
 This
 
 ( '34 ) 
 
 I (hall be concife on the fubjccft of their 
 enmities ; for what could even ingenuity- 
 urge 
 
 This work is written againft Calvinifts, and therefore 
 becomes impious in Holland. Bayle might have ex- 
 culpated himfelf with facility, by declaring the work 
 was compofed by La Roque ; bat he preferred to be 
 perfecuted, rather than to ruin his friend ; he there- 
 fore was filent, and condemned. When the minifler 
 Fouquet was abandoned by all, it was the men of let- 
 ters he had patronifed, who never forfook his prifon ; 
 and many have dedicated their works to great men in 
 their adverfity, whom they fcorned to notice, at the 
 time when they were noticed by all. The learned 
 Goguet bequeathed his MSS. and library to his friend 
 Fugere, with whom he had united his affections and 
 his ftudies. His work on the Origin of the Arts and 
 Sciences, had been much indebted to his aid. In vain 
 was the legacy bequeathed j Goguet died of a flow and 
 painful diforder 5 Fugere, who knew him to be paft 
 recovery, preferved a mute defpair, retired home, and 
 the victim of fenfibility and friendship died, a few 
 weeks after his friend. The Abbe de Saint Pierre 
 gave an interefting proof of literary friendlhip. When 
 he was at College, he formed a union with Varignon, 
 the geometrician. They were of congenial difpofi- 
 tions ; when he went to Paris, he invited Varignon to 
 accompany him ; but Varignon had nothing, and the 
 Abbe was far from rich. A certain income was ne- 
 ceflary for the tranquil purfuits of geometry. Our 
 Abbe had an income of 1800 Hvres ; from this he de- 
 dueled 300, which he gave to the geometrician, but 
 
 accompanied
 
 ( '35 ) 
 
 urge to diftinguifh literary calumny 
 from any other kind ? The reflection 
 mould humiliate men of genius, that 
 when they condefcend to afperfe with 
 rage and malignity, another artift, they 
 are only doing what the word part of fo- 
 ciety can perform^ as well as themfelves. 
 K 4 But 
 
 accompanied by a delicacy which none but a man of 
 genius could conceive. I do not give it you (he faid) 
 as a falary, but an annuity, that you may be inde- 
 pendent, and quit, when you diftike me. Something 
 nearly fimilar embellilhes our own fcanty literary hif- 
 tory. When Akenfide was in great danger of 
 experiencing famine as well as fame, Mr. Dyfon al- 
 lowed him three hundred pounds a year. Of this 
 gentleman, perhaps, nothing is known j yet whatever 
 his life may be, it merits the tribute of the biographer i 
 this fmgle aftion will call a luftre round the meaneft 
 objects. The race of the Dyfons are, no doubt, long 
 extinct ; it would be rafli for another Akenfide to 
 look round for another Dyfon. To clofe with thefe 
 honourable teftimonies of literary friend/hip, we muft 
 not omit that of Churchill and Lloyd. It is known 
 that when Lloyd heard of the death of our poet, he 
 acted the port which Fugere did to Goguet. I con- 
 clude by remarking that the page is crouded, but my 
 memory is by no means exhaufted.
 
 But reafon trembles when wit is 
 united with malice, and malice with wan- 
 tonnefs. Churchill fays, 
 
 c < When Reafon's for me, God is for me too/' 
 
 But how rarely are fatirifts conducted by 
 reafon ! Our laws offer no protection from 
 a bitter epigram, and an artful fatire. 
 Irony is not denominated by an attorney 
 a libel ; by an honeft man it may be felt 
 as fomething much worfe. Fortune has 
 been loft, reputation deftroycd, and every 
 charity of life been extinguifhed by witty 
 malice. To debafe a man in the circle 
 of his acquaintance, if unfortunately his 
 fenfibility is exquifite, has not infre- 
 quently been committing a lefs crime 
 than murder. The Abbe Calfagne felt 
 Ib acutely the cauftic verfe of Boileau, 
 that, in the prime of life, he became 
 melancholy, and died infane. A modern 
 painter fell the victim of the criticifm 
 
 and
 
 ( 137 ) 
 
 and the wit of a fatirift, who (hall be 
 namelcfs on this occafion. Dr. Johnfon 
 related of Cummyns,a celebrated quaker, 
 that he confetfed he died of an anony- 
 mous letter in a public paper, which 
 faid, he " fattened on my heart, and 
 " threw me into this flow fever." Some, 
 like Racine, have died of a fimple re- 
 buke ; and fome by an epigram as well 
 as a fatire. 
 
 CHAR
 
 <Ibe Characters of Writers not difcoverable 
 in their Writings. 
 
 JLT has long been a cherilhed notion 
 among men of tafte, that the difpofitions 
 of an artift appear in his works ; and the 
 fublime Angelo, and the graceful Ra- 
 phael, are produced as fplendid inftances, 
 It has alfo been a very ancient opinion, 
 that the character of an author is dif- 
 coverable in his writings. The echo from 
 biographers has been conftant, and often 
 they pourtray the man, by the mirror of 
 his works.* The anecdote which Dr. 
 
 Johnfon 
 
 * Ruffhead, in his dull book on Pope, fays, (p. 8.) 
 " To an accurate obferver, the temper and morals of 
 " a writer breathe throughout his works/' What has 
 been the confequence of this falfe and popular opi- 
 nion ? He has written a great deal about Pope and 
 Poetry, and, as Johnfon faid, he knew as little of one 
 as the other.
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 johnfon has given of Thomfon, has 
 fervcd at leaft to fufpect it's fallibility. 
 The fubject, however, demands invefti- 
 gation, and perhaps may be finally ter- 
 minated by the facis I now adduce. 
 
 We enquire whether he is a moral 
 man who compofes moral eflays ; incon- 
 tinent, who writes lafcivious poems ; 
 malignant, who publifhes bitter fatires ; 
 and favage, whofe imagination delights 
 in terror and in blood. 
 
 It is one characleriftic of genius to fay 
 things for their ingenuity, and to difplay 
 thc felicity of fancy, than from any utility 
 which may be drawn from them. Of 
 many obfcene poets, the greater part 
 have led chafte lives ; and this topic has 
 engaged the acute examination of Bayle. 
 La Mothe le Vaier wrote two works of a 
 free nature ; yet his life was the unble- 
 mifhed life of a retired fage. Of many of 
 the ancient poets, it appears that the li- 
 
 centioufnefs
 
 ( 1 40 ) 
 
 centioufnefs of their verfe, was by no 
 means communicated to their manners. 
 Their page was lafcivious, and their life 
 pure, for the fancy may be debauched, 
 and the heart auftere. 
 
 The licentious tales of La Fontaine 
 are well known, but not a (ingle amour 
 has been recorded of the <f bon homme." 
 Bayle is a remarkable inftancc ; no writer 
 is more ample in his detail of impurity, 
 but he reiifted the pollution of the fenfcs 
 as much as Newton. He painted his 
 fcenes of lewdnefs merely as a faithful 
 hiftorian, and an exact, compiler. Smol- 
 let's character is immaculate, yet what a 
 defcription has he given of one of his 
 heroes with Lord Straddle. I cannot 
 but obferve on fuch fcenes, that their 
 delineation anfwers no good purpose. 
 Modefty cannot read, and is rnorality 
 interefted ? He ailumed the character 
 of Petronius Arbiter ; we applaud and 
 
 we
 
 we cenfure this mere playfulnefs of fancy. 
 It is certain, however, by thefe inftances, 
 that licentious writers may be very 
 chafte men. 
 
 We now turn to thofe works which, by 
 their caft, promife that the authors were 
 pious and moral men. Two celebrated 
 ancients rnuft not be patted over in this 
 enumeration, Seneca and Salluft. The 
 firft is an admirable ftoic, elaborate in 
 his delineation of the moral duties ; but 
 his elTays on the advantages of poverty, 
 were written on a table of gold, and his 
 admonitions of fupporting. pab, on vo- 
 luptuous fophas, and in fragrant baths. 
 This moral declaimer ruined my county, 
 EfTex, by the moft exorbitant ufuries, 
 and inculcated the comforts of poverty 
 with a fortune of feveamillions. Salluft 
 elegantly declaims againft the licentious 
 manners of his age, but we happen to 
 know that he was repeatedly accufed in 
 
 the
 
 ( '42 ) 
 
 the fenatc for public and habitual de- 
 baucheries. He inveighs againft the 
 fpoilers of countries, yet, when he at- 
 tained to a remote government, he be- 
 came a Verre's. Lucian, in his early 
 productions, declaims agaiuft the friend - 
 fhips of the great, as another name for 
 fervitude ; when his talents made him 
 known, he accepted a place under the 
 Emperor. He has attempted to apolo- 
 gize for his conduct, by comparing him- 
 felf to thofe quacks, who, indifpofed 
 with a fevere cough, fell infallible reme- 
 dies for it's cure. At the moment the 
 poet RoufTeau was giving verfions of the 
 pfalms, he was occupied on the moft in- 
 famous epigrams. A living painter, 
 
 whofe pictures only.reprefent acts of be- 
 
 i&jVT 
 nevolence and drdksp, is as little generous 
 
 as he is chafte. 
 
 We have been told that the fenfibility 
 of Sterne was more that of the author 
 
 than
 
 ( H3 ) 
 
 than the man ; perhaps thofe who gave 
 the information were incompetent jud- 
 ges ; but I do not find this any more 
 difficult to credit, than a circumftance 
 which happened to Klopftock. This 
 votary of Zion's mufe aftonifhed and 
 warmed the fage Bodmer, who fuppofing 
 him a poet of an advanced age, and an 
 enthufiaft for retirement, invited him to 
 his refidence; but when the epic poet 
 arrived, he was found no proper aflbciate 
 for the grave profeflbr ; he had all the 
 levity and volatility of youth. So very 
 erroneous is the conception often of the 
 form and manners of a diltant author. 
 
 Johnfon would not believe that Horace 
 was a happy man, becaufe his verfes 
 were chearful ; no more than he could 
 think Pope was fo, becaufe he is con- 
 tinually informing us of it. He obferved 
 that Dr. Young, who pined for prefer- 
 ment, contemns it in his writings. It 
 
 is
 
 is fingular that the fondbrous author of 
 the night thoughts, was the firft to 
 propofc a fdbicriptioHi foe the balls a: 
 WeilwyBL* Young was* as cheatfbl in 
 converfauerr as he was gloomy in his 
 compoittioBs, and when a lady esprefled 
 her furprifc at his focial corrverfe, he 
 replied, " there is rmich difference be- 
 <{ tween writing and talking." Are we 
 to credit the good fortune with which 
 fome poets fo often felicitate themfelves, 
 any more than their defpondence and 
 menaces ? Thomfon paints the fcenes of 
 domeftic love with all the fplendid de- 
 corations of fancy, but knew nothing of 
 it's reality but a caftral and gro& in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 Inconftant 
 
 * This anecdote is from Mr. Pye's commentary on 
 the poetic of Ariltotle . This work has great claims on 
 the attention of the critical reader. It is net as it's 
 title would feem to import, an arid pedantic and me. 
 TaphyficaidifeHfTionj btrt efcgaitt, amiriing-, and ofcfol 
 critkifm.
 
 ( '45 ) 
 
 Inconftant men will write on conftancy, 
 and licentious minds will elevate them- 
 felves into poetry and religion. Moral 
 men will venture to write what they 
 would not act, while others of inferior 
 honefty will act what they will not ven- 
 ture to write. 
 
 To prove that the writings of an au- 
 thor give no indication of his perfonal 
 character, we have inftances fo multifa- 
 rious, that to bring them forward might 
 weary the mod patient curiofity. I con- 
 fult my intereft, by reprefling the defirc 
 of difplaying my detections. 
 
 It is necefiary, however, to adduce 
 a few, that the reader may not flatter 
 himfelf that he has difcovered the dif- 
 pofitions of an author, either by his ftyle, 
 his mode of thinking, or any other lite- 
 rary appearance he may aflume. Balzac 
 and Voiture are fo well known, that I 
 prefer them to fhew the illufions of ftyle. 
 L The
 
 ( '46 ) 
 
 The letters of the firft are pompous and 
 inflated ; but his converfation was light 
 and agreeable. Voicure, who affe&ed 
 gaiety and gracefulnefs in his compo- 
 fitions, was in his domeftic language, 
 harfli and ftiff, for having frequented the 
 nobility, he ever aflumed the Seigneur.* 
 Writers of great genius have felt them- 
 felves in awkward fituations, when the 
 extraordinary fentiments they make 
 their dramatis pcrfonae utter, are malici- 
 oufly applied to their own character. An 
 enemy of Shakeipeare, might have re- 
 proached him with his forcible deline- 
 ation of the villain lago. Crebillon, 
 indeed, complains in the preface to one 
 of his tragedies, of fomething limilar. 
 v He fays, " they charge me with all the 
 
 " iniquities 
 
 * The comedies of M. de St. Foix are light, agree- 
 able, and delkate ; his own chara&er was remarkable 
 for morofenefs, rudenefs, and infociability. Moliere, 
 fo gay and fpirited in his comedy, was grave and pen- 
 five in fociety.
 
 ( H7 ) 
 
 " iniquities of Atreus ; and they regard 
 " me, U fome places, as a wretch with 
 ." whom it is unfit to aflbciate ; as if all 
 " which the mind invents, muft be de- 
 " rived from the heart." Our poet is, 
 indeed, a finking' inftance of the little 
 alliance .between the literary and perfonal 
 difpofmons of an author. Jn his Atreus, 
 the father drinks the blood of his foil ; 
 in Rhadamiftus, the fon expires by the 
 hand of the father ; and in his Eleclra, 
 the fon affufiinates his mother ; yet was 
 Crebillon the gentled and nioft amiable 
 -of men, and who exulted on his entrance 
 into the French academy, that he had 
 never tinged his pen with the gall of 
 fatire. The impiety of Satan, might 
 equally be attributed to the poet ; and 
 Dr. Moore might be fuppofed the woril 
 of .men, by his forcible delineation of 
 Zeluco. A poet is a painter of the foul; 
 if he feizes it's deformities, he is a great 
 artift, but not therefore a bad man.
 
 I fpare the reader a number of in- 
 ftances that croud on the memory, and 
 fhall give only a few reflections which 
 offer themfelves. One may difplay with 
 artful elegance, the moral brilliancy of 
 the mind, and with flrokes of fentiment, 
 intereft the heart by an animated elo- 
 quence. But this may proceed from a 
 felicity of manner, and a flexible, verfa- 
 tile, and happy genius. The writer's 
 heart may be as little penetrated by the 
 charms and virtues he defcribes, as the 
 tragic poet would be incapable of com- 
 mitting the afiaflinations and maiTacres 
 he commands in a verfe, or details in a 
 fcene. 
 
 Montagne appears to have been fen- 
 fible of this fact in the literary character. 
 Of authors, he fays, that he likes to read 
 their little anecdotes and private paffions, 
 and adds, " Car j'ai une linguliere cu- 
 " riofite de connoitrc Tame et les naifs 
 
 " jugemens
 
 ( *49 ) 
 
 " jugcmens de mes autcurs. II faut bien 
 " juger leur fuffifance, mais non pas leurs 
 " mocurs, ni eux, par cctte montre de 
 " leurs ecrits qu'ils etalent au theatre du 
 " monde.* This is very juft ; and I am 
 not yet perfuaded that the fimplicity of 
 this old and admirable favourite of Eu- 
 rope might not have been a theatrical 
 gefture, as much as the fenfibility of 
 Sterne. 
 
 1 conclude by obfcrving, that if we 
 coniider that he who paints vice with 
 energy is therefore vicious, we may in- 
 juie an honeft man ; and if we imagine 
 that he who celebrates virtue is therefore 
 virtuous, we may happen to deceive our- 
 felves in repoiing on a polluted heart. 
 
 L 3 CHAP. 
 
 * " For I have a fmgular curiofityto know the foul, 
 inid fimple opinions ot" my authors. We muft judge 
 of their ability, but not of their manners, nor them- 
 ielves, by that (hew of their writings which they dif- 
 play on the theatre of the world.'
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Of fome private Advantages which induce 
 Men of Letters to become Authors. 
 
 OOME private intereft enters into his 
 view who afTumes the profeffion of an 
 author. Such a motive fortunately ex- 
 ifts j for no reafbning man would volun- 
 tarily place himfelf in a lituation, fraught 
 with burning anxieties, and with lick- 
 ening difgufts ; with hope mingling with 
 defpondence; with felicity fo variable, 
 that the utmoft happinefs of an author is 
 as tranfient and rare, as thofe fine Italian 
 fkies we fometimes fee in our unfettled 
 climate. 
 
 Many are the motives which induce 
 to become authors ; their motives, like 
 their misfortunes, are peculiar to them- 
 felves ; but the utility they produce ap- 
 pertains to the public. 
 
 Some
 
 ( '5' ) 
 
 Some enter the perilous and brilliant 
 career of letters, as the only means of 
 diftinguilhing their abilities,and meriting 
 public efteem. To. any other purfuit, 
 their fituation, or their difpofitions, may 
 be incompatible. The refllefs activity 
 of genius torments their repofe ; and 
 they feel like a young Columbus, con- 
 fined to a petty port. Thefe are men to 
 whom glory becomes a kind of aliment, 
 deprived of which, their pafiions, like a 
 concealed fire, would fecretly confume 
 the frail machine of humanity. For 
 fuch, it is as impoffible to remain filenr, 
 as it is for fome to be eloquent. They 
 give a voice to their feelings in their 
 works. 
 
 Others become authors, as the only 
 relief they find from the tedium of life. 
 Helvetius has maintained the iingular 
 paradox, that Ewuti produced many oi 
 our fuperior writers. Several authors have 
 L 4 invented
 
 ( 152 ) 
 
 invented their works, as fo many fchemes 
 to efcape from the preffure of life. 
 It was an affertion drawn, perhaps, from 
 his own feelings. A financier, luxuria- 
 ting in fplendid opulence, courted by 
 each fedudive form of voluptuoufnefs, 
 already acknowledged as an elegant wri- 
 ter and a liberal Mecenas, could only 
 have been induced by this motive to 
 encounter the clofe meditation, the la- 
 borious arrangement, and the elaborate 
 elegance of a work whieh he refolved 
 fhould be pofthumous. It is to Ennui 
 we owe that numerous race of opulent 
 fcribblers, who after reiterated ill fuc- 
 cefs, ftill pour their plenteous volumes 
 on a wearied and incurious public. Ma- 
 rolles perlifted to the laft in his uninter- 
 rupted amufement of printing books, 
 and his readers having long ceafed, he 
 was compelled to prefent them to his 
 friends, who, however, were not his 
 
 readers.
 
 readers. There are many writers who 
 pafs their days in amazing labours, and 
 are veterans without being known as vo- 
 lunteers. Of fome, a private prefs is 
 the literary horizon; competition pre- 
 ferves their mind from what a French 
 writer pleafantly calls " the horrors of 
 " digeftion." It is well if they would 
 only take their phyfic in private. Thefe 
 are the Shakefpeares whofe plays have 
 been refufed, and the Addifons whole 
 fpectators have never been read. 
 
 Others follow the avocations of an au- 
 thor as a means of fubfifting on the 
 produce of virtuous talents ; their mo- 
 derate and precarious exiftence is more 
 honourable than a ducal revenue, and 
 more precious than a contractor's loan. 
 When we know that fuch a writer has 
 never violated the dignity of human na- 
 ture, but has rigidly reverenced virtue, 
 and an elevation of foul lias taught him 
 
 tp
 
 ( '54 ) 
 
 to repel the infulting familiarity of the 
 great, his works receive a new and ac- 
 cidental value. We purfue our medi- 
 tations with confidence, and we dwell oh 
 thofe fervid ftrokes which are the natural 
 cxpreflions of a great genius, wreftling 
 with a heavy and opprcfTwe fortune. 
 
 Literature is, indeed, the only refuge 
 for genius, placed in obfcure fituations, 
 It is an avenue to glory, open for thofc 
 ingenious men, who, deprived of ho- 
 nours or of wealth, may by their medi- 
 tations, fometimes obtain both ; or if 
 they do not obtain either, may be ren- 
 dered fuperior to them. To many young 
 writers the idea may be confolatory and 
 animating, that the greater part of our 
 firft authors have ennobled themfelves, 
 and owed nothing to their parents. The 
 great Grecian orator, was the fon of a 
 fmith > the prince of Latin poets, of a 
 potter ; the fineft fatirift and ode writer 
 
 of
 
 ( '55 ) 
 
 of antiquity, of a franchifed man ; the 
 brilliant Flechier, of a tallow chandler ; 
 the eloquent Maffillon, of a tanner ; and 
 the philofophers Roufleau and Diderot, 
 of a watch-maker and a cutler ; in Eng- 
 land, the moft nervous of moral eflayifts, 
 was the fon of one who kept a book ftall ; 
 the author of the Pleafures of Imagina- 
 
 O 
 
 tion, was the fon of a butcher; and the 
 greater author of the American Revolu- 
 tion, of a tallow chandler. 
 
 Genius has the prerogative of railing 
 the inferior ranks of men to the higher 
 clafTes of fociety. This once obtained, 
 the age is juft ; and the higher claffes 
 become inferior. 
 
 We mud not pafs over in filence, ad- 
 vantages better known, attending the 
 occupations of literary men. Thofe de- 
 rived from ftudious habits, would be fuf- 
 ficient to attach the elegant mind to 
 literature, if reafon had much power 
 
 over
 
 ( '$6 ) 
 
 over the pailions ; the attraction is irre- 
 fiftiblc, when reafon itfelf becomes a 
 paffion. 
 
 The pieafurcs of literature have long 
 been a favourite amplification of elo- 
 quence ; and I quote not the admirable 
 reflections or of Cicero, or of Pliny, fa- 
 miliar to every man of tafte. He who 
 confecrates himfelf to letters, efcapes 
 from the reftlefs defircs of the multitude. 
 The mephitic air of vulgar paflions can- 
 not reach him ; as, we are informed of 
 the pernicious vapour of the lake of the 
 dogs in Italy, that if a perfon does not 
 bend downwards, it cannot affect him. 
 Is he opulent ? he has fufficient firmnefs 
 to remain enamoured of literary labour. 
 Is he poor ? he has fufficient intrepidity 
 to become illuftrious. The firft effect of 
 a love of letters communicates virtue and 
 independence ; for he has filenced many 
 
 private
 
 ( 157 ) 
 
 private paffions, and inhabits the inte- 
 rior, not the fuperficics of his foul. 
 
 It is a curious obfervation of one 
 Martinelli, an Italian, \vho, to prove 
 that Study foftens the manners, fays, that 
 rarely men of letters arc afTafTms in Italy, 
 duellifts in France, or filicides in Eng- 
 land. It is true we want not the opinion 
 of Martinelli, becaufe it has been ele- 
 gantly faid by Horace, repeated by the 
 thinking Hume, and is to be found 
 in every book of rhetoric, in the firft 
 chapter. 
 
 Literature is the only confolation in 
 thofe terrible affli(5lions, when we are re- 
 duced by the privation of a fcnfc, to take 
 our lad refuge under the domeltic roof. 
 Blindnefs itfelf is no impediment to ge- 
 nius; fatal to all, it is an advantage to 
 an active imagination. It's powers collect 
 more forcibly and burn more intenfely. 
 It is poflible to form a catalogue of men 
 
 of
 
 of learning who have projected and 
 finimed confiderable works in this litu- 
 ation. Often, too, has the gate of the 
 prifon been the porch of fame, and a 
 flight indifpolition conferred immorta- 
 lity. A man of letters can never be faid 
 to be exiled or imprifoned. 
 
 It is even to be fuppofed, againft the 
 popular opinion, that ftudy is friendly to 
 the conftitution. A life of letters isolm 
 and uniform, and cherifhes the mild af- 
 fections. An author, if he feels not too 
 fenfibly an occafional difappointment, 
 and can forgive the malice of an enemy, 
 finds his ftudies produce a happy influ- 
 ence over his health. Hourly acquifi- 
 tions bring new delights, and thought 
 from thought is purfued with tranquil- 
 lity; and delight and tranquillity are 
 medicines to the foul, and promoters of 
 health. Every production of tafte re- 
 fpires a foftening balm, which fwectens 
 
 that
 
 ( '59 ) 
 
 that continuity of attention only expe- 
 rienced by men of fludy. If an arwtomift 
 could defcribc accurately the lenfations 
 of a man of tafte, and explain this pla- 
 cable and harmonious play of the nerves, 
 no Hate of exigence might, perhaps, be 
 found more friendly to the human frame. 
 Every one in the habits of ftudy has per- 
 ceived the influence of the mind over the 
 body ; and Addifon has noticed the 
 pleafures of the imagination as conducive 
 to health.* XThe greater number of emi- 
 nent writers have attainednto an advanced 
 age. In an effay by Dr. Ru(h worth, a 
 number of ages of great ftudents are col- 
 lected, and his opinion is confirmed by 
 fufficient teftimonies. Bayle ftill pro- 
 ceeds 
 
 * On this fubject tire following anecdote is curious. 
 Alphonfo of Arragon, was a prince paflionately en-. 
 amoured of literature. When he lay much indilpofed, 
 and could find no relief from his phyficians, his cour- 
 tiers brought whatever pvefents they' imagined might 
 
 amufe
 
 ( 1 60 ) 
 
 ceeds further, by faying, that ftudy is 
 not hurtful to the conftitution even in 
 early youth. Shenftone has, however, 
 echoed in one of his elegies, the vulgar 
 opinion, 
 
 " But foon the paths of health and and fame divide." 
 
 If by the path of fame, our amiable wri- 
 ter meant itudy, his ill health was never 
 occnfioned by profound learning. 
 
 Some, perhaps, will not deem as one 
 of the inferior advantages of an author, 
 that of his adcmflion among the higher 
 circles. If in the prefent age, no writer 
 
 can 
 
 amufe him j Panormita judged proper to prefent him 
 with books, among which was a Quintus Curtius, 
 which appears to have had a wonderful effect over the 
 ftudious Alphonfo. He heard with fuch delight, the 
 Hiftory of Alexander the Great, that after the firft 
 day he felt himfelf relieved, and before the conclufion 
 of the work, aftonifhed his phyficians, by a perfect 
 recovery. He ever afterwards contemned the doctors 
 and their Hippocrates and Avicenna, and faid he re- 
 quired no other medicine while he poflefled Quintus 
 Curtius. Valeant Hippocrates, A<vicena> et Medici 
 c fieri, Vivai Curtius fofpitator me us.
 
 can reafonably hope that his ftudies will 
 open the golden gate of preferment, or 
 of fortune, he may at leaft, when he at- 
 tains to eminence, be certain of receiving 
 the tribute which opulent vanity pays to 
 his talents. But an author is little in- 
 debted to fuch notice ; the attentions of 
 a brilliant circle arc ill-timed ; it is, per- 
 haps, twenty years too late. It is alfo 
 to be obfcrvcd, that few men of tafte ean 
 aceuftom thamfclves to the refinements 
 pf opulent grandeur, without creating 
 artificial v.unts, which they can never 
 gratify; and their future -Ufa may feel 
 the irritation of pleafures not to be pur- 
 chafed, and elegance not to be found. 
 To fuch may often bs applied the ex- 
 clamation flf Milton's Adam, whan obli- 
 ged to exile himfelf from 
 
 e- How fhall I breathe in other air 
 Leu pure, accuftomed to i 
 
 The fociety of the great is little 
 
 M ing;
 
 ing ; for it requires a painful vigilance to 
 preferve dignity with .fuch aflbciates. 
 D'Alembert has written an admired eflay 
 on the connection between literary men, 
 and thefe men. A man of letters who 
 had the misfortune of living with a lord, 
 finely faid of him, "he would familiarife 
 c< himfelf with me ; but I repel him re- 
 " fpexflfully." An anecdote related of 
 Piron is not lefs interefting. This man 
 of, genius had formed the moft elevated 
 notion of the dignity of a man -of letters ? 
 nor would fuffer the literary character to 
 be lowered in his prefence. Entering the 
 apartment of a nobleman, who was con- 
 ducting; another peer to the flairs, the 
 noble flopped to make way for Piron, 
 pafs on, my lord, faid the noble matter* . 
 pafs, he is only a poet. Piron replied, 
 " fmce our qualities are declared, I mail 
 "take my rank," and he placed himfelf 
 before the lord. 
 
 If
 
 If the voice of an individual can weigh 
 with an author, it is when it fpeaks in a 
 foreign accent. The enquiry of an in- 
 telligent foreigner founds like the diftant 
 plaudit of pofterity. Fontenelle was never 
 more gratified than when a Swede, ar- 
 riving at the gates of Paris, enquired of 
 the officers of the cuftoms where Fon- 
 tenelle refided, and exprefTed his indig- 
 nation that none of thenv fhould have 
 ever heard of his name. 
 
 There are fome hours in the' life of a 
 man of genius, which, it may be fup- 
 pofed, communicate an exquifite fenfa- 
 tion to his feelings. It is when he 
 perceives the world fpontaneoufly pay 
 their tribute of refped to his abilities. 
 It is faid of Corneille, that he had his 
 particular feat in the theatre, and that 
 when he entered, the audience rofe to 
 falute him. We know what excefs of 
 honours was paid (the exprefiion will be' 
 M 2 pardoned
 
 ( 1 64 ) 
 
 pardoned by men of ufte) to the rnatch- 
 lefs Voltaire. Spinofa, while he gained 
 a humble livelihood by grinding glaffes 
 at an obfcure village in Holland, was 
 vifited by the firft general in Europe, 
 who, for this conference, fufpended the 
 march of his army, and traverfed a dif- 
 tant province. Roufleau attracted a croud 
 as he paused the ftreets ; and the people 
 followed him with tears of affection, as 
 the apoftles of genius and humanity. 
 Lavater, receives daily the tribute of pof- 
 terity in the perfonal admiration of every 
 traveller of fallibility and tafte. Such 
 are the voluntary honours of the human 
 heart ; honours which no monarch can 
 receive, unlefs he is that fingular mo- 
 narch^r-a man of letters on the throne. 
 
 I obferve that this chapter on the ad- 
 vantages of men pf genius, is fhort, and 
 that it was with much trouble 1 could 
 even give it this amplification. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ( 165 ) 
 CHAP. XIH. 
 
 Of tbe Utility of Authors to Individuals. 
 
 VV E have reafon to believe, that 
 wherever authors are virtubus and free, 
 their nation partakes moft of virtue and 
 of freedom ; as on the contrary, where 
 they are diffolute and enflaved, their 
 nation havt as little morals as liberty. 
 We want a dhTertation on the influence 
 of manners on tafte, and of tafte oft 
 manners. Sir Jofhua Reynolds, in one 
 of his difcourfes, obferves, that " in the 
 " ornaments of the arts we find the cha- 
 " rad:eriftical mark of a national tafte, 
 " as by throwing up a feather, we know 
 " which way the wind blows, better than 
 " by a more heavy matter." 
 
 The morals of a nation are oftener di~ 
 
 reded by authors, than by thofe modern 
 
 apoflles who poflefs vaft incomes, and 
 
 M 3 ftolen
 
 ( 1 66 ) 
 
 ftolen fermons. Authors are the preach- 
 ers of morality, and the arbiters of man- 
 ners. They perform the office of the 
 Cenfor Morum ; and if they do not al- 
 ways live like the Catos of their age, 
 their works may effect, the fame benefi- 
 cial influence ; for, like the language of 
 Cato, they are fo many reprimands for 
 folly, and remonftrances for vice. 
 
 An author fometimes appears, who 
 
 <nves a new direction to the national cha- 
 t> 
 
 rafter. In mechanics, no impulfion, 
 from a fingle hand, can communicate to 
 a body the force of eternal movement. 
 In morals it is different ; for there an in- 
 dividual power can for ever- endow with 
 action the TRUTH it impels. Thefe are 
 the few authors who form revolutions, 
 not, perhaps, in the fublime fciences, 
 which are referved for the contemplation 
 of a few, but in that happier knowledge 
 which is of daily ufe, and addrefled to 
 
 thofe
 
 thofe who moft want inftruction. Thefe 
 authors are not a Newton and a Locke ; 
 but an Addifon and a Fontenelle. Thefe 
 two eminent writers fhall illuftrate this 
 ' reflection. The Spectators introduced 
 literature and morals in the nation; the 
 young, the gay, and the fair, who flew 
 from- the terrific form of a folio, were at- 
 tracted by the light graces of a fugitive 
 page. Since that happy moment the dif- 
 fufion of tafte, and the curioiity of know- 
 - ledge, have produced readers who are 
 now enabled to difcern the fhades of ele- 
 gance ; to appreciate compofitions of 
 genius j and to adjuft the merits of in- 
 genious competitors by the fcale of phi- 
 lofophical tafte. We have become a 
 reading, and of courfe a critical nation. 
 A refined writer is now certain of finding 
 readers who can comprehend him. Of 
 all our great men, whatever department 
 they have illuftrated, who has left to the 
 M 4 nation
 
 nation a more valuable inheritance thafi 
 Addifon ? Thoufandk hear the name of 
 Marlbordiigh, but the battle of Blenheiifl 
 leaves no impreffion. The name of Ad- 
 flifon excites affection- and his Spectators 
 remind the modeft reader tvhere hb firft 
 gained inftruftion, and th gre"dt ti'Hter 
 where he firft felt the ihfiuehee f 
 and where he ftill learns trie art of 
 pofltion. 
 
 Foritehelle operated trit farnfc kirid df 
 revolution in Frarice. Bdfor^ his bril- 
 liant wit and exact fcience \Ve're Uftite'd 
 learning was the folitary enjbjrrieht of 
 the learned. Aftronom/ and erdditiort 
 were referved for the aftronomer and the 
 erudit. Each fpoke his own language 
 Foritehelle was their interpreter. He 
 explained vaft totalities by gradual d^- 
 diidions, and fublirhe conceptions, by 
 familiar ideas. The lady at her toilette 
 defcribed the motions of a heavenly body, 
 
 while
 
 ( '69 ) 
 
 while (he was r^guladtig her own , and 
 the beau rribHdt had a finer penetration 
 into the nature of oracles, than the 
 pedant Van Dale, who had written fo co- 
 pioufly, and whorft no one could itfad. 
 
 Thelb arc the valued authors who de-s- 
 light and fooihe their fellrj \v-citizehs ; 
 the benefactors of eVery man. A mind 
 happily dirpofed imbibes their felicity of 
 charader. We read, among the Perfian 
 fiiblesof Sadi, of a fwimmer, who, hav- 
 ing found a piece of common earth, was 
 aftonimed at it's fragrance, ami enquired 
 if it were muik or Amber ? " No," re- 
 plied the perfumed mould, " I am no- 
 " thing but common earth ; but rofes 
 " were planted on rhy foil, and their 
 " odorous virtues have delicioufly pene- 
 " trated through all my J3ores. I have 
 " retained the infufion of fweetncfs j I 
 " had otherwife been but common 
 " earth." Sadi ingenioufly applies this 
 
 poetical
 
 ( 1 7 ) 
 
 poetical incident to the effect his miftrefs 
 produces over him. We may alfo apply 
 it to an eflay of Addifon, or a dialogue 
 of Fontenelle, which, like the rofes on 
 the common earth, impregnate with in- 
 tellectual fweetnefs an uncultivated mind. 
 Thofe who feel with enthufiafm the 
 eloquence of a fine writer, infenfibly re- 
 ceive fome particles from it ; a virtuous 
 writer communicates virtue; a refined 
 writer, a fubtile delicacy ; a fublime 
 writer, an elevation of fentiment. All 
 thefe characters of the mind, in a few 
 years, are diffufed throughout the nation. 
 Among us, what acute reafoners has the 
 refined penetration of Hume formed ; 
 what amenity of manners has not Addifon 
 introduced; to how many virtuous youths 
 have not the moral efiays of Johnfon im- 
 parted fortitude, and illumined with re- 
 fledion ? 
 
 It
 
 It is prefumed, that while they thus 
 powerfully operate on the minds of their 
 readers, their oivn minds, in the practice 
 of their ftudies, are influenced in a fimi- 
 lar manner. One of the moft pleafing 
 paffages in the platonic Shaftefbury, is 
 to this purpofe ; and though we have al- 
 ready proved it, not exactly conformable 
 to facts, it is not entirely a brilliant re- 
 verie. Our noble author, comparing the 
 writer with the fculptor and the painter, 
 fays, that " there is this eflential differ- 
 * f ence between the artifts of each kind ; 
 *' that they who defign merely after 
 " bodies, and form the graces of this fort, 
 " can never, with all their accuracy, or 
 " correctnefs of defign, be able to reform 
 <c themfelves, or grow a jot more fhapely 
 " in their perfons. But for thofe artifts, 
 " who copy from another life, who fhidy 
 " the graces and perfections of minds, 
 te and are real mafters of thofe rules which 
 
 conftitute
 
 < conftitute this latter fcierice, 'tis impof- 
 " fible they Ihould fail of being them. 
 " felves improved and amended in their 
 " better part." That delightful enthu- 
 fiaft Richardfon the father, in one of his 
 fine dreams, infills (as others indeed 
 have done) that great virtue is rieceffary 
 even for painters ; and that genius has 
 been lefs or greater, as virtue and vice 
 prevailed in the mind of the artift. When 
 Vve read an amiable compofition, and 
 obferve the character of the author to be 
 the reverfe, there appears an indecent 
 oppofition, which revolts our fenfibility, 
 and makes us contemn the writer as a 
 miferable impoftor. 
 
 This fcience of the mind, noticed by 
 Shaftclbury, is not metaphyfics, bun 
 \vhat has been happily called " the 
 " proper fludy of mankind ;" Man ading 
 in fociety. The philofbphic genius ex- 
 cels in the ftudy of the world ; he de- 
 rives
 
 ( 173 ) 
 
 rives this advantage from the obfcurity 
 of his lituation, the verfatility of his 
 mind, and the habit of meditation. 
 Thofe whofe chief occupation is not r?-i 
 fiefthn t limit the knowledge of human 
 nature to the particular fpciety they are 
 accuftomed. A courtierj a lawyer, and 
 a merchant, contemplate the human 
 heart, in different lights ; but nature is 
 ill ynderftood by thofe whofe capacities 
 are habituated to detect one principle 
 among many. She has no character, but 
 many characters ; Ihe is not to be fyf- 
 tematized, but to be purfued. The 
 man of genius ads upon more general 
 principles ; and makes the human heart 
 his amufemcnt and his occupation. The 
 theatre, conducted by fuch writers, would 
 become a national fchool ; but we muft 
 then have fewer pantomimes, and fuch 
 operas and comedies as we have now, 
 Hill fewer than pantomimes. 
 
 The
 
 ( 174 ) 
 
 The philofophical traveller enters no 
 town but he feels the regards of a citizen, 
 and views no fpot of earth on which the 
 fame fun does not mine, and the fame 
 affedlions kindle. As he gazes from the 
 Alps, on the regions beneath, his eye 
 fuffufed with tears of pleafure and hu- 
 manity, he exclaims, 
 
 " Creation's heir! the world, the world is mine." 
 
 Coldfmitb. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Of the political Influence of Authors. 
 
 PINION, fays Sophocles, is ftronger 
 than Truth ; Opinion is the fovereign of 
 man ; and authors, who are the propa- 
 gators of her decrees, are fome of the 
 moft important perfbns in fociety, and 
 may^be called the minifters of ftate to 
 Opinion. 
 
 An author has the fingular prerogative 
 of uniting in himfelf the powers that are 
 portioned among the higher orders of 
 fociety. This reflection may appear fan- 
 ciful to thofe who are deftitute of fancy ; 
 and extravagant to thofe who confider 
 paper and pens as the compofition of the 
 manufacturer, and who fee nothing in 
 them but rags and feathers. 
 
 An eloquent author, who writes in the 
 immutable language of truth, will one 
 
 day
 
 ( 176 ) 
 
 day be fupcrior to every power in the (late. 
 His influence is active, though hidden ; 
 every truth is an acorn which is laid in 
 the earth, and which often the longer 
 it takes to rife, the mere vigorous and 
 magnificent wjll bq if> maturity. What 
 has been )ong mcdjr.ate;c| in the filenee pf 
 the ftudy, will one day refound in the 
 awcful voice of public opinion. The 
 chipf magiftrate can cornmand ; the fer 
 nator can perfuade ; the judge can c|er 
 cjde j tfie folcjier can eqnquer. A great: 
 a.u.fhpr obtains thefe various purpofes at 
 ppc^ by hi$ folitajy Uboiirs. His truths 
 command ; his elpquence perfuades; his 
 reafon decides ; and his works infpire.a 
 rivai HAtion with a more enduring re- 
 fpecl:, than even a victorious army. 
 
 An. ifiand, once incenfiderable in Eu- 
 rope, now ranks among the firft powers, 
 arbitrates among other nations, and the 
 very title of it's inhabitants enfures re-
 
 fpect. Is this owing, alone, to her com- 
 mercial profperity and military force? 
 One nation has the moft flourifhing mart 
 of trade, and another is one of the moft 
 martial people ; yet neither infpire man- 
 kind with veneration or affection. To 
 themfelves is confined their rude lan- 
 guage; ftudied, perhaps, by merchants, 
 and corrupted as it is ftudied. It is 
 more by an interchange of opinions, than 
 of fpices and fpecie, that a nation is 
 efteemed. 
 
 Not thus with England ; for (he derives 
 her fplendour from her writers, as well 
 as her foldiers, and her navigators. An 
 empire merely founded on force, is fur- 
 rounded by enemies, and often it's fm- 
 cereft enemies are to be found in it's own 
 unparental bofom. An empire diftin- 
 guiftied by it's literature, conceals it's 
 martial iron under the fweeteft flowers ; 
 extends her conquefts, and diffufes hec 
 N pleafures.
 
 pleafurcs, and among hoftile foreigners, 
 acquires new friends. 
 
 This truth we ourfelves have experi- 
 enced. France preceded us in the ftu- 
 dies of humanity, and her polite litera- 
 ture more forcibly operated on the world, 
 than even her armies and her fleet ; her 
 civility and refinement vanquilhed, when 
 thefe were defeated. At that period in 
 fociety, when the intellectual taftes of 
 men become fo many wants, thefe gave 
 an univerfai diffufion to her language. 
 The nation that fupplies a harveft for 
 this appetency of the mind, extends it's 
 dominions in the hearts of the fubjects of 
 other powers. Thus Pope, with equal 
 fagacity and tafte, writes 
 
 " We conquered France, but felt our captive's charms, 
 " Her arts victorious triumphed o'er our arms." 
 
 Let us now contemplate the reverfe of 
 the medal ,- and the reverfe is more beau- 
 tjful than the face. In the middle of the 
 
 laft
 
 laft century, our manners were as un- 
 known as our language; and neither 
 were yet formed and polimed. We were 
 nearly regarded as valorous barbarians, 
 partaking of the glooms of our clime ; 
 and whom nature had benevolently fepa- 
 rated, from neighbours more polifhed, 
 and airs more ferene. We now hold to 
 Europe models of folid fenfe and pro- 
 found reafoning. Our late admired 
 writers have made a neglected language 
 the ftudy of reflecting foreigners ; they 
 calmed the national hatred of France, 
 and compelled even our rivals incefTantly 
 to celebrate our merits, when, unlike 
 themfelves, we condefcended not to ex- 
 ult, but to perform our labours with a 
 modeft filence. Before our prefent un- 
 happy diflentions, it was our nation they 
 fighed to emulate ; and the firft writers 
 of France pafTed into England to learn 
 to think and write; or thought and 
 N 2 wrote
 
 wrote like Englifhmen in. France, undif- 
 mayed by the terrors of a corrupted go- 
 vernment. From our hands they received 
 the germs of refledion, and the flower of 
 liberty. This fmgular revolution in the 
 human mind was produced not by our 
 merchants or our admirals, but by our 
 Lockes, our Popes, and our Addifons. 
 They have fubjugated the minds of mil- 
 lions by the energy of an intellectual fo- 
 vereignty. The works of Englilh authors 
 are now printed at foreign prefles, and 
 this at leaft as much as the commerce 
 and the force of England, proves the 
 afcendancy of her genius. 
 
 The utility of men of letters to na* 
 tional purpofes is not attended to by 
 every ftatefman ; for few ftateftnen (like 
 other men in office) are either worthy of, 
 or competent to their employments. The 
 author is confidered by the great as a 
 Subordinate character in fociety; as if 
 
 the
 
 the art of inftructing men, the art of a 
 Socrates, was much inferior to that of 
 governing them, the art, often of a Nero, 
 or a Sardanapalus, and, according to 
 Machiavcl, of a Cefar Borgia. 
 
 Political theorifts, however, appear to 
 confider the worft actions of men, as of 
 far lefs confequence than the propagation 
 of their opinions. A dangerous man may 
 infect his neighbours, but the dangerous 
 writer fpreads a contagion throughout a 
 nation. Books, and fometimes their au- 
 thors, have been burnt; but even this 
 mode of criticifm was found ineffectual. 
 The flame which deftroyed an indivi- 
 dual, ever enlightened a people ; and the 
 burning of books, has not yet been con- 
 iidered as their refutation. 
 
 If thofe who adminifter the public 
 
 duties of government, were more clofely 
 
 allied with men of letters, the union 
 
 would be happy for the people, and ufe-' 
 
 N 3 f<4
 
 ful to both. It is unfortunate that thofe 
 who govern are not always the moft en- 
 lightened.* 
 
 Authors (land between the governors 
 and the governed ; and they who practice 
 the art of arranging their thoughts, and 
 of agitating the paflions, who at once 
 
 penetrate 
 
 * The attic Harris of Salifbury, in his " Philofophi- 
 ' cal Arrangements," has touched on this topic, and 
 adduced feveral fplendid fafts to enforce his judicious 
 refleftions. He has (hewn, " that fome of the moft il - 
 tf luftrious actors upon the great theatre of the world, 
 rt have been engaged in philofophical fpeculations.? 
 But what is more to our purpofe, we may obferve that 
 fome of the greateft ftatefmen have attached themfelves 
 to a philofopher. Pericles had his Anaxagoras ; Sci- 
 pio his Polybius ; Cefar and Pompey, their Arifto and 
 Cratippus ; Zenobia her Longinus ; and Plutarch faid 
 of Alexander, " that he marched againft the Perfians 
 with better fupplies from his preceptor Ariftotle, 
 than from his father Philip." 
 
 . It is allo very certain, that the philofophical is not 
 ^compatible with the political charaaer. Sir Walter 
 Raleigh; the De Wits; Thuanus; Grotius; Sir 
 William Temple, Bolingbroke, &c. are fufRcient to 
 name. Literary men may become minifters of ftate, 
 but it is more difficult for minifters of ftate to become 
 literary men.
 
 ( I8J ) 
 
 penetrate by their reafon, and inflame by 
 their eloquence, are, among the nations 
 of modern Europe, what the celebrated 
 orators of ancient Rome and Athens 
 were among the afiembled citizens. They 
 awaken, they terrify, they excite* they 
 conduct the people. 
 
 Minifters are conftraincd to watch till 
 vigilance is exhaufted, and folicitude 
 fleeps amidft the fluctuations of the pub- 
 lic mind, and this public mind is the 
 creation of the philofophical writer. Is 
 it to be doubted, that fince the immor- 
 tal labour of Montefquieu, the old fyf- 
 tems of government have been often 
 changed ? It is certain the minds of the 
 people have. Cromwell, the penetrating 
 Cromwell, was juflly alarmed when he 
 faw the Oceana of Harrington, and 
 feems to have dreaded the terrible effecls 
 of a little volume, much more than the 
 plots of the royalifts. The fingle thought 
 N 4 of
 
 of a man of genius has fometimes chan- 
 ged the difpofitions of a people, and even 
 of an age.* With every creative genius 
 that arifes, a new day rifes with him ; 
 it was Montefquieu that introduced in 
 his nation a tafte for the folid and pro- 
 found, as well as the gayer and lighter 
 ftudies. 
 
 Wherever the liberty of the prefs is 
 eftablifhed, authors form as powerful a 
 clafs in fociety, as the higheft. For the 
 great, nothing remains but to annihilate 
 the prefs, or to refpecl the authors. In 
 Rome, a Perfius may have been com- 
 pelled to difguife the name of a Nero, 
 but in England, the name of a tyrant 
 
 will 
 
 * The great Frederick in his Examen of the Prince 
 of Machiavel, obferving that the minds of men are 
 very different from the ferocious age of that Italian 
 politician, fays, " for which we are obliged to the 
 
 " WRITINGS of thofe LEARNED MEN, who OF LATE 
 
 " have contributed fo much to polifti and civilize 
 
 "EUROPE."
 
 ( '85 ) 
 
 will be hitched in rhime. Authors are 
 mod to be dreaded in that country where 
 the liberty and licentioufnefs of the prefs, 
 become a mere matter of fentiment, and 
 not of difcuflion ; and this fentiment is 
 left to the people. We who enjoy the 
 freedom of the prefs in it's extreme de- 
 gree, have no reafon to complain of any, 
 privileges of the great. 
 
 The people confider authors as their 
 property ; and not unjuftly, fmce the 
 great fuffer them to depend on the 
 people. The public are never flow to 
 unite with authors, who, for the fake of 
 preferving equality, muft continually 
 humble the great. The public, as pa- 
 trons, are the moft munificent ; as abet- 
 tors, the moft formidable. Their favour 
 is equitably obtained ; they expect an 
 author to be the bold interpreter of their 
 fecret fentiments, and the protector of 
 their liberties, as well as the artift of 
 
 their
 
 their pleafures. If this author is perfe- 
 cuted, he is never forfaken ; his caufe 
 becomes the caufe of the people ; but if 
 he mould prove a wretched adventurer, 
 who artfully feifed on an occafion to ferve 
 his private views, the author is juftly 
 neglected, and the caufe alone purfued. 
 We live in an age, in which an honeft 
 man begins to know his value ; and ob- 
 fcurity and poverty, if adorned with in- 
 tegrity and philofophy, are not injurious 
 to the opinions of a great mind. We 
 confider that perfonal merit, is fuperior 
 to perfonal honour j becaufe it now in- 
 cludes perfonal honour. The contrary 
 will not hold, nor has this always been fo. 
 The public are not difpleafed when the 
 great become the patrons of their emi- 
 nent authors ; it is a kind of homage paid 
 to the fentiments of the people. But the 
 author may be a conflderable lofer, if he 
 values fame, more than he does a pcnfion. 
 
 It
 
 It is curious to obferve the folitary 
 man of letters in the concealment of his 
 obfcure ftudy, feparated from the croud, 
 unknown to his contemporaries, col- 
 lecting the materials of inftruclion from 
 every age and every country ; combining 
 with the prefent the example of the pad, 
 and the prediction of the future ; pouring 
 forth the valuable fecrets of his medita- 
 tions to pofterity ; ftriking with the con- 
 cuflion of new light the public mind ; 
 and forming the manners, the opinions, 
 the refinement, and the morals of his 
 fellow-citizens. It is curious, I fay, to 
 obferve fuch a man, by fome contemned, 
 by others hated; by fome degraded to 
 an idler or an outcaft, and by others 
 raifed to a fancied monfter ; a Briareus 
 extending a hundred arms, and in every 
 arm a brand of fedition ; an Argus open- 
 ing a hundred eyes, and tracing the 
 vermin of corruption, creeping to their 
 
 mod
 
 moft hidden receffcs ; in a word, as awc- 
 ful a figure as that of the vaft mountain, 
 to which the caprice of a tyrant attempted 
 to give a Coloflal form, by commanding 
 the people to hew it to his immoderate 
 fancy. 
 
 But the philofopher is not, as of late, 
 too often reprefented this Coloflal ini- 
 quity. Legal authority is mod fecure 
 when the people are moft enlightened ; 
 a fimple truth, which I leave to profound 
 politicians to explain. I (hall only cite 
 the fentiment of an old poet. 
 
 De la majefte des Lolx, 
 
 " Appuyant les pouvoirs fupremes, 
 " Fait demeurer les diademea 
 
 " Fermes fur la tete des Rois." 
 
 MALHERBE. 
 
 It is a dreadful moment when the 
 people and the great alike refufe the in- 
 ftructions of the philofopher ; whenever 
 he appears terrible, fome great corruption 
 pervades the ftate, for he i$ only armed 
 
 with
 
 with truth. The occupations of the 
 philofophical ftudent, as connected with 
 political fpeculations, are therefore du- 
 ties of an exalted nature ; fome mult give 
 their hands, fome their blood, and fome 
 their hours, to the various duties their 
 country exacts ; but there is a fmali 
 portion of men, who appear marked out 
 by nature, for the purpofc of cultivating 
 their thoughts in peace, and to give ac- 
 tivity to their fentiments by difclofing 
 them to the people. The phyiiognomy 
 of their minds, wears all that mining 
 luftre, which diftingui(hed the prophet 
 after his immediate conference with the 
 Divinity ; for in their compofitions, good 
 fcnfe is embellifhed by eloquence, and 
 before they perfuade, they convince. 
 None, but thofe who devote a life to me- 
 ditation, can effecT: thefe great purpofes ; 
 for they who govern a people, cannot at 
 the fame time enlighten them. 
 
 Legiflators
 
 i 9 o ) 
 
 Legiflators of extenfive views, have 
 ever protected and honoured men of 
 letters. We have feen, in this age, two 
 great powers in Europe teftify their pub- 
 lic utility, and who have been as foli- 
 citous to aflemble philofophers, as to 
 form their armies. Pruffia and Ruflia, 
 under the government of two great fove- 
 reigns, have fhewn how far by their aid 
 an obfcure principality, and hordes of 
 barbarians, may be elevated in the fcale 
 of humanity. The great Frederick in- 
 vited to his court the perfecuted and un- 
 happy literati ; and to this holy fhrine of 
 philofbphy reforted many a literary pil- 
 grim. The imperial Catharine has not 
 only largely penfioned feveral illuflrious 
 writers, but honours and animates, by her 
 gifts, the attempt of every philofopher 
 who produces a public utility. If thefe 
 Sovereigns have difplayed more art than 
 humanity, in forging chains for the free- 
 dom
 
 ( '9' ) 
 
 of men ; it fhews that an Antoninus and 
 an Alfred, are more rare than a Frederick 
 and a Catharine, as the love of philofo- 
 phy is lefs difficult than practical philo- 
 fophy ; the only philofophy that merits 
 the name. 
 
 It is the philofophical writer who alone 
 i -effects on what is not done, and on what 
 may be done. He goads the fluggifh 
 A^eins of government, when a cold indo- 
 lence fpreads a torpor on it's unhealth- 
 ful inactivity. He teaches philanthropy 
 to direct it's bounties in proper channels, 
 and this is no inconfiderablc good ; for 
 the humanity which diftinguilhes our 
 age, is often only retarded by an igno- 
 rance of it's neceflities ; to perceive and 
 pathetically to defcribe thefe neceflities, 
 is referved for the fenfitive philofopher. 
 It is the characteriftic of a man of genius, 
 in fuch appeals to our bofoms, that his 
 glowing mind pours forth thofe fervid ex- 
 
 preflions,
 
 preflions, that agitation of ideas, thofe 
 pictures of truth, which communicate his 
 own fenfations, and animate with his 
 exquifite foul, the fouls of others. The 
 people are a vaft body, and men of 
 genius are the eyes and hands. 
 
 The thoufand public utilities, I fpeak 
 not of the elegancies, derived from the 
 multifarious divilions of fcience and of 
 art, can alone be perfected by THE PHI- 
 LOSOPHICAL GENIUS. Truth is a certain 
 point in knowledge ; ages fucceed ages ; 
 and that point is pafled, or not attained ; 
 a philofophical genius arifes, feifes and 
 fixes it in the vaft expanfe of nature, fe- 
 cured by it's own weight from the mobi- 
 lity of time. A Newton and a Locke ac- 
 complim that in which an Ariftotle and 
 a Defcartes failed. But thefe truths, 
 which form fo many epochs in the hu- 
 man underftanding, are covered in the 
 fublime obfcurity of nature j how is the 
 
 veil
 
 ( 193 ) 
 
 veil to be lifted from Ifis ? A painful 
 meditation alone elaborates them into 
 exigence. In the arts, important dif- 
 coveries are obtained by accident ; but 
 the precious idea, which depends on a 
 long train of reafoning, can never be 
 formed by chance. Philofophers muft 
 meditate ; and too often their medita- 
 tions are purfued at the coft of their 
 felicity. 
 
 Yet let us not confound true PHILOSO- 
 PHERS with dreaming THEORISTS. Thev 
 are not more engaged in cultivating the 
 mind, than the earth j the annals of agri- 
 culture are as valuable as the annals of 
 hiftory ; and while they inftrud: fome to 
 think, they teach others to labour. 
 PHILOSOPHY extends it's thoughts on 
 whatever the eye has feen, or the hand 
 has touched ; it herbalifes in fields ; it 
 founds mines ; it is on the waters, and 
 in the forefts ; it is in the library., and 
 O the
 
 the laboratory ; it arranges the calcula- 
 tions of finance ; it invents the police of 
 a city; it ereds it's fortifications; it 
 gives velocity to our fleets ; in a word, 
 it is alike in the folitude of deferts, as in 
 the populoufnefs of manufactories. The 
 GENIUS of PHILOSOPHY pierces every 
 where, -And on whatever it refts, like the 
 fun, it difcovers what lay concealed, or 
 matures what it found imperfecl. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ( '95 ) 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 On an Academy of polite Literature, Pen- 
 fions t and Prizes. 
 
 X O deliver any novel obfervations on 
 an academy for the belles lettres is diffi- 
 cult ,- but it is more difficult to pafs 
 fuch an object in filent regret. 
 
 The munificent hand of majefty has 
 raifed an inftitution to the mimetic art 
 of painting; and this is a legitimate 
 claim, which a prince, the commence- 
 ment of whofe reign was adorned by an 
 honourable love of the arts, has to the 
 eftimation of pofterity. But why polite 
 literature, which forms the delight and 
 the fblace of a greater portion of the na- 
 tion than this art, mould have received 
 no fuch diftinguilhed approbation from 
 the Brunfwicks, is not to the philofophfr, 
 O2 perhaps,
 
 perhaps, fo much an object of furprife 
 as of forrow.* 
 
 I begin thefe obfervations with a lite- 
 ral tranfcription of the opening of Sir 
 Jofhua Reynolds's firft difcourfe. The 
 Prefident fays, " it is indeed difficult to 
 " give any other reafon why an empire, 
 " like that of BRITAIN, mould fo long 
 " have wanted an ornament fo fuitable 
 " to it's greatnefs, than that flow pro- 
 "greflion of things, which naturally 
 " makes elegance and refinement the laft 
 " effect of opulence and power." Of 
 
 opulence 
 
 * It muft not be forgotten that feveral authors have 
 received penfions ; Dr. Henry, Dr. Johnfon, and at 
 prefent Mr. Cowperthe poet, have been honoured by 
 his Majefty's attentions. But fuch folitary rewards art 
 like fountains in the burning deferts of Arabia. One 
 of his Majefty's moft illuftrious aaions is his conver- 
 fation with Dr. Johnfon, in which an amiable and re- 
 fleSting mind adds to the dignity of the Monarch. 
 George II. remonftrated with Lord Hervey for writing 
 verfes, which he obferved might be proper in Mr. 
 Pope, or thofe who lived by the bufmefs, but very un- 
 becoming a Lord.
 
 opulence and power, have the higher 
 clalfcs of our nation a deficient meafure ? 
 I doubt, indeed, if they realty poflefs, as 
 a body, or elegance or refinement. The 
 philofopher is not dazzled by elegance 
 and refinement in manners ; he docs not 
 confound the brilliancy of equipages with 
 the energies of the mind. To his con- 
 templative eye it is pofiible that an opu- 
 lent and fplendid nation may be barba- 
 rous and grofs ; as we obferve in the 
 individual, who, adorned by the infignia 
 of honour, and loaded with incalculable 
 wealth, may at the fame time have all 
 the barbarity of mind wh"i h marks and 
 degrades the lowed of the populace. 
 Should the greater part of the nobility of 
 any country be more partial to pugilifts 
 and jockies, than to artifts and philofo- 
 phers, thehiftorian would be juftified in 
 recording that the genius of it's nobility 
 was barbarous and grofs. It is almoft 
 O 3 peculiar
 
 ( 19* ) 
 
 peculiar to literature, that whenever it's 
 profefTors feel themfeives contemned or 
 neglected, to vindicate their caufe, they 
 have only to record this contempt and 
 this neglect. 
 
 I would afk why the art of writing is 
 not deferving of the fame regard as the 
 art of painting ? And then I would en- 
 quire, what painting can urge in it's 
 own caufe, which will entitle it to a fu- 
 periority over the art of competition ? 
 
 But it may be urged that an inftitution 
 of this kind, while it has been recom- 
 mended by fome, has been oppofed by 
 others. Perhaps, in our country, it has 
 never been examined with the attention 
 fuch an object claims ; often it's defects 
 have been rendered prominent, and it's 
 benefits omitted ; it's inabilities have 
 been difplayed, and it's powers have been 
 concealed ; it has often been regarded as 
 a common place for ridicule, not as a 
 difcuflion for reafon.
 
 C 199 ) 
 
 Johnfon, in his Life of Swift, has 
 given fome plaufiblc arguments agamft 
 the academy which Swift propofed; the 
 arguments of this great man, more fpe- 
 cious than juft, relate not toourprefent 
 fubjecl ; for the academy Swift was dc- 
 firous of eftablifhing, was merely an imi- 
 tation of the French academy ; for the 
 poliming, refining, and embellifhing the 
 language. The Englifh language now 
 wants no academy for it's improvements ; 
 it has few acquifitions to make, but much 
 to preferve. 
 
 A literary inftitution might be formed, 
 in which the errors of former academies 
 might be obviated, and the advanced 
 genius of our times might add it's own 
 valuable inventions. To improve the 
 paft is not difficult ; but whether fuch an 
 academy would be a national utility, is 
 an important queftion, not, perhaps, 
 difficult to refolve. 
 
 O 4 There
 
 ( 200 ) 
 
 There is one kind of rrten, to whom 
 no ftudent would addrefs himfelf on fub- 
 jeds of fcience and tafte. At the liege 
 of Athens, the barbarous Sylla com- 
 manded the fhady walks of the ACADE-MY 
 (that refort of the Mufes which has left 
 it's name to all future literary focieties) 
 to be torn up, and the hallowed trees to 
 be converted into martial machines, I 
 addrefs myfelf not to the living Syllas, 
 who are as inimical to a modern, as their 
 ferocious model was to the ftrft academy. 
 The Omars of literature (the expreflion 
 be pardoned) we know are the enemies 
 of the Homers. 
 
 On the firft glance we take of the {lib- 
 led!, the French academy, properly fo 
 diftingutfiied, prefents itfelf. It's la-, 
 bours have not been great ; becaufe it's 
 object was limited to the cultivation of 
 the language. But it obtained it's ob- 
 with all it's poflible accomplishment. 
 
 I
 
 i trace the hiftory of French ftyle, in the 
 harangues of this academy. The firft 
 are cold, dry, and full of thofc common 
 turns of expreflion, which were doubtlefs 
 confidered as the curiofa je!icitas t but 
 which, by their reiterated appearance, 
 (hew the barrennefs of their diction, and 
 the paucity of happy exprcffions. The 
 language was not yet formed ; and the 
 academy had commenced with nearly an 
 empty treafury. About the middle vo- 
 lume$, eloquence occafionally appears, 
 an accefiion of new turns enrich the ha- 
 rangues, and if the ftyle is not yet fplen- 
 did, it is not devoid of grace. The con- 
 cluding volumes wear a brilliant appear- 
 ance ; a warmth of colouring, a boldnefs 
 of expreflion, and all the fedudlion of 
 animated eloquence. If thefe volumes 
 owe fomething to happier topics, it is 
 neceflary to obferve, that fome fubjecfts 
 not lefs interefting, in the early volumes, 
 have all the deficiencies of ftyle.
 
 ( 262 ) 
 
 Some will urge that an author can 
 himfelf perform better than a fociety, 
 and the dictionaries of Furetiere and 
 Johnfon, may be quoted as having been 
 performed without the aid of an aca- 
 demy. 
 
 I would not deny that one fuperior 
 genius is capable of obtaining what forty 
 inferior ones can never accomplish ; and 
 I even add, that one great author can 
 perform better than forty great authors. 
 No celebrated work has yet been com- 
 pofcd by the united talents of feveral ; 
 but many great men have conjoined their 
 abilities in vain, in various works. 
 
 The mechanical operation of compi- 
 ling a dictionary, however, I believe, 
 may be better effected by a fociety, than 
 by an individual. The dictionary of 
 Johnfon, though perhaps it could not be 
 more finely executed, might have been 
 confiderably augmented by a fociety. 
 
 Does
 
 Does not this great man himfelf, hoftile 
 as he appears to academies, inconfcioufly 
 acknowledge their utility, by complain- 
 ing that his labour was not formed under 
 " the fheltcr of academic bovvers." 
 
 It appears to me, that the happieft 
 effect is obtained when an academy and 
 an individual unite their powers. I ex- 
 plain myfelf by the following circum- 
 ftance. 
 
 D'Alembert, in his Eloge of the Abbe 
 Defmarais, obferves, that the long arti- 
 cles of the French dictionary were written 
 by him, and that the public confidered 
 them as more finimed, and more fatis- 
 factory than the fhort ones. D'Alembert 
 gives the reafon. He obferves, that 
 * ( the brevity of articles of little extent, 
 " allowed of their being the work of the 
 " whole fociety ; and that a fociety col- 
 " lefted in a body, difturbed in it's de- 
 ." cifions by twenty different opinions, 
 
 " which
 
 " which crofs and deftroy one. another, 
 " muft with difficulty attain to fatisfy it- 
 " felf and it's readers ; but, on the con- 
 " trary, the great articles, indifpenfably 
 " given to the care of an individual, ac- 
 " quire, in patting through his hands, 
 <c all the perfection which the felf-love of 
 " the writer can give, animated alfo by 
 " the academical fervour." 
 
 This judicious reflection of one of the 
 moft judicious writers of France, may 
 ferve to prove that a work is beft per- 
 formed by an individual ; but that an 
 individual, while he labours under the 
 eye of a fociety, feels a ftimulative in 
 that fociety, which otherwife had been 
 wanting. 
 
 And this is the great end and utility of 
 fuch an inftitution. It's various advan- 
 tages are, perhaps, fufficiently obvious ; 
 but the vaft influence it has over writers, 
 has not, perhaps, been fufficiently re- 
 marked.
 
 ( 205 ) 
 
 marked. It animates not only the indi- 
 viduals of the focicty, but every indivi- 
 dual \vho afpires to become a member 
 of the fociety, and to wear, as Voltaire 
 faid, the blue ribband of literature. By 
 a diftribution of prizes, it diffuses an 
 emulation to the remoteft parts of the 
 kingdom, and introduces to the public 
 thofe ingenuous youths, whom their fitu- 
 ation conceals from the world. By it's 
 own memoirs, written by the members, 
 it forms the moft valuable literary re- 
 pofitories in a nation. To reflect on 
 thefe advantages may not be ufelefs. 
 
 Some of the inferior benefits attending 
 fuch an inftitution, are indifputable. In 
 thefe literary conferences, the tafte of 
 every aflbciate would become more bril- 
 liant, becaufe it would continually re- 
 ceive the attrition and contact, it is to 
 be fuppofed, of the fincft underftandings 
 
 in
 
 ( 206 ) 
 
 in the nation.* In cafes of emergency, 
 recourfe would be had to the academy, 
 and a Robertfon would not ftand in fuch 
 need, as we have feen, of the advice of an 
 inferior mind. The paradoxes in poetry 
 of a Johnfon, would have been oppofed 
 before their publication, or at lead, the 
 work muft have iffued into the world 
 
 without 
 
 * The following obfervations on Academies, cited by 
 Goujet in his Bibliotheque Francoife, vol. z. p. 453, 
 are from one of the numerous political works of the 
 Abbe de Saint Pierre. They are too ingenious to be 
 patTed in filence. He fays, " what fupplies among 
 " men the method of univerfities, is the method of 
 " academies, or conferences which are held on mat- 
 " ters of their profeflion, or their tafte. They do not 
 " hear a profeflbr, or a regent, but they hear one an- 
 " other. They hear, with greater attention, thofe 
 " who have acquired greater reputation in the com- 
 " pany ; they improve by a reciprocation of obfer.- 
 " vations; they contradict their equals, and they are 
 " contradicted ; and the authority of fome, the con- 
 " tradiclion of others, the dread of contempt or ridi- 
 " cule, the defire of applaufe, and of furpaffing their 
 " equals 5" the wifh of being ufeful to our country, 
 " animate all in their labour, and augment their ap- 
 " plication and attention, from which arifes the growtli 
 " and extenfion of mind. 1V
 
 ( 207 ) 
 
 without the fanction of the academy, 
 which would have been a tacit cenfure. 
 The fociety mould be provided with af- 
 fociates in the various clafTes of litera- 
 ture; it fliould have it's grammarians, 
 it's hiftortans, and it's metaphyficians, 
 as well as it's poets, it's orators, and it's 
 philofophers. In this hive of literary 
 bees, no indolent member fhould remain 
 a member ; all muft be animation, all 
 muft be labour. And that no excufe 
 may be framed of neglecT: to the caufc of 
 literature, penfions mould be given to 
 thofe who may ftand in want of them ; 
 for penfions to all will not be wanted, 
 fince fome will labour for glory, though 
 fome may alfo want bread. 
 
 But even LITERARY PENSIONS have 
 been ridiculed ; and it is not unneceffary 
 to offer fome reflections on them. 
 
 There are two opinions relative to the 
 ftate of men of genius. One party ima- 
 gine
 
 ( 208 ) 
 
 gine that no protection from the great, 
 or a court, is necelTary for the encou- 
 ragement of artifts; and the other are 
 perfuaded, that when honours and pen- 
 fions are judicioufly diftributed, it ex- 
 cites emulation in the young, and gives 
 that leifure to thofe on whom they are 
 beftowed, fo neceflary to fome, to cul* 
 tivate their talents. They think with 
 Boileau, that 
 
 ** Ua AUGUSTE aifement peut falredes VIRGILES." 
 
 Lord Orford, honourably known un- 
 der the name of Horace Walpole (a name 
 that prefents to the mind, tafte, fancy, 
 and learning) has faid in his preface to 
 his Anecdotes of Painting, " want of 
 " protection is the apology for want of 
 * genius. Milton and Fontaine did not 
 " write m the bafk of court favour. A 
 " poet or a painter may U'ant an equi- 
 " P a g e > or a v ^^ a > ty wanting protection: 
 
 " they
 
 ( 20$ ) 
 
 *' they can always afford to buy ink and 
 " paper, colours and pencil. Mr. Ho- 
 " garth has received no honours, but 
 " univerfal admiration." 
 
 I reply to his Lordmip, that it is true 
 the favour of a court knighted Blackmore, 
 and penlioned Quarles ; and both were 
 miferable poets ; but if a court cannot 
 convert dull men into men of genius, it 
 may prefer ve men of genius from be- 
 coming dull men. It might have af- 
 forded Dryden that ftudious leifure which 
 he ever wanted, and which has given us 
 imperfecl: tragedies, and incorrect poems, 
 in lieu of finifhed compofitions, and the 
 regular flights of a noble genius. It 
 might have animated a Gainiborough to 
 form an Englim fchool in landfcape, 
 which it is faid was his favourite, but 
 neglected purfuit. As for the equipage 
 and villa of the poet or the painter, thefc 
 they leave to the idle connoifleur and 
 P the
 
 ( 210 ) 
 
 the vain actor. Nor muft we confcnt to 
 the infulting obfervation that they may 
 always buy ink and paper, colours and 
 pencils. Is it fufficient for a delicate and 
 fenfttive mind to have fuch implements 
 to awaken the brilliancy of imagination? 
 Is the picture uncommon to fee a great 
 genius with his pens or his pencils on the 
 table, leaning over them in that fecret 
 agony of fpirit, which murders fancy, 
 and fpreads a torpor on the foul ? Had 
 Chatterton been protected, not with an 
 equipage or a villa, but with a penfion, 
 the youth had not perimed ; but this 
 unhappy poet inftructs us, that pens and 
 paper are not the only requifites to cherifli 
 genius. 
 
 On the other fide, fo different are the 
 opinions of even men of letters on this 
 fubject, the French writers (and the 
 greateft of them received their penfions 
 without any injury to their genius) con- 
 
 tinfcally
 
 tinually point to England as a model of 
 literary prote&ion. They tell us that 
 Addifon was Secretary of State; Newton 
 and Locke, Commifiioners ; Swift al- 
 moft Prime Minifterj and Prior an 
 Ambaflador. 
 
 If it is urged that the public are the 
 beft patrons, and that feveral popular 
 authors have left fervid expredions as 
 memorials of their gratitude; I reply, 
 that the public are more munificent pa- 
 trons than princes, provided that the 
 genius of an author happens to take a 
 popular turn. But of authors, few can 
 be popular ; for moft of the departments 
 in literature require the rtudy of many 
 years, and cannot be perfected till a late 
 period. Such are all the exact fciences, 
 and every fpecies of erudition. The 
 hiftorian and the novelift may gratify the 
 public tafte, but what is to become of 
 the antiquary and the mathematician ? 
 
 P2 It
 
 ( 212 ) 
 
 It is one certain evil, confequent to the ' 
 want of patronage, that a writer of great 
 genius, when he difcovers that he has 
 nothing but his talents, and that the 
 public attention muft be roufed by fome 
 extravagant novelty, will confult the 
 worft difpolitions of the public ; becaufe 
 thefe are the moil univerfal ; and inftead 
 of compofing a beautiful poem, he will 
 write a dreadful fatire ; inftead of a hif- 
 tory, a libel ; and inftead of a moral 
 romance, fome fcandaious memoirs. 
 
 Men of genius, penfioned by a court, 
 will be enabled to indulge their 'own 
 manner, though it might not immedi- 
 ately be popular. He who writes in the 
 proper repofe of mind, and with regu- 
 larity of application, will give his own 
 natural phyfiognomy, and not that arti- 
 ficial countenance which thofe who court 
 the mob are obliged to afiume.
 
 If I am told, that to accept penfions is 
 not congenial to the free fpirit of a Briton, 
 I reply, that literary penfions, unlike 
 others, are honourable to the donor, and 
 the penfioner. There is furely. lefs fer- 
 vility in receiving a gratuitous gift from 
 an enlightened monarch, than the wages 
 of an inhuman bookfeller. 
 
 There is, I think, a reward for litera- 
 ture, of ftill greater utility than even 
 penfions. 
 
 The diftribution of PRIZES appears of 
 greater utility than PENSIONS. A penlion 
 prefer ves one man of letters, but a prize 
 may give birth to many. He who muft 
 fatisfy a judge, and furpafs a rival, will not 
 fatisfy himfelf till he has furpafled him- 
 felf ; he will not try merely to give a good 
 work, but the bed ; and the vigilance of 
 ambition will fometimes fupply the de- 
 ficiencies of genius. If he is not yet 
 crowned with the fplendid reward, he 
 P 3 may
 
 may merit the animation of an honour-, 
 able notice ; if he cannot obtain a tri- 
 umph, an ovation may be referved for 
 him.* Ufeful topics, which might not 
 have been attempted by an individual,, 
 are difperfed about the nation. We 
 havq feen lately, a prize in the Irifh aca- 
 demy produce a valuable * c EfTay on the 
 " beft means of providing for the Poor." 
 Subjects of national importance are not 
 attempted becaufe a vender of literature 
 may not chufc to undertake them ; a 
 prize would bellow honour and adiftance 
 on the ingenious fpeculator. It is by 
 her prizes, as well as by her academies, 
 that France has always preceded us, and 
 that her ingenuity is made to furpafs our 
 
 genius.f 
 
 While 
 
 * An ovatioa, among the Romans, was a lejjer tri- 
 umph. At an ovation, the General entered the city on 
 foot or on horfebock ; but in a triumph he rode in a 
 chariot. 
 
 f When the imperfeft failing of our marine was dif- 
 cufied, January 6, in this year, Admiral Gardner al- 
 
 ledge<l
 
 While this academy for polite litera- 
 ture would be thus effecting a great na- 
 tional utility, their own memoirs would 
 be invaluable. The Academy of. the 
 Belles Lettres in France, has formed a 
 collection of hiftorical, critical, literary, 
 and mifcellafieotis information, unequal- 
 kd in any nation. Our moil accom- 
 plimed hiftorians cite them as their 
 P 4 authorities 
 
 ledged the following reafon for the fuperiority of the 
 French in this particular. He faid, " to his knovv- 
 " ledge the French fliips failed better than the Englifh, 
 " owing to their different conflru&ion. Whenever a 
 " (hip was to be built in France, PREMIUMS were 
 " offered for the beft plan ; the feveral plans were then 
 " referred to an ACADEMY of Sciences, and the molt 
 .*' perfect always adopted. He entertained no doubt, 
 " but if PREMIUMS were held out here, for good mo- 
 " dels, our mips would be much better." Here we 
 obferve, that an Admiral, on jhe fubjeft of Marine, 
 acknowledges the utility of PRIZES and ACADEMIES; 
 and we prefume, that not one enlightened artift but 
 would employ the fame language refpe&ing his own 
 art. By witholding thefe encouragements, many in- 
 genious artifts have periflied with grief, and many 
 have renounced their country, and enriched foreigners 
 with thofe improvements their ungrateful nation de- 
 nied ven their notice.
 
 authorities. The learning of a learned 
 age is rendered inftructive ; and what 
 becomes dull and infipid in a Salmafius 
 and a Scaliger, delight with thofe who 
 do not think knowledge coniifts in the 
 heavy and unprofitable fcience of dates, 
 unconnected facts, and tides of books ; 
 but in reflection and in tafte. Know- 
 ledge is only knowledge when it is render- 
 ed accefiible to the nation ; it muft be 
 fhewn to, and handled by the multitude, 
 and not prefer ved like an ufelefs piece of 
 antiquity in the collections of the curious. 
 France had literary focieties of every 
 kind ; her provincial academies were 
 numerous ; and I cannot but attribute her 
 fuperiority in a fine and brilliant elo- 
 quence j a language of criticifm that 
 analyfes and paints our fcnfations ; and 
 their feductive art of compofition to 
 thefe lettered confraternities. Her reli- 
 gion was friendly to retirement ; and the 
 
 retirement;
 
 retirement of iludious men is rarely u 
 barren leifurc, and a proud indolence. 
 It is ajuftice we owe to letters, and to 
 an extinct order of men, to acknowledge 
 the invaluable labours of many monaftic 
 focieties of modern times. To the Port 
 Royal the European youth were long in- 
 debted for the initiatory books of learn- 
 ing, and for verfions of the ancients, not yet 
 neglected. To the learned Benedictines 
 we owe their exteniive <c Literary Hiftory 
 <r of France," \vhich, though carried to 
 13 volumes in 410. reaches only to the 
 1 2th century. Many, not lefs interefting, 
 nor vaft, might be mentioned. Labours 
 like thefef, can never be fatisfactorily per- 
 formed by any individual ; One, may be 
 permitted to devote himfelf to the com- 
 pofition of the work, but many hands and 
 many eyes muft collect the materials, and 
 jnuft watch over the execution. We 
 have no fuch Literary Hiftory of Eng- 
 land;
 
 ( 218 ) 
 
 land ; and I may venture to predict we 
 never can, if an academy of polite lite- 
 rature is not inftituted. 
 
 There remains one obfervation to be 
 made on the beneficial effect of literary 
 fbcieties difperfed in the kingdom. 
 Wherever fuch exift, there will never 
 appear in the vicinage a youth of genius, 
 but the members will perceive his abi- 
 lities, and will receive him or as a parent, 
 eras a friend. A confiderable number 
 cf the illuftrious literati of France, were 
 firft induced to devote themfelves to 
 ftudy by the penetration of their fupe- 
 riors, or having foujid an afylum in fomc 
 monaftery, indulged their prevailing dif- 
 pofkion. 
 
 The inftitution of literary focieties is 
 fo much delired, and the want is fo 
 urgent, that the difcernment of indivi- 
 duals has of late attempted to fupply this 
 difhonourabk deficiency by affociations 
 : in
 
 ( 2I 9 ) 
 
 jn the metropolis, as well as in fome of 
 our provincial towns. The Manchefter 
 fbciety has merited the approbation of 
 the public.* 
 
 But we cannot reafonably expect that 
 a private fociety will ever anfwer the 
 ideas of the public, and become of na- 
 tional utility. De Foe, in his " Eflay 
 " on Projects, (who projected millions 
 for the nation, but was generally con- 
 fined for his own debts) gives fome ob- 
 fervations refpedhng the inftitutionof an 
 academy for polite literature, but he 
 chiefly regards it in the view of refining 
 and adjufting the language. He fays, 
 p. 229, that he was once a member of 
 a fociety who attempted this noble de- 
 iign, but it's failure he attributes to the 
 greatnefs of the work and the modefty of 
 
 the 
 
 * I have the pleafure of announcing a volume of 
 Mifcellanies in the prefs, by a LITERARY Socitxr 
 eftablilhed at EXETER. It is their firft fruits.
 
 the gentlemen ; and concludes by faying 
 t'nat we want a Richelieu to commence 
 fuch a work. I believe it was not the 
 rnodefty of the members, nor the great- 
 nefs of the work, which occasioned it's 
 iailure ; but many other reafons, which 
 will always operate againft private literary 
 fbcieties. 
 
 A fociety of friends find no great dif- 
 ficulty to be plea fed with the ccmpofi- 
 tions of each other ; many will be ad- 
 mitted to fuch a fociety, more out of 
 aftecHon, than for their ability. It is 
 the great requifite of an academy, that 
 ll the members mould be profcffed ftu- 
 ^ents, whole SOLE OCCUPATION is litera- 
 ture, and whofe life is devoted to .acade- 
 demical functions. If PENSIONS and 
 PRIZES are added to the eftablimmenl, 
 we have then as perfect an ACADEMY, 
 perhaps, as potfibly can exift. 
 
 This
 
 This grand and defirable object can 
 alone be obtained, as fuch hitherto have 
 been obtained, by the fanction of the 
 Sovereign, and the applaufe of the 
 People. Such an inftitution would not 
 alone be a national ornament ; for to 
 hold out rewards to genius, and to dif- 
 fufe among the people the humanifing 
 and peaceful purfuits of literature, has 
 never yet been confidered by politicians 
 as a vain and an unimportant purpofe. 
 
 Such is the wonderful influence of a 
 love of letters in a nation, that it has 
 often difguifed the deformity of defpo- 
 tifm, and rendered even a nation of 
 (laves, a poliflied, a refined, and a happy 
 people. 
 
 At the prefent melancholy moment, 
 when Europe appears hoftile to Reafon, 
 and to Humanity, let us indulge the 
 hope, that this inftitution may become 
 the ornament of PEACE of a Peace, that 
 
 by
 
 ( 222 ) 
 
 by it's duration may referable the vifion 
 of an admirable philanthropift and a 
 poor politician, the vifion of the Abbe 
 de Saint Pierre, AN UNIVERSAL PEACE. 
 When the principle of Government is 
 VIRTUE, the action of that Government 
 will be PEACE ; Governments are, how- 
 ever, always in war. 
 
 SONNET
 
 SONNET FROM METASTASIO. 
 
 Scrivendo f Autore in Vienna Panne 1733 la' Sua 
 
 Olimpiade-) ft fenti Cornmoffo fino alle lagrimc 
 
 n eir efprimere la diviftone di due teneri amid : 
 
 e meravigliandofi eke un falfo, e da lui inven- 
 
 iato di/ajlro potejje caglonargli unaji vera paf- 
 
 Jtone^ ft fece a rifleltere quanta poco ragionevok 
 
 e folido fondamento pojfano aver le altre che 
 
 joglion frequentamente agitarci nel corfo di no/if* 
 
 vita. 
 
 OOGNI, e favole io fingo ) e pure in Carts 
 Mentre favole, e fogni orno, e difegno, 
 In lor, folle ch'io Son, prendon tal parte 
 Che del mal che inventai piaiigo e mi Sdegne. 
 Maforfe, allor che non m'inganna 1'arte, 
 Piu Saggio io Sono ? El' agitato ingegno 
 Forfe allor piu tranquillo ? O forfe parte 
 Da piu Salda cagion Tamor, Io Sdegno ? 
 Ah che non fol quelle, chio canto, o fcriv 
 Favole Son ; ma quanto temo, o fpero, 
 Tutto e menzogna, e delirando io vivo ! 
 Sogno della miavita e il Corfo intero. 
 Deh tu, Signor, quando a deftarmi arrivo 
 Fa ch'io trovi ripofo in Sea del VERO.
 
 In i733 the Author compoftng bis Olympiad, fiti 
 himfelf fudiienJy moved, even to tears, in e.\- 
 prejjlng the feparation of two tender Lovers. 
 Surprifed ttjat a fictitious grief, invented too by 
 bimfelf, could raife fo true a pajjion, he reflected 
 how little reafouabk andfolid a foundation th?. 
 fibers bad, ivk icb fo frequently agitated us in 
 tbisjlate of our exljlence. 
 
 SONNET. IMITATED. 
 
 R 
 
 ABLES and dreams I feign; yet though but verit 
 The dreams and fables, I adorn and call ; 
 
 Fool that I am ! I grieve as I rehearfe i 
 And GENUINE f EARS, for FANCIED SORROWS fall 
 
 Perhaps the dear delufion of my art 
 Is wifdom j and the agitated mind, 
 
 As ftill refponding to each plaintive part, 
 
 With lore and fcorn, a tranquil hour can find. 
 
 All ! not alone the tender RHIMES I give, 
 Are fictions ; but my FEARS and H6ls I deem 
 
 Are FABLES all delirioufly I live- 
 And life's Vvhole courfe is one protracted dream. 
 
 Eternal power ! when fhall I Wake to reft 
 This wearied brain on TRUTH'S immortal brtaft f 
 
 FINIS.
 
 ( "5 ) 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 * TAKE this opportunity of declaring, that having 
 been repeatedly attacked in the mojl illiberal manner 
 by WILLIAM GRAHAM, re/petting an Anecdote of 
 Mrs. MACAULEY'S mutilation of a Harleian MS. 
 that no juft reafon has yet been ajjigned to afford me 
 the pleafure of retracing this accufation again/I a 
 Lady of her eminent talents. 
 
 At prefent , the myjierious note of Dr. MORTON 
 remains unexplained, yet if it is allowed to have 
 any meaning, it muft convey a charge againft the 
 Hijiorian, and as fuch vjill no- doubt be received by 
 impartial pojierity. 
 
 This, however, I concede, that I cannot prove 
 this circumjiance, for I was not born when it took 
 place. It reft s not upon the floating reports of thirty 
 years, but in the circumjlantial evidence of the Note 
 which has been inferted in it's unmutilated _/?#/*, in 
 fever al literary journals. I fay unmutilated, for 
 Mr. G. had the ingenuity to give it only in tkejiate 
 which was moj} adapted to his purpnfe. 
 
 I was induced to notice this fengular occurrence, 
 not by dejjgn, but by accident ; with no other view 
 than that of literary inftruSion, ana for no other 
 forty than that of truth. 
 
 1. Z>' ISRAELI. 
 
 February 25, 1795. 
 
 WHERE
 
 ( 226 ) 
 
 WHERE MAY BE HAD, 
 By the AUTHOR, 
 
 A DISSERTATION on ANECDOTES. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ANECDOTES feldom read with ReflecT: ion They 
 form the moil agreeable parts of Hiftory Mate- 
 rials for the Hiftory of Manners Various Anecdotes 
 illuftrating this Topic Hiltory compared with Me- 
 moirs Anecdotes which reveal the Characters of 
 
 eminent Men By them we become acquainted with 
 human Nature Habituate the Mind to Reflection 
 Obfervations on Literary Anecdotes Literary Topics 
 greatly elucidated by their ikilful Arrangement Col- 
 lections of Anecdotes ferve as an excellent Subftitute 
 for the Converfations of eminent Writers Obferva- 
 tions on the Delight of Literary Hiltory Literary 
 Biography cannot be accompliflied without a copious 
 Ufe of Anecdotes Confidered as a Source of Literary 
 Amufement fuperior to Romances The Inftru&ions 
 which an Artift may derive from Anecdotes Of vari- 
 ous Ufe to Writers Anecdotes of an Author ferve as 
 Comments on his Work Anecdotes of Hiftorical 
 Writers very neceflary for the Readers of their Works 
 Addifon's Obfervation on Anecdotes iliuftrated 
 A Writer of Talents fees Connexions in Anecdotes 
 not perceived by others A Model of Anecdotical 
 CompofitSon Of frivolous Anecdotes Trifling Anec- 
 dotes fometimes to be excufed Character of a Writer 
 f Anecdotes.
 
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