An essay on the manners and genius of the literary character

?:<

./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 youtbt
" 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)n3 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 aratrot 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,an€y,
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
abilitiest 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 efpritt 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^yv>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.

( I03 )
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 Br»tus»"

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
I4 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 undc4 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 the1
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
gratification1. 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.*

K3 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.
vHe 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
fiefthnt 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
N4 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

i9o )

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-
fionst 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!icitast 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-
" Page> 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

( 2I9 )

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 H6lȣs 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.

University of California

SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY

405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388

Return this material to the library

from which it was borrowed.

<XLOCfl

4 1

W-CDYRL

A 000 084 420 9