occafion a tædium vitæ ;' and the eye of a traveller in a journey, not unreasonably compared to life, must be fimilarly affected, and feel a tædium viæ.'

Put we the question to a reader- You have an author, who keeps a medium throughout his work; whofe flights are not lofty, and whose blemishes are not great: another presents you with animated descriptions; his imagination glows with fublimity; but he is fometimes à l'ou'trée;' his enthufiafm overpowers his judgement; he has a variety of beauties, but he is incorrect."

⚫ What anfwer could reafonably be given? The preference must be allowed to the latter. His excellencies will amply recompenfe his defects; and the heat, which in this paffage infpires the reader, will enable him to fupport the fhivering fit which awaits him in the next.

What is correctnefs, without fpirit, or a freedom from faults, without a poffeffion of actual beauties?-A

mere • caput

mortuum' in compofition. The very first perufal of the performance will be thrown away.

SECTION

A

XXXIV.

Genius, whofe exertions call themfelves forth on a variety of fubjects, bids ill to fucceed in any. Excellence in one pursuit is difficult; for how many have thus toiled in vain! A multifarious is at beft an injudicious writer, and a portion of diffidence is a rational tribute to the wcaknefs of human intellect; though a ‹ felix audacia' is necessary to animate the fpirit of an author, and poetry in particular expires without it. Upftarts, who carelessly walk over the wide bowers of literature,

will not fail to • bruife' many precious These should reflect, that

of Aowerets.?

rays of genius, like the fun, fhed a more foftering radiance, where they fall in a direct courfe; while their powers are gradually weakened with their obliquity.

Our author's comparifon between DEMOST THENES and HYPERIDES may be illuftrated by the examples of DEMOSTHENES and CICERO. If we refpect the Roman proportionably to the variety of his works, he claims a fuperiority: he poffeffed a genius. more comprehenfive; was philofopher, legiflator, orator, and every thing but poet: he opposed the enemies of his philosophical principles with the warmth of reasoning, as he more vehemently arraigned the enemies of his country with the fire of eloquence. The latter was the province of the Grecian : of a fpirit too uncontroled for the calmer walk of argument, he rushed forth to combat the ftorm, which frowned upon his country liberty was his object; for that alone he contended; on this infpiring theme

his inveterate declamation against the threa tening defpotifm of PHILIP inftructed his Roman fucceffor to hurl the fhafts of oratory on the oppreffive infolence of ANTONY.

PLINY has been preferred to CICERO in the task of epiftolary compofition. The letters of the laft are, in my judgement, fome of the most fortunate reliques of his pen but every critic has his favo rite among the ancients; and he, who exercifes his talents in the difcuffion of a writer, muft pay himself a bad compliment in condemning him; for the queftion on this is obvious- Why, Mr. Com⚫mentator, did you not chufe a better?'

SEC

SECTION

XXXV.

ΟRIG. "Η φύσις ο τάπεινον ἡμᾶς ζωον εδ

3

αγενες έκρινε.

HE mind of man is by nature great;

THE

and meanness, where reafon made the fmalleft refiftance, never entered but by the prevalence of art and infinuation. This innate dignity fpurs us to the emulation of moft confpicuous actions. The feeds of wickedness may have been fown at an earlier period; but its poffeffor rarely looks upon it without at leaft a fecret horror. The genuine offspring of abandoned company, depravity itself, will then only be proof to virtuous fentiment, when a familiar repetition of vice has thrown a veil over its charms, totally to conceal them from corruption and debauchery.

ORIG.