ment they awake discover to be absurd*."

One chief cause of the interest which the Adventurer has usually excited among its readers, has arisen from the inventive powers which our author has so copiously displayed. His oriental, allegoric, and domestic tales, form the most striking feature of the work, and have, by their number and merit, very honourably distinguished it from every preceding paper.

For the composition of eastern narrative, Hawkesworth was, in many respects, highly qualified; his imagination was uncommonly fertile and glowing, his language clear and brilliant, yet neither gaudy nor over-charged, and he has always taken care to render the moral prominent and impressive, Thau his Amaruth, in Nos. 20, 21, and 22, no tale has been more generally admired; its instructive tendency is so great, its imagery and incidents are so ingeniously appropriate, that few compilers for youth have omitted to avail themselves of the lesson.

The story of Hassan, in No. 32, inculcating the necessity of religion as the only source of content, and of Cosrou the Iman, in No. 38, proving that charity and mutual utility form our firmest basis of acceptance with the Deity, are wrought aup with a spirit and force of colouring, which, while they delight the fancy, powerfully fix upon the heart the value and the wisdom of the precept.

The histories of Nouradin and Almana, and of Almerine and Shelima, in Nos. 72, 73, and 103, and

Adventurer, No. 130.

104, unfold, through the medium of a well-contrived series of incidents, the variety of human wishes, and the omnipotence of virtue; whilst in the vision of Almet the Dervise, in No. 114, the duties of resting our hopes upon eternity, and of considering this world as a probationary scene, are enforced in a manner equally novel and ingenious.

Of the oriental fictions of Hawkesworth, however, by many degrees the most splendid and sublime, is the tale of Carazan, the Merchant of Bagdadt. The misery of utter solitude, the punislunent appointed in this story to the vices of avarice and selfishness, was never before painted in colours so vivid and terrific. The subsequent passage, in which the doom of Carazan and its consequences are described, no writer of eastern fable will probably ever surpass. The Deity thus addresses the trembling object of his indignation :

"Carazan, thy worship has not been accepted, because it was not prompted by love of God; neither can thy righteousness be rewarded, because it was not produced by love of man: for thy own sake only hast thou rendered to every man his due; and thou hast approached the Almighty only for thyself. Thou hast not looked up with gratitude, nor around thee with kindness.. Around thee, thou hast indeed beheld vice and folly; but if vice and folly could justify thy parsimony, would they not condemn the bounty of heaven? If not upon the foolish and the vicious, where shall the sun diffuse his light, or

† No. 132.

the

the clouds distil their dew? Where shall the lips of the spring breathe fragrance, or the hand of autumn diffuse plenty? Remember, Carazan, that thou hast shut compassion from thine heart, and grasped thy treasures with a hand of iron: thou hast lived for thyself; and therefore, henceforth for ever thou shalt subsist alone. From the light of heaven, and from the society of all beings, shalt thou be driven; solie tude shall protract the lingering hours of eternity, and darkness aggravate the horrors of despair.' At this moment I was driven by some secret and irresistible power through the glowing system of creation, and passed innumerable worlds in a moment. As I approached the verge of nature, I perceived the shadows of total and boundless vacuity deepen before me, a dreadful region of eternal silence, solitude, and darkness! Unutterable horror seized me at the prospect, and this exclamation burst from me with all the vehemence of desire: 'O! that I had been doomed for ever to the coinmon receptacle of impenitence and guilt! there society would have alleviated the torment of despair, and the rage of fire could not have excluded the comfort of light. Or if I had been condemned to reside in a comet, that would return but once in a thousand years to the regions of light and life, the hope of these periods, however distant, would cheer me in the dread interval of cold and darkness, and the vicissitudes would divide eternity into time.' While this thought passed over my mind, I lost sight of the remotest star, and the last

glimmering of light was quenched in utter darkness. The agonies of despair every moment increased, as every moment augmented my distance from the last habitable world. I reflected with intolerable anguish, that when ten thousand thousand years had carried me beyond the reach of all but that Power who fills infinitude, I should still look forward into an immense abyss of darkness, through which I should still drive without succour and without society, farther and farther still, for ever and for ever."

All the allegories in the Adventurer are the product of our author's pen; these constitute, however, if we except an allegorical letter from To-Day, but three; viz. The Influence of the Town on Theatric Exliibition, in No. 26; The Origin of Canning, in No. 31; and Honour founded on Virtue, in No.61. A fancy playful and exuberant may be discerned in these pieces; but they possess not, either in style of imagery, the glow and richmess of his eastern fictions.

In the conduct of his domestic tales, the genius of Hawkesworth appears again to great advantage: they indicate his possession, not only of a powerful mastery over the passions, but of no common knowledge of life, of manners, and of the human heart. The History of Melissa, in Nos. 7 and 8, is a pathetic and interesting example of the soothing hope and consolation that await integrity of conduct, though under the pressure of poignant distress. The wretchedness and ruin so frequently attendant on infidelity are pointedly illustrated in the story of Opsinous; and the fatal effects of deviations from truth, however slight, or apparently venial, receive a striking demonstration from the narrative of Charlotte and Maria *.

The injury which society has suffered from the long prevailing and increasing practice of duelling, has often been a subject of regret; and many efforts have been made, though hitherto in vain, to diminish or suppress a custom so pernicious, To contribute his aid to the efforts of those who have reprobated such violation of the public law, Hawkesworth has written his story of Eugeniot, which is calculated, by its moral and pathetic appeal, strongly to impress the mind in favour of the abolition of a usage that is undoubtedly the offspring of a barbarous age, and which has entailed upon mankind misery so incalculable.

a

As a preventive of debauchery and its destructive consequences, the Life of Agamus and his Daughter may be confidently recommended to every readert. It is a detail of which, in the luxury and dissipation of a large metropolis, there are, we have reason to apprehend, numerous counterparts.

To expose the folly of wanton rudeness and indiscriminate familiarity, to shew the danger of assuming the appearance of evil, though for purposes apparently beneficial, and to display the dreadful result of fashionable levities, form the purport of the narratives of Abuluss, of Desdemona||, and of Flavilla . They are constructed, in point of incident, with much in

genuity; curiosity is kept alive, and the dénouement is effected with every requisite probability.

Still further to diversify the pages of the Adventurer, our author has interspersed several papers, the chief characteristic of which is humour; a humour, however, which is rather solemn and ironical than light and sportive. Of the essays in this province, which are the product of his pen, we shall enumerate eight, as peculiarly entertaining: No. 5, The Transmigrations of a Flea; Nos, 15 and 27, On Quack Advertisements; No. 17, Story of Mr. Friendly and his Nephew; No. 52, Distresses of an Author invited to read his Play; No. 98, Account of Tim Wildgoose; No. 100, Gradation from a Greenborn to a Blood; and No. 121, The Adventures of a Louse.

It is probable, that to a passage in Johnson's Life of Gay, we are indebted for the ludicrous distresses in No. 52; at least, one of the circumstances of the tale actually occurred to that poet, when requested to read his tragedy, entitled The Captives, to the Princess of Wales. "When the hour came," records his biographer, " he saw the princess and her ladies all in expectation; and advancing with reverence, too great for any other attention, stambled at a stool, aud falling forwards, threw down a weighty japan screen. The princess started, the ladies screamed, and poor Gay, after all the disturbance, was still to read his play**." Scholastic bashfulness had been the subject of an excellent paper in Johnson's

Rambler, and, since the Adventurer, has again formed the topic of an essay in No. 22 of Repton's Variety +.

If we advert to the moral tendency of the essays of Hawkesworth, we shall find them uniformly subservient to the best interests of virtue and religion. Every fiction which he has drawn involves the illustration of some important duty, or lays bare the pernicious consequences of some alluring vice. Even incidents which appear to possess a peculiar individuality, are rendered, by the dextrous management of our author, accessory to the purposes of universal monition. As instances, however, of those numbers of the Adventurer, which, dismissing the attractions of scenic art, are strictly didactic, we may mention, as singularly worthy of notice, No. 10, illustrative of the inquiry, How far Happiness and Misery are the necessary effects of Virtue and Vice; No. 28, On the Positive Duties of Religion, as influencing Moral Conduct; No. 46, On Detraction and Treachery; No. 48, On the Precept to Love our Enemies; No. 82, On the Production of Personal Beauty by Moral Sentiment; and No. 130, On the Danger of Relapse after Purposes of Amendment.

From the observations which we have now made upon the merits of Hawkesworth's periodical writings, it may justly be inferred that he holds a high rank among our classical essayists. He takes his station, indeed, after Addison and Jolinson; and the Adventurer, which rose under his fostering care, need not

fear a comparison with the Rainbler and Spectator.

One object which Hawkesworth had in view, in the composition of his Adventurers, was that of proving to the world how well adapted he was, in point of moral and religious principle, for the superintendence of the school which his wife had opened for the education of young ladies. This object was fully attained; for the seminary rapidly increased, and finally became a very lucrative undertaking.

From his customary attention to the academy, however, he was for a short time diverted, by a very unexpected promotion. Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury, being highly pleased with the instructive tendency of his papers in the Adventurer, conferred upon him the degree of doctor of civil law; a dignity which suggested a new road to emolument, by giving him a title to practise as a civilian in the ecclesiastical courts. In the attempt, however, after some preparatory study to carry this plan into execution, he completly failed, owing to the strenuous opposition which he had to encounter.

A still more unfortunate result of his elevation was the loss of Johnson's friendship; a deprivation which, we are sorry to remark, appears to have arisen from his own ill-timed ostentation, a weakness that few could suppose attached to a mind apparently so well reguJated. His success," says Sir John Hawkins, " wrought no good effects upon his mind and conduct it elated him too much, and betrayed him into a forgetfulness of

† Published in 1788.

his origin, and a neglect of his early acquaintance; and on this I have heard Johnson remark, in terms that sufficiently expressed a knowledge of his character, and a resentment of his behaviour. It is probable that he might use the same language to Hawkesworth himself, and also reproach him with the acceptance of an academical honour to which he could have no pretensions, and which Johnson, conceiving to be irregular, as many yet do, held in great contempt: thus much is certain, that soon after the attainment of it, the intimacy between them ceased*.".

That Hawkesworth's acceptance of this degree should cause such forgetfulness of himself, as to lead to the neglect of those who had principally contributed to his literary advancement, is certainly an instance of deplorable folly; but that Johuson was justified in reproaching him for his admission of the honour, and in ridiculing his pretensions to it, will hardly be affirmed. It was intemted by Herring as the reward of exertions in support of morality and religion, not as the acknowledgment of ahilities for the legal profession; and therefore the conduct of Jolmson, on this occasion, might liave justly roused resentment in a mind of much less irritability than Hawkesworth possessed.

The reputation which the doctor bad acquired by his Adventurer, held out strong inducements to the prosecution of his literary career; and in the year 1756, at the request of Garrick, he turned his attention towards the stage. His first pro

duction, in this province, was an alteration of Dryden's, comedy of Amphytrion, accompanied by new music; and, in 1760, he brought forward his "Zimri, an oratorio," which was performed at Covent Garden, and set to music by Mr. Stanley. It was favourably, received, and though the fable, from the peculiarity of its incidents, is by no means calculated for public representation, the poetry, which is much above mediocrity, ensured its success.

About the period of his production of "Zimri," he altered Southern's tragedy of "Oroonoko" for Drury Lane theatre; and in 1761 brought upon the same stage an entertainment, under the title of "Edgar and Emmeline." This is a fairy tale, and is the construction of which he has exhibited much elegance of imagination.

It is to be regretted, that the dramatic labours of our author closed with this performance; for, from his powers of language, his fertility of fancy, and his knowledge of the human heart, there is every reason to suppose that he might have attained to distinguished excellence as a disciple of Melpomene.

He had been, however, sometime employed on the composition of an oriental tale, upon a scale much larger than that of his eastern narratives in the Adventurer. It was published in the same year with his "Edgar and Emmeline," and is entitled "Almoran and Hamet;" it occupies two volumes 12mo. and is dedicated to the king: In this fiction, which soon became popular,

and