capon, nto a recollection of what I eat yesterday, and do almost The following criticism on Sir Charles Grandison is in general just, but Lady Mary's conjectures respecting poor Richardson tend only to show the folly of referring too frequently from the book to its author. TO THE COUNTESS OF bute. Louvere, Oct. 20, N. S. 1752. Dear Child, "Read over Richardson-he sinks horribly in his third volume (he does so in his story of Clarissa.) When he talks of Italy, it is plain he is no better acquainted with it than he is with the kingdom of Mancomingo. He might have made his Sir Charles's amour with Clementina begin in a convent, where the pensioners sometimes take great liberties; but that such familiarity should be permitted in her father's house, is as repugnant to custom, as it would be in London for a young lady of quality to dance on the ropes at Bartholomew fair: neither does his hero behave to her in a manner suitable to his nice notions. It was im || and among them a criticism on Pamela, who is, however, more favourably treated than she deserves. The book of letters I mention never came to my hands till some time after it was printed, accidentally at Thoulouse. I have need of all my philosophy on these occasions; though they happen so often, I ought to be accustomed to them. When I print, I submit to be answered, and criticised; but as I never did, 'tis hard to be abused for other people's" follies. A light thing said in gay company, should not be called upon for a serious defence, especially when it injures nobody. It is certain there are as many marriages as ever. Richardson is so eager for the multiplication of them, I. suppose he is some parish curate, whose chief profit depends on weddings and christenings. He is not a maninidwife; for he would be better skilled in physic than to think fits and madness any ornament to the characters of is heroines: though this Sir Charles had no thoughts of marrying Clementina till she had lost her wits, and the divine Clarissa never acted prudently till she was in the saine condition, and then very wisely desired to be carried to Bedlam, which is really all that is to be done in that case. Madness is as much a corporal distemper as the gout or asthma, never occasioned by affliction, or to be cured by the enjoyment of extravagant wishes. Passion may indeed bring on a fit, but the disease is lodged in the blood, and it is not more ridiculous to attempt to relieve the gout by an embroidered slipper, than to restore reason by the gratification of wild desires. "Richardson is as ignorant in morality as he is in anatomy, when he declares abusing an obliging husband, or an indulHow and Charlotte Grandison are recommended as patterns gent parent, to be an innocent recreation. His Anna of charming pleasantry, and applauded by his saint-like dames, who mistake folly for wit and humour, and impudence and ill-nature for spirit and fire. Charlotte behaves like a humoursome child, and should have been used like one, and well whipped in the presence of her friendly confidante Harriot. Lord Halifax very justly tells his daughter, possible a discerning man should not see her passion early when he is drunk, and though it is wrapped up in never so that a husband's kindness is to be received by a wife, even enough to check it, if he had really designed it. His conduct puts me in mind of some ladies I have known, much impertinence. Charlotte acts with an ingratitude that who could never find out a man to be in love with them, and low expressions as are only to be heard among the I think too black for human nature, with such coarse jokes let him do or say what he would, till he made a direct attempt, and then they were so surprized I warrant you! right to beat their husbands, when they don't, cuckold lowest class of people. Women of that rank often plead a nor do I approve Sir Charles's offered compromise (as he calls it.) There must be a great indifference as to religion them; and I believe this author was never admitted into on both sides, to make so strict a union as marriage tolera-higher company, and should confine his pen to the amours: ble between people of such distinct persuasions. He seems of housemaids, and the conversation at the steward's table, to think women have no souls, by agreeing so easily that where I imagine he has sometimes intruded, though his daughters should be educated in bigotry and idolatry." oftener in the servant's hall: yet, if the title be not a puff, this work has passed three editions. I do not forgive him This is followed by a long digression on the Roman his disrespect of old china, which is below nobody's taste, Catholic religion, after which her ladyship returns to since it has been the duke of Argyll's, whose understanding Richardson: has never been doubted either by his friends or enemies. "This digression has carried me far from my criticism. You will laugh at my making any, on a work below examination. It may be of use to my grand-daughters. I am persuaded he is a favourite author in all the nurseries in England, and has done much harm in the boarding schools, therefore ought to have his absurdities detected. You will think me angry with him for repeating a saying of mine, accompanied with a description of my person, which resembles me as much as one of the giants in Guildhall, and plainly shews he never saw me in his life. Indeed, Í think, after being so many years dead and buried, I might be suffered to enjoy the right of the departed, and rest in peace. I cannot guess how I can possibly have incurred his indignation, except he takes for truth the literary correspondence between me and the Mrs. Argens, whom I never saw, and who, with many high compliments, have attributed to me sentiments that never came into my head, "Richardson never had probably money enough to purchase any, or even a ticket for a masquerade, which gives him such an aversion to them; though this intended satire against them is very absurd on the account of his Harriet, since she might have been carried off in the same manner if she had been going from supper with her grandane. Her whole behaviour, which he designs to be exemplary, is equally blameable and ridiculous. She follows the maxim of Clarissa, of declaring all she thinks to all the people she sees, without reflecting that in this mortal state of imper-. fection, fig leaves are as necessary for our minds as our bodies, and 'tis as indecent to shew all we think, as all we have. He has no idea of the manners of high life his old lord M. talks in the style of a country justice, and his virtuous young ladies romp like the wenches round a maypole. Such liberties as pass between Mr. Lovelace and his I cousins, are not to be excused by the relation. I should have been much astonished if lord Denbigh should have I notice. The greater part of her ladyship's life appears offered to kiss me; and I dare swear lord Trentham never attempted such an impertinence to you. and There is a passage in a subsequent letter which seems in some degree prophetic, both with regard to the political and the dramatic world.-Speaking of a lady who had "dishonoured her family by marriage," now to have been spent in reading novels, and making such reflections on the past as naturally proceed from "With all my contempt I will take notice of one good a woman of a cultivated understanding who has seen thing: I mean his project of an English monastery. It was a favourite scheme of mine when I was fifteen; and much of life, whatever use she may have made of her had I then been mistress of an independent fortune, would advantages. Upon the whole of this collection, there certainly have executed it, and elected myself lady abbess.fore, we conceive the public will be disappointed; There would you ten children have been lost for what is new is far inferior to the part long since pubyour ever. Yet such was the disposition of my early youth: solished; but the disappointment of the public will not much was I unlike those girls that declare, if they had perhaps be altogether unmerited. Many are led to been born of the male kind they should have been great expect from the unpublished MSS. of such a character rakes, which is owning they have strong inclinations to as lady Mary, those particulars which can only gratify and drinking, and want only opportunity and an impertinent curiosity, and such are here very impunity to exert them vigorously." properly withheld. The lovers of scandal and scandalous intrigue will be ready to lament that their taste has not been consulted in the selection; but although the greatest degree of caution has been employed, there is yet enough to induce the discerning reader to form a tolerably just character of the author, and to "The confounding of all ranks, and making a jest of conclude, that whatever her genius or accomplishorder, has long been growing in England: and I perceivements, she cannot be held up as a pattern to her sex. by the books you sent me, has made á very considerable progress. The heroes and heroines of the age are coblers and kitchen wenches.-It has long been the endeavour of our English writers, to represent people of quality as the vilest and silliest part of the nation, being (generally) very low born themselves. I am not surprized at their propagating this doctrine; but I am much mistaken if this levelling principle does not, one day or other, break out in fatal consequences to the public, as it has already done in many private families." She adds afterwards, "the greatest examples I have known of honour and integrity have been among those of the highest birth and fortunes. There are many reasons why it should be so, which I will not trouble you with. If my letter was to be published, I know I should be railed at for pride, and called an enemy of the poor." she remarks: These remarks might give rise to many others, if this were the place to indulge in them. Writers may endeavour to infuse a levelling spirit, but that can have little effect in this nation, if" people of quality" will not promote it by lowering themselves.† The "bane and antidote," however, are both before them. In the early part of the work, we have the gay, sprightly, witty lady Mary; in the latter part, the peevish, deserted, moralizing exile, forgotten by the world, and vainly striving to retaliate, amusing her expiring life with books which her sense condemns, and regardless, if not ignorant, of the only sources of consolation when " the days of darkness" approach. The remainder of Vol. V. consists of lady M's poetry and a few prose essays, in which we perceive nothing superior. Her poetry is justly characterised by the editor; and we agree with him that" if she had applied herself wholly to poetry, a near approximation to the rank of her contemporary bards would have been adjudged to her by impartial posterity." Of her epistolary talents, we entertain no opinion derogatory to that which the public long ago formed from the "Letters" published in 1765, but we do Her ladyship's taste will probably appear ambiguous think that that opinion will not be heightened by the In what she says of Dr. Johnson's celebrated production. additions now given. They are intended to raise our "The Rambler is certainly a strong misnomer; headiniration of lady Mary, and they are calculated to always plods in the beaten road of his predecessors, diminish it, which was certainly not intended. There following the Spectator (with the same pace a pack-is a mystery in all this which we shall not at present horse would do a hunter) in the style that is proper to attempt to explain. lengthen a paper. These writers may, perhaps, be of Much cannot be said in favour of the two portraits service to the public, which is saying a great deal in which accompany this edition. Contrary to all usual their favour ;"—and, we are confident, a great deal practice, they are engraved, in the fine paper copies, more than ever can be said of her ladyship's most ap-by Caroline Watson, and in the common paper, by proved works, notwithstanding the attainments of the writer and the interest they create. About an hundred pages of Vol. V. contain the remainder of her letters to Mr. Wortley, and the Countess of Bute, from 1756 to 1761. They are in general short, but, however agreeable as private correspondence, seem to present few claims to public * We must beg her ladyship's pardon here, for referring our readers to the letters, and especially the periodical papers of that low born fellow, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield. In a subsequent letter to her daughter, she says, "I am fond of your httle Louisa: to say truth, I was afraid of a Bess, a Peg, or a Sukey, which all give me the ideas of washing tubs, and scouring of kettles." This is a curious example of the pride of names. an inferior, artist. The fac-similes, however, are admirably executed. We hope this will become a fashion in the publication of literary correspondence. The American. A Novel. 2 vols. 12mo. By William Higgins. As we are compelled, by the courtesy of criticism, to consider a novel as a catalogue of marvels and miseries, we cannot deny that The American has manifold claims on the sympathy of her readers. We have here a sailor drowned, but who is neither drowned, nor a sailor, being an exceedingly beautiful American young lady shipwrecked in a sailor's dress. We have a grateful panther-the old story of Androcles Father Joseph de Youvancy, author of the present work, was born at Paris in 1643; he obtained great celebrity, if not from the brilliancy of his talents, at least from his assiduous and well directed labours in that honourable career which was then considered as the only path that afforded access to the polite arts. He was, during many years. professor of rhetoric in the college of Paris, and his works were remark (or as he is here named Androculus), and the lion-work performs much more than it promises; and the a humane savage-a benevolent highwayman-and a reader who, from its title, naturally expects little else just assassin; or at least one who declares, very con- than a rational treatise on the method of teaching and trary to the usual principles of that class, that if he studying, is agreeably surprised in finding it contain were an assassin, he would not hesitate a moment to the most interesting accounts of the literary exertions surrender his forfeited life to justice-a seducer-a of the once disliked, but recently revived society of the duel, in which the seducer falls, for duels in novels Jesuits; the vicissitudes of public instruction during are always in favour of the injured party-the heroine the last and the latter part of the preceding century; carried off by four villains, to an old castle, and in the commencement of the union of philology with America too, which we never suspected to abound in metaphysics; the method of keeping common-place old castles, and this vile plot contrived by a Colonel, books; and the conduct of the human understanding, who is also an American, and as wicked as any Euro- as it was practised before the writings of our immortal pean officer of the saine rank-a storm in an open Locke and his disciples. boat-an Algerine pirate, who makes our heroine a captive, but does not know her sex-an episode of a noble Italian also a captive, who was married to an angel, (the general lot of unfortunate men) but torn from her embraces-the heroine at length is delivered from captivity, and arrives at Italy-sets off thence for America the captain of the ship, to possess her jewels, forms the diabolical design of throwing her overboard, which she prevents by making him a pre-able for an uncommon purity and elegance of Latin sent of them-a dreadful storm again-the ship wrecked and all the crew perish, except the American who is thrown ashore, as aforesaid, and "brought to life."-The author concludes in these words, "Her sufferings, her iniseries, I hope are over: but should she communicate any intelligence of importance," (from America, to which she sailed about four months before the publication of these volumes) "I shall most faithfully disclose it to the public, with as much scrupulous adherence to truth, as if she were to overlook and correct the work herself. In vindication of myself, or any defect that shall be found in this little history, I have only to add, that I wrote it under the pressure of some private afflictions, which absolutely "The school of the Jesuits," says he, "comprehended hurried me on with the subject, and allowed time for in its plan whatever was connected with polite hterature, neither elegance of description or amendment." Sor- and bestowed an equal share of attention upon each of its row is sacred, and we wish not to intrude by im- departments..... To the study of history, oratory pertinent inquiries, but we may be permitted to add, and morals, it united that of poetry of every class and des that it would have thrown considerable light on the cription: it likewise taught the art of making epigrams, phænomena of the human mind, had our author found its proper place amongst more important avocations. devices and enigmas; and each of these jeux d'esprit hinted at the nature of those afflictions, which not What, however, eminently distinguished the school was only find relief in writing novels, but "absolutely the care which it took of multiplying the means of emulahurry" the patient " on with the subject," in defiance tion: perpetual sources of rivalship were introduced among of style and correction. The fact we shall not pre- the several pupils in their respective class, as well as between sume to doubt, because it is often repeated by modern the classes themselves; with the view of exercising their novelists, but we wish for a further elucidation of pupils in the use of voice and gesticulation, pieces were particulars, before we can gravely set down author-purposely written, and delivered before strangers; conship among the alleviations of human misery. FOREIGN. style. Of these works, the most esteemed was that now under review: it was considered by the Jesuits as a classical performance; by Voltaire, as one of the best ever written on the subject, since the time of Quintilian; and by Rollin, as a performance which left no other wish than that it were longer. In the Latin original it was entitled, Ratio discendi et docendi; and it had begun to be almost forgotten in literary history, when Mr. Lefortier presented it to the pub lic in a French translation. With respect to the method of studying and teaching among the Jesuits, we shall let Mr. Lefortier speak in his own words: ferences were regularly held in the masters' presence, in which prescribed subjects formed the topic of discussion; these were considered as academies of boys established on the model of the higher societies of the kind, where every member displayed the fruits of his own labour; and successful exertions either of individuals or classes were at Maniere d'Apprendre et d'Enseigner; ouvrage traduit du Latin du P. Youvancy, Jesuite; par. I. F. Le-tended by suitable rewards. These rewards, consisting of fortier. Paris, 1803. 12mo. In announcing the reappearance of this judicious and interesting work, in a modern dress, we do not hesitate in giving our opinion that no book of its kind, perhaps, was more worthy of being rescued from oblivion; and that it is one of the most unexceptionable publications which have lately issued from the very prolific press of France. Like the generality of those which bear, the mark of genius, the present crowns, badges, higher places, and privileges, kept the ju- lessness which was only suitable to their classes. By affecting too much to be fine wits, they ultimately produced nothing better than college exercises. This picture being, with a few modifications, applicable also to the French universities, Mr. Lefortier proceeds to state the gradual decay of the same systen of instruction in France. He observes, what is literally true, that" although the study of polite literature has constituted the basis of public instruction, in every civilized country, and that only of late years some paradoxical authors have sought to substitute for it a system less congenial to the natural process of the human mind, it was in fact undeniable that some abuses cried aloud for a reform." Whether it were re laxation or disregard, whether the fault lay in the of experience. For want of mature reflection, we have been apt to arrogate to ourselves the discovery of some practical truths which had been fully known to past ages, although they may have been destitute of that scientific nomenclature which was universally adopted during the last century. We have, in fact, the following doctrine from father Youvançy relative to the practical science, of the human mind, and of its immediate connection with the art of writing. If," as Horace said, "good sense is the foundation and the principle of the art of writing, it immediately follows that the style, which is nothing more than a peculiar manner of writing, consists of two parts-a rational idea or sentiment, and its appropriate enunciation..... Whatever may be said of thoughts, in general, amounts to nothing more than that they must be first genuine, then perspicuous, and lastly, suitable to the subject in nand..... . From the vigour and clearness of our understanding we may form a proper idea of every object, know what constitutes its nature, and distinguish real from factitious beauty........ As to the expression of the same thoughts, or what we call elocution; we must remark the propriety, the elegance, the arrangement, the connection, and the sufficiency of words." in the 17th century; it follows that Condillac and his numerous disciples have given nothing more than a developement of them, in their works on the art of writing. It is worthy of remark too, that the use of common-place books was known and practised even before Locke, and we shall let father Youvancy himself speak on this subject also. These fundamental truths concerning the union of "Numberless plans," says he, "had appeared for re-metaphysics with philology being, as it appears, known form in public instruction, either from men in power, or from private writers. Rousseau had given the first impulse by his Emilius, in which the ideas of Locke were clothed in his enchanting style, and some others peculiar to himself were exhibited, which this sober philosopher would most certainly have disapproved. In his usual strain, he had exaggerated the vices of our mode of instruction, and no other remedy did he see for them than a complete revolution..... .Some time after, two plans appeared which had been offered to the parliaments of Brittany and Burgundy, by La Chalotais and Guyton de Morveau: the former, a mortal enemy of the Jesuits, seized the oppor-. tunity of depreciating whatever had been practised in their schools; the latter, more sedate and experienced, had no other merit, than of having favoured the literary world with an excellent memoir on so important a subject. The several other plans which had been afterwards published soon fell into a deserved oblivion. Some others appeared at the period of the revolution, among which the most remarkable was that of Talleyrand.... There were excellent views in that of Mirabeau, and still more in that of Condorcet..... But the general defect of all these plans was their containing vague and lofty ideas, which could not stand the test of reflection and practice.... .We now feel the necessity of descending from such high towering thoughts, and of adopting more judicious and practicable methods. We have been, in some measure, obliged to ransack a number of excellent works on the subject, which we had disdainfully confined to the obscure corners of our libraries, as notoriously incommensurate with the present state of our knowledge; and are now surprised to find in the books of Rollin, Fleury, Fenelon, &c. an extent of views, which we were far from suspecting; that invaluable precision and simplicity which is the infallible mark of a great mind, and those sober and practicable methods which had stood the test of time and experience." We cannot without emotion contemplate this interesting picture, nor sufficiently lament the misfortune of France, in having fallen a prey to a destructive philosophy, and of the civilized world at large for having so hastily condemned the institutions of our forefathers, which had received the venerable sanction "We must always have in hand several blank books of a small size, and consign to each of them our notes or abstracts. This purpose may be equally well answered by dividing one large book into many parts, each of them corresponding with the several objects of our pursuits...... This book, again, may be divided into chapters: for instance, 1. the ALMIGHTY, and under this head may rank religion, sacrifices, temples, &c.; 2. MAN, under which the two different sexes may occupy as many distinct sections; S. the king, the laws, and government; 4. social life, friends and amusements; 5. virtue and vice; 6. peace and war; 7. polite and mechanic arts; 8. animals, vegetables, &c. The margin in every page must be wide, and thus give room to the insertion either of the title, or of the detail of the matters there contained. It is, however, not necessary to mark, in a common-place book, every thing which happens to excite our attention. Very often it will be sufficient to point the place where we can find an object." The work is divided into two parts; the first of which contains the method of learning; and the second, that of teaching. The length into which we have already gone will not permit a further detail of this interesting work; nor is it necessary to add any thing in support of the advantageous idea which our readers must have already formed from the above mentioned authorities of Voltaire and Rollin. We cannot, however, leave entirely unnoticed the second chapter of the second part, concerning the best method of teaching well, and the several qualifications which a good master ought to possess, as well as the defects which ought most carefully to be avoided. We refer List of New Publications from July 1, to July 16, 1803. HISTORY, VOYAGES, AND TRAVELS. History of the Reign of George the Third to the Ter: Revolution in 1688. By John Millar, Esq. 4 vols. 17. 128. 8vo. The Stranger in France, or a Tour from Devonshire to Paris. Illustrated by Drawings in Aquatinta. By John Carr, Esq. 4to. 1. 1s. Fine, 17. 11s. 6d. A Sketch of all the Invasions against the British Islands, from the landing of William the Conqueror, to the present time. POLITICS. 28. A Few Words-Resist, or be Ruined!-Price 6d. or The Warning Drum-a Call to the People of England, to resist Invaders, 3d. or 2s. 6d. a doz. or 18s. per hundred. and his mode of prevention is a stricter "preventive police." A brief Review of Financial Arrangements for the 1s. The writer disapproves of an income tax on trade, because Adam Smith has told him that such a tax must eventually fall on the consumer. He advises the sale of his Majesty's forests in lots-that the produce may help to liquidate the national debt, and that the agriculture of the country may be increased, which is "at present over-run bread, and a restriction, of the interest on money borrowed, by that of the manufactories!”—He condemns an assize on to 5 per cent. The Country in Arms. 16. Sermons. By William Laurence Brown, D.D. 8vo. 75. Reflections on the Works of God. By Christopher The Author reproaches the Continental Powers for Christian Sturm. Translated by the Author of the having by their supineness given almost universal dominion Adviser, 3 pocket volumes. 98. to France. He recommends unanimity in the present con- The reason given for obtruding on the public notice a test. He is of opinion, that it would be wrong, by a tire--fourth English translation of this popular work, is that those some and desultory system of warfare, to exhaust that hitherto published have been "polluted by colloquial barba spirit with which the nation seems to be animated, and that risms." The present translator observes in his preface that if the enemy delay the attack, we should ourselves com- in a work of this nature "something more than merely mence it., expressing the thought is required; the harmony of cadence, the rounding of period, and the poising of sentences, all are necessary to excite and arrest the attention; and unless the attention be stimulated and stabilitated, it will be to very little purpose that the moralist declaims or the philosopher writes." In avoiding one rock, our translator has split upon another; the vanity of attempting to mimic, without the power of imitating the style of Johnson, has been the Charybdis of pedantry ever since his time.After observing that Sturm's Reflections "have never been presented in an array fit for the English reader"—he says, " that this has not hitherto been done will be doubted by none whose perceptive and ratiocinative powers are not sunk far below the standard of mediocrity."-Again, "Every period of the translations of Sturm, hitherto sent into the world present the most disgusting frequency of reiterated repetition.” Excepting a few instances of this tumid jargon, the translation is, on the whole, a good one. A sensible and energetic appeal to the hearts and understandings of the people of England, in consequence of the threat of an Invasion by France. After pointing out the miserable situation of the countries subjugated by the French, the Author endeavours to convince his readers how much worse we must expect our treatment to be, should we suffer ourselves to be overcome either by their arms or their arguments--we who have formed the only resistance to their mad ambition.-It is pleasing to observe how the press, at this moment, teems with pamphlets of this deseription, and with what avidity they are read: but we are surprized that most of them either entirely neglect, or only slightly appeal to that passion, which, we are convinced, would have the greatest effect-the indignant pride of Englishmen. Thoughts respecting the Origin of Treasonable Con- The author traces the origin of treasonable conspiracies principally to the American war and the French revolution, VOL. II. MEDICINE. The Elements of Physiology, containing an explana tion of the Functions of the Human Body, in which the modern improvements in Chemistry, Galvanism, and other Sciences, are applied to explain the actions of the animal economy. Translated from the French of A. Richeraud. By Robert Kerrison, 8vo. G |