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it to be our duty, on occafions like the prefent, where a pompous correctnefs is affected, but where real inaccuracy is difplayed, even to defcend to minuteness of criticifm; and, by pointing out, from time to time, fuch glaring blemishes in ftyle, ufefully to operate on the public tafte. Of the talents, and particularly of the industry of the prefent biographer, we have no mean opinion (although a little more mean, perhaps, than is entertained by that biographer himself); and we therefore think, that he may be inclined to take what we have faid in good part. In regard to imitations of the ftyle of Johnfon, we willingly hope that the period is now at hand, when they will probably be managed with greater tafte and difcrimination, than ufually have been difplayed. What we can always tolerate, and oftentimes admire, in fo original a writer, will fit at beft but ungracefully on moft of his imitators and fomething more is requifite, than the mere aflumption of the lion's fkin, in order to command that deference and refpect, which are rightfully beftowed on the monarch of the forest. In looking up with veneration, as we moft fincerely do, to a man, who has fo eminently added to the copioufnefs, as well as the accuracy of the English tongue, let us imitate his vigour, while we avoid his pedantry; and rejecting the fuperfluous decorations with which his nervous eloquence is fometimes encumbered, ftrive to emulate the variety, and catch the mufic of his periods.

In the third, and laft place, we feel it incumbent on us to declare, that pleafed, as we are, to fee fo elegant, and, in many refpects, fo ufeful an edition, as has now appeared, of Ramfay's works, we utterly condemn the injudicious reprinting of feveral pieces, which, as has been faid above, we had hoped were long fince configned to merited oblivion. The fentiment held forth by the great fatirift of antiquity,

Maxima debetnr puero reverentia.

Nil dictu fædum, vifuque hæc limina tangat,
Intra que puer eft,

we must confider as a maxim of high importance as to boys, but, in regard to the young of the other fex, as ftill more indifpenfable. That acute obferver clearly faw, and as nobly laboured to ftem, the torrent of diffolutenefs, which, in his time, was about to overwhelm a great and luxurious people: and we, alfo, in thefe days, and in our own sphere, fhall ever do what in us lies, to keep pure the fources of moral, as well as political information, or at least to point out, to the young and unwary of both fexes, where either feem to us to be doubtful or corrupted. The intentions of the prefent editors, for ought we know, may be pure and upright. We fhall not, therefore, difgrace them, by claffing their well-meant labours with thofe of a Cleland or a Lewis, a Godwin or a Volney; but we fhall only afk them, if they have fons, and ftill more if they have daughters, whether they would be anxious to recommend, to their perufal, this their own edition of a popular poet? What think they, for example

NO. XXXIII. VOL. VIII.

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as a school for delicacy, of the pieces entitled" an Elegy on John Cowper," "Lucky Spence's laft Advice;" or " an Addrefs of Thanks from the Society of Rakes;" not to mention the dull, and fulfome verfes to Ramfay, by his friend Jofiah Burchet, fo needlessly retained in front of the teftimonia? We are aware that these gentlemen will afk us, in their turn, what propriety there would have been, in giving to the world an incomplete edition of their favourite author, becaufe the ear of modefty might perhaps be shocked at a few of his pieces; but of which the defects or blemishes are fo greatly overbalanced, by the superior merit of other parts of his writings? We anfwer, that, on this very account, there is the greater caufe to apprehend the mifchief and they themselves must be convinced, that it is by the beauty and reputation alone of the Gentle Shepherd, that fuch deteftable trafh could ever have any chance of being buoyed up into notice. It is true, in editing an antient claffic, the Opera Omnia will by the fcholars always be preferred to the Opera purgata; and for this obvious reafon, that after every monument of the claffical languages has been carefully preserved, on impartially contemplating them, we have ftill caufe to wifh for a more ample difplay of their powers, and a more various illuftration of their analogies. But with living languages, and modern authors, the cafe is widely different. As to Allan Ramfay, in particular, it is notorious, that, unlike too many of our own poets, who have given charms to licentioufnefs, and united ribaldry with wit, his genius, in fuch attempts, ufually forfakes him; and nearly in proportion as he is coarfe or indelicate, he becomes languid, and fpiritlefs, and contemptible. If the editors in queftion, therefore, by their ill-judged induftry, have helped to corrupt the morals of their readers, they have certainly not contributed to the fame of the poet.

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At the conclufion of the life we are told, that Ramfay, though without learning himself, cultivated the acquaintance of the learned, and, among others, that of Ruddiman, without doubt one of the moft accomplished scholars of his time. Ruddiman, he fays, was always willing to fpare, to the needy and helpless, a part of his own ftores of claffic lore," and ufually furnished his friend with Greek and Latin mottos, which the latter prefixed to his different pieces; but thefe, in the biographer's judgment, being unfuitable to fuch poems, from fuch a bard, have been excluded from thefe volumes. "Scholars," he adds, "did not want them, and the unlearned with fuch obstruc-. tions out of their way." As we have already differed fo widely, in our moral, as well as literary tafte, from this Johnfonian writer, it will not feem ftrange, in regard to our opinions on this point, that there fhould also be found fome diffimilitude. With fubmiffion to him, we confefs our partiality to mottos, when well felected and fince he has been otherwife fo fcrupulous in keeping, as he found it, every relique of his author, we must think, that he would have gratified the public, although at the expence of his prejudices, had he as fcrupulously preferved the poetry of Ramfay, adorned and recommended by the erudition of Ruddiman.

Our

Our remarks on this publication have now extended to an unusual length. Should it feem more confiderable to any, than was either demanded or deserved by the mere re-appearance of the works of a wellknown writer, we truft that our apology will be found in the importance of the doctrines we have taken occafion to inculcate. In our next Number, we shall with fincere pleasure, drop the lafh of reprehenfion, and introduce, to the notice of our readers, the very masterly effay on the writings of Ramfay, than which, it must be confeffed, we have, of late years, feen nothing more replete with ingenious criticism, or more confpicuous for purity of style.

(To be concluded in our next.)

Political Effays on popular Subjects. 8vo. PP. 142. 2s. 6d. Chapple. London. 1800.

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is not fufpected by mankind how much of their infelicity proceeds from ignorance. That they are dreadfully deficient in the practice of their duty, is a truth univerfally acknowledged. But those who, without fcruple, affent to this truth, seldom take into the account that an ignorance of duty is one great cause of its violation. What then, it will be faid, are men in this civilized age to uninftructed as not to be acquainted with the obligations, which religion and morality impose upon them, and which are effential to their virtue and their happinefs? To this it may be answered that in one branch of thofe obligations, that which refgects their private relations as individuals, education must be unufually deficient, if it do not convey an adequate degree of information, to direct their conduct; though even here it is to be lamented, that little care is taken to render their habits and difpofitions conformable with the knowledge, which they are taught to imbibe. But there is another branch of obligations, in which a general ignorance prevails; we mean that which relates to the civil, or, as they may be termed, the political duties of men ; duties which arife out of their characters as members of a state, and as fubjects to government. The importance of these duties is not inferior to that of the preceding ones; their obfervance is no lefs pofitively enjoined by divine as well as by human laws; and their violation is fraught with ftill greater danger and mifchief. For as they involve the connection which unites all the members of a state, in proportion as they are difregarded, that connection must be infecure; and the general contempt of them muft be fubverfive of all law and govern

ment.

It is alike lamentable and aftonishing that duties fo important, and the violation of which leads to fuch dreadful confequences, fhould be fo little known. But ftrange as it may feem, the bulk of mankind are brought up in an almoft total ignorance of these duties. To account

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fully for fo grofs a neglect, would require a more copious difcuffion than our limits allow us to enter upon; fuffice it to say that the ordinary habits of fubordination, co-operating with the authority of government and laws, are fufficient in ordinary times to preserve the general tranquillity; and, therefore, the neceffity of inculcating the obligation of duties, the violation of which, however mifchievous, can but feldom occur in any alarming extent, is not fufficiently obvious to render fuch inftruction a regular part of education. The confequence is that when thofe extraordinary periods arrive, in which a wild fpirit of licentioufness and turbulence threatens to fubvert the very foundations of focial order, mankind are totally unprepared for them; and, for want of understanding their true interefts, they are eafily excited to fanatieifm and violence, and rendered the inftruments of their own deftruction.

It is not, however, ignorance alone which is the cause of such milfortunes. The mind of man is not calculated to be an entire blank with regard to any matter of universal intereft and concern. In the abfence of true knowledge, error will certainly ufurp her place. And on all fubjects of a political nature mankind are, in an extraordinary degree, exposed to error. For fuch fubjects are apt most violently to excite the paffions, to produce party contentions and animofities, and to render reafon the flave of prejudice. But a ftill more copious fource of error arifes from wilful and corrupt perverfion. At all times there exift, in fociety, a number of factious men, who, to gratify their ambition, are ready to employ any means, however defperate and deftructive; means which, if they were to have their full effect, would render that power which they are directed to attain, altogether precarious and infecure. Such men are engaged in a conftant ftruggle with those who hold the reins of government; and, in order to fucceed in the conteft, they neglect nothing to weaken and overwhelm their antagonists. For this purpose they are rafh enough to attack the very foundations of fociety; they propagate notions which are fubververfive of all government; they toaft at their clubs, and they proclaim by their harangues, the fovereignty of the people; and they endeavour to obtain the affiftance of the multitude, by teaching them that they are fupreme; that they are under no obligation to obey their rulers; that they have a natural and imprefcriptible right to cashier their governors, and to change their government at pleasure; and that their freedom confifts in the occafional exercise of such a right. Thus do the inoft mischievous errors, by being inceffantly repeated, obtain a general currency; and meeting with norefiftance from found fundamental principles, they become the established system of a very large portion of mankind.

To counteract the pernicious influence of fuch errors, which are always dangerous, and which, may be destructive-which are the conftant tools of faction, and the most potent inftruments of anarchyis one of the noblest tasks which can be fuggefted by the warmth of benevolence, or which can excite the ardour of patriotifm. Towards

the

the accomplishment of that task, we have feldom witneffed fo able and judicious an effort as in the work now before us. We feel that we are rendering an important fervice to fociety in promoting the general perufal of this tract; and it is the ftrong fenfe we entertain of the utility for which it is calculated, that has induced us to be fo copious in the remarks, by which we have introduced it to the attention of our readers.

The author has taken the moft effectual mode of combating error, by reforting to firft principles. It is ufeful, and, indeed, neceffary, in order to reclaim mankind, to point out the mifchiefs which they have brought upon themfelves, by their alienations from the paths of rectitude and wifdom. It is, however, attended with confiderable difficulty to make them difcern the connection between caufe and effect, particularly when, for that purpose, it is neceffary to employ a long chain of deduction. But by a reference to first principles, the evil is attacked at its fource; the mind is enabled, with very little exertion, to judge for itfelf upon matters, which before might feem beyond its comprehenfion; and it is furnished with a prefervative, in future, against fraud and fallacy. It is wonderful, indeed, what advantages may be derived from this mode of ratiocination. For the fundamental principles, which involves the welfare of mankind, are fo fimple as to be intelligible to the most ordinary understanding; each of them is applicable to, and explanatory of, an indefinite, and it might almoft be faid an infinite number of cafes; and they are fo obvious as to appear incontrovertible to every mind, which is not under the abfolute dominion of prejudice; indeed, the moral fenfe, which is implanted in the human heart, at once recognizes their authority. The great Author of our being has thus taken care that whatever is effential to our happiness, fhall be within our reach. But neglect, prefumption, and perverfenefs often defeat his designs in our favour, and, by facrificing our most valuable privileges, expofe us to wretchedness and ruin. The season for cultivating good principles is neglected, and moft men arrive at maturity without any knowledge of their political duties; nay without being aware that they have any fuch duties to perform. They are thereby expofed to become the dupes of artifice and fophiftry; and falfe principles, calculated to flatter their vanity, and appearing to confult their happiness, gain ready admiffion into their minds. Thus the foil which, with proper care, would have produced a rich harvest of nutritious grain, is overrun with rank and noxious weeds. A very little confideration muft convince every one that this is the procefs, by which the focial world has been brought to its prefent ftate of unexampled calamity and danger. Happily fuch a ftate, dreadful and portentous as it is, poffeffe one advantage which does not attend a feafon of tranquillity-it is peculiarly favourable for reflection. The mind, foftened by adverfity, acquires a more ferious caft-it becomes difpofed to liften to admo nition--it is even open to conviction. At fuch a time, therefore, the labours of the judicious may be exerted with peculiar advantage, by expofing

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