THE works included in this collection are the Tatler, Spectator, Guardian, Rambler, Adventurer, World, Connoisseur, Idler, Mirror, Lounger, and Observer. Great Britain, we believe, is the only country of Europe in which attempts have been made, by means of essays published daily or at short intervals, to purify the morals and refine the manners of the higher and middling classes of society. Some of our ablest writers have contributed largely to this valuable object, and by an engaging mixture of gaiety and seriousness, of wit and argument, have reformed many indecorums, rendered unfashionable many follies, and impeded the progress of many vices. The talents displayed in these publications, the entertainment with which they abound, the morality by which they are dignified, and the illustration which they afford, respecting the state of society and manners which characterised the last century, give them an undoubted claim, to be considered as a permanent part of British literature: notwithstanding, therefore, the numerous separate editions which have appeared of these valuable works, it gives us pleasure to announce to the public a new and uniform impression of the whole carefully corrected from the earliest editions, furnished with a complete general index, and enriched with biographical and his torical prefaces.

The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, contain more remarks on manners and the state of society, and abound more in allusions to temporary occurrences than any of their successors; but this circumstance, which rendered them more extensively useful on their first appearance, and will make them hereafter of peculiar value to the historian and antiquary, is the very reason why, with the change which society is constantly undergoing, a considerable degree of obscurity will gradually steal over them. The only method of obviating this disadvantage is by the judicious aid of notes to supply the requisite illustrations in proportion as the characters and events referred to, begin to fade from the public mind. We expected to find in the edition before us, that such an obvious duty had not been neglected, and that the researches of Mr. Chalmers would have formed an example and model to the

future editors of our essayists; in this hope, however, we have been almost wholly disappointed, the only additional matter being contained in the prefaces which are devoted to biographical sketches and miscellaneous particulars relative to the history of the several works composing the present series.

The preface to the Tatler commences with a general summary, somewhat hea vily written, of the topics which have principally attracted the notice of our essayists. To this succeeds a biographi cal memoir of Steel, and a history of the Tatler, with some account of Świft, J. Hughes, Harrison, and the other occasional contributors to the work.

The success of the Tatler gave birth to no less than thirteen rivals during its publication, and when it was brought to a conclusion a spurious continuation of 52 papers was begun by Swift and Harrison: which so far imposed on the world as to be printed at least three times as the fifth volume of the genuine Tatler, though of very inferior merit and questionable morality.

The Tatler terminated in Jan. 1710, and on the first of March in the same year the Spectator made its appearance. Of this celebrated work, as well as of the Tatler, Steel was the editor; he also furnished the greatest number of the pa pers. From his friendship with Addison he had derived much valuable as sistance in the progress of his former work, and received still more in the present, the amount of the papers attributed from satisfactory evidence to this excellent writer being no less than two hundred and seventy-four. The extensive reputation of the Spectator invited the contributions of several other men, distinguished for rank or abilities; of these the principal were Hughes, author of the Siege of Damascus, Budgell, Pope, Byrom, Lord Hardwick, Parnell, and Bishop Pearce.

The remarks of Mr. Chalmers, on the style and general character of Addison's papers, are very judicious, and his statement concerning the respective shares of Steel and Addison, in the papers relative to the hero of the work, Sir Roger de Coverley, will probably for the future, silence the idle disputes that have arisen respecting the consistency of a character which has been unthinkingly considered

"Sir Roger was not the creature of Addison's, but of Steel's fancy; and it is not easy to discover why all writers on this subject should appear norant of a fact so necessary to be known, and so easily ascertained. In Tickell's edition of Addison's works, and in every subsequent edition, (Dr. Beatie's not excepted) No. 2, is reprinted, but ascribed to Steele, with an apology for joining it with Addison's papers, on account of its connection with what follows. Steele, in truth, sketched the character of every member of the club, except that of the Spectator. The merit, therefore, of what Dr. Johnson calls

the delicate or discriminated idea,' or 'the original delineation of Sir Roger, beyond all controversy, belongs to him; and the character of the Baronet, it must be observed, is, in that paper, very different from what Dr. Johnson represents. His singularities proceed from his good sense,' not, I allow, a very common source of singularities, in the usual acceptation of that word; and before he was crossed in love by the perverse widow, he was a gay man of the town.' And with respect to the care Addison took of the Knight's chastity, and his resentment of the story told of him in No. 410, which is certainly a deviation from the character as he completed it, we may observe, that the original limner represents him as humble in his desires after he had forgot his cruel beauty, insomuch that it is reported he has frequently offended in point of chastity with beggars and gypsies,' though he qualifies this by adding, that this is looked upon, by his friends, rather as matter of raillery than truth. He is represented as now in his fifty-sixth year, and the story, therefore, of his endeavouring to persuade a strumpet to retire with him into the country, as related in 410, some think by Tickell, was certainly unnatural.

"The truth appears to have been, that Addison was charmed with his colleague's outline of Sir Roger, thought it capable of extension and improvement, and might probably determine to make it in some measure his own, by guarding, with a father's fondness, against any violation that might be offered. How well he has accomplished this

needs not be told: vet he neither laid hold on what he considered as Steele's property, nor did he wish to monopolize the worthy knight. Sir Roger's notion, that none but men of fine parts deserve to be hanged;' and his illustration of this curious position, in No. 6, were written by Steele. The first paper, relating to the visit to Sir Roger's country seat, is Addison's, the second Steele's, the third Addison's, and the fourth Steele's; and this last has so much of the Addisonian humour, that nothing but positive evidence could have deprived him of the honour of being supposed the author of it:

also by Steele. The sum of the account, however, is this: Sir Roger's adventures, opinions, and conversation, occur in twentysix papers of these Addison wrote fifteen, Steele seven, Budgell three, and Tickell one; if, as is supposed, he was the author of the obnoxious No. 410. It must be observed too, that the widow-part of Sir Roger's history was of Steele's providing, in No. 113, and 118. Addison, no doubt, attended to the keep of Sir Roger's character, and Steele, with his usual candour, might follow a plan which he reckoned superior to his own; but it cannot be just to attribute the totality of the character either to the one or the other."

In December 1712, the Spectator hav ing been brought to the end of the se venth volume, was for a time suspended. Steele retired from the editorship, and in March 1713 commenced a new daily se ries of periodical essays, under the name of the Guardian. Of this paper 175 numbers were published, 71 of which were written by the editor, and exhibit several specimens of his very best manner; 51 came from the pen of Addison, and the remainder were furnished principally by Berkeley, Pope, and Tickell. The politi cal aspect of the times was now becom ing very critical, and Steele being a man not only of warm feelings but of extravagant habits, quarrelled with his book. seller, abruptly terminated the Guar dian and immediately commenced the Englishman, which, from its political character, has been excluded by Mr. Chalmers from this collection. after Budgell, with the assistance of Addison, resumed the Spectator, a plan in which Steele appears to have had no share. Of this continuation only a single volume was published, to which Addison contributed about a fourth part.

Soon

amount to half a dozen essays. Mr. C. has shewn, contrary to the general opinion, that a considerable part of the Rambler was almost, in a manner, rewritten, previously to the publication of the second edition, the alterations considerably exceeding 6000. We are by no means disposed to estimate Dr. Johnson's powers, as an essayist, at the same rate which is demanded for them by the present editor. The great and distinguishing merit of this kind of writing is to combine utility with amusement, so as to attract the notice of those to whom sermons and serious books afford no temptation. The Tatler and Spectator were taken in at the coffee-houses, were admitted to the toilette, were the subjects of general conversation; softened in some by their wit and sprightliness, the rude moroseness of the "sterner virtues," and in others inspired a love of decency, of order, of piety, by depicting religion as she appears,

"When gay good-humour dresses her in

smiles:"

so that a manifest amelioration of public morals was observed during the publication of these invaluable essays. The sale of the Rambler, on the other hand, when circulated in single papers, never exceeded five hundred, and though its merits were at once acknowledged "by scholars and men of taste," it failed in attracting the notice of those classes in society, whom a well conducted periodical work is peculiarly qualified to influence. The Rambler was published regularly twice a week till March 17, 1752, on which day it closed. In the month of November, in the same year, the Adventurer made its appearance, under the superintendance of Hawkesworth, who was powerfully supported by the abili ties of Johnson, Bathurst, and Joseph Warton. Being more accommodated to the public taste, the sale of the Adventurer was considerably greater than that of the Rambler, yet when compared to the older essayists, its literary inferiority is very striking. It extended to 140 numbers, two of which appeared every week. Soon after the commencement of

the Adventurer another periodical work, under the name of the World, was instituted by E. Moore; and being largely assisted by men of wit and of fashion as well as of literature, it proved a genuine and worthy successor of the Tatler and Spectator. Its merit was immediately acknowledged by the public, and the sale of above two thousand copies conferred on the editor both celebrity and profit. Lord Chesterfield contributed twentythree papers of exquisite wit, and Mr. Cambridge twenty-one, replete with delicate humour and good taste. Horace Walpole, Soame Jenyns, Sir James Marriot, the Earl of Orrery, the Earl of Bath, Lord Hailes, and other distinguished characters, furnished occasional assistance, chiefly on subjects of wit and humour, and a few papers on more serious topics, together with that beautiful poem "The Tears of Old May-day," came from the pen of Loveybond.

In 1754 appeared the Connoisseur, alproduction of Coleman and Thornton; most every paper in which was the joint its characteristic is liveliness, and its highest praise is that of innocent amusement.

The next series of essays in the collec tion before us is the Idler, originally published in a weekly newspaper, called the Universal Chronicle, from April 1758 till the same month 1760. Of this Dr. Johnson was the main support. Its principal object is entertainment and party-politics, nor did it ever obtain much celebrity.

The Mirror, afterwards continued under the name of the Lounger, began to be published in January 1779, by a society of young men at Edinburgh. These, together with the Observer, by Mr. Cumberland, conclude the selection; and are destitute of the prefatory remarks and biographical anecdotes, which distinguish the former essayists, because most of the writers are yet living.

On the whole Mr. Chalmers has collected a considerable quantity of curious and amusing information, relative to our essayists, and we doubt not that the public will afford him a liberal patronage.

THIS selection is arranged upon the plan of our bulky Elegant Extracts, and

is too much occupied with long pieces. from Racine, Fenelon, Moliere, DeLisle,

689

Our objections to the mass before us are, that it is much too large, and entirely superfluous to those who are in posses sion of the classical authors of France: in a moral point of view it is, as far as we have examined it, wholly unexcep tionable: to all persons, therefore, it will be an innocent, and to many, a valuable possession.

FROM the preface it appears, that the author, in a late visit to France, became acquainted with the principal writers on agriculture, statistics, and public economy in Paris; and upon the strength of communications promised by them, began the work at present before us. More than three-fifths of its contents relate to France, and are but of trifling importance to foreigners: the editor characterizes these as "important documents, with which he has been

favoured by the Agricultural Society of Paris, and several distinguished members of the National Institute of France:" if, however, he had taken the trouble of inspecting the dull quartos of Peuchet; the Journal des Mines, and other monthly publications, in the French language, he would have procured almost all these " important documents," without laying himself under any obligations to the "distinguished members of the National Institute."

THE castle, or rather palace, of the Tuileries, so called from its being situate in a tile-ground, was begun in 1564, by Catharine de Medici, widow of Henry II. of France, and regent of that country during the minority of her son, Charles IX. It was finished by Henry IV., and adorned by Louis XIV., under whom Le Notre directed the plantation of those fine alleys of chesnut, elm, and lime trees, which constitute the favourite public walk of the Parisians. Many good statues were at that time placed in the garden; but the best have been added since the campaigns of Bonaparte. Louis XV. inhabited the palace during his minority; and Louis XVI after his captivity; it is now the residence of the First Consul. The architecture of the building is rather laboured than beautiful: the subordinate parts want magnitude; the whole wants simplicity. The columns are fluted and bandaged, the niches and statues are numerous, the orders of architecture are varied; but the profusion of minute ornament gives a gothic confusion to a structure on grecian principles. The building, however, is vast and imposing: ANN. REV. VOL. II,

the three pavilions, lifting to the skies their pyramidal roofs, and connected by wings reposing on arcades, form a grand outline; and the station, or implacement, would confer majesty even on an inferior edifice.

Contiguous to the terrace of the garden is situate the riding-school, rendered celebrated by having been fitted up to receive the National Assembly. Hence this spot has become the theatre of many prominent incidents of the Revolution. Of those connected by association of locality with the Tuileries, M. Soulavie (such is said to be the name of the original author) here undertakes a separate account. His power of interesting must depend on the merit of the anecdotes themselves; in which many amusing particulars occur, that had not before been compiled, or at least not evulgated here, and which reflect, if not a steady light, yet checkering gleams of illustra tion, on the monstrous contour of the Revolution.

The author throws his remarks into the form of dialogue, and of dialogue with an imaginary Count Bedfort, whom he places at Paris on the 10th of August,

Y y

and whom he accompanies, as cicerone, throughout the castle. It has been surmised that the name should have been printed Beckford, as the Duke of Bedford was in England at the time specified; but we know not if this conjecture be not equally contradicted by proof of alibi.

The translation is executed not merely with fidelity, but with attention: idiomatic and obscure passages are englished with felicity and expounded with research; the style is very free from gallicisms, and very natural, easy and un affected.