answer the purposes for which it was constructed, with what success it has been filled up and supported, and whether its extension to the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler, would be desirable, must be determined by the opinion of the public. I cannot conclude this Preface, without adverting to the beauty and accuracy of the edition of the Periodical Writers, which accompanies these Essays; an undertaking on which I feel myself perfectly at liberty to expatiate, it having been entirely and exclusively under the superintendance of Mr. Sharpe, to whose taste and indefatigable attention every lover of the fine arts must acknowledge no inconsiderable obligation. It is impossible, indeed, whilst viewing the decorations of the British Classics, to speak but in terms of admiration. Whether we consider the art, the genius, and inventive powers discoverable in the conception and execution of the designs, or the delicacy, the high finish and richness of the engravings, this edition most undoubtedly surpasses any effort, on the same scale, yet produced in this country. On a work thus conducted, at an expence enormous on the part of the Publisher, and with an energy which not only aims at supporting its primal merit, but looks forward to the attainment of superior excellence in each succeeding volume, I would call the attention of those whose taste and opulence point them out as the patrons of art and elegance. It becomes the spirit of a great and high-minded nation, whose sons, in defence of liberty and social order, have rushed forward with an enthusiasm unequalled in the annals of glory, to foster, amid the thunder and convulsions of war, the efforts of fancy and of taste-so shall we teach the foe who threatens us with ruin and devastation, with slavery mental and political, that, calm and collected in the tempest, and reposing on her strength, Great Britain looks round with conscious safety; alike resolved to curb the fury of ambition, and to cherish the genius of her isle. Hadleigh, Suffolk, ESSAYS, BIOGRAPHICAL, CRITICAL, AND HISTORICAL. PART I. ESSAY. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON PERIODICAL WRITING, ITS MERIT AND UTILITY, AND ON THE STATE OF LITERATURE AND MANNERS IN THIS ISLAND AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE TATLER IN 1709. FEW contrivances have been found more effec tual toward correcting the foibles and lighter vices of mankind, or better calculated to diffuse a taste for literature and refinement, than the periodical publication of short essays. To comprehend the intricacies of speculative science, or to relish the elaborate productions of genius, requires not only the education of many years, but much subsequent leisure through life; and such are the necessary duties assigned to Man, so much of his time is occupied in the mere preservation of existence, that there are not many, even in the |