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the unvaried strain of gloomy speculation which pervades them, and from the falseness of their delineations, to precipitate mankind into a chain of reasoning, destructive of all confidence between man and man, and subversive of all the social affections. Such was the aspect they wore to me; under such convictions did I compose the following pages; and with such convictions, do I now deliver them to the public. If in forming this opinion I have erred, it is an inevitable consequence that the greater part of the following ratiocinations must be wrong; for in that case they flow from a contaminated source; and should such be the case, no gratification to me could be greater, than to have the fountain head purified by a calm and candid demonstration of my error. But if happily I have succeeded in discovering a rock hitherto involved amid clouds, whose splendour dazzled the eyes of those who approached it, I shall con

sider as the most beneficial epoch of my life, that moment when I first became acquainted with the writings of Johnson.

Thus much respecting the motives which produced the subsequent critique. They will, I trust, be sufficient to exonerate me from all aspersions of malevolence to the character, or injury to the fame, of the deservedly admired author here controverted. Those who are disposed to a perusal of my remarks, will find I have been in no instance sparing of commendation where there have offered occasions for it. To praise is by far the most pleasing part of criticism; but to praise in opposition to truth, is at once venal and injurious. No liberal mind can possibly be disgusted with censure which reason demonstrates to be just; and authors whose irascibility is excited by all that wears the appearance of finding fault, should constantly remind and impress themselves with the truth, that

"Praise

"Praise undeserved is scandle in disguise."*"

POPL.

By this criterion, however apparently severe, I am willing the merits or demerits of the following pages should be estimated, but at the same time I humbly hope and pray with all the solicitude of a delinquent, that my judges (for I believe they employ no jury) will pass a merciful verdict.

* Again in one of his letters to Wycherley, our poet thus expresses himself:

"Praise to a youug wit is like rain to a tender flower; if it be moderately bestowed, it cheers and revives; but if too lavishly, overcharges and depresses."

Pope's Letters, edit. 1737. p. 11. The justness of this remark none can, I believe, deny; or at least none who would be thought consistent with reason and the very nature of things. Judicious and limited commendation may further be compared to the sun in its relation to the natural world. It ripens the crude seeds of genius, and shelters its blossoms; those blossoms which severe criticism would have blasted in the first opening. Here I would not be understood to contradict the observations made in the text; for in the present instance I allude only to the extreme severity with which the works of young authors are often considered; a practice certainly iujurious to the interests of literature; for it may often damp the rising ardour which would one day have shed a lusture on the republic which future ages might admire. For the salutary and manly use of just censure and disinterested criticism I must ever profess myself a warm advocate, and more particularly when it is employed on works calculated to injure the broad basis of society and domestic bliss RELIGION. But while on this topic I shall presume upon the indulgence of my reader by introducing one more short quotation from the profound and philosophic Hume.

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"A writer is animated with new force when he hears the applauses of the world for his former productions, and being roused by such a motive, he often reaches a pitch of perfection equally surprising to himself and to his readers.Were Moliere and Corneille to bring upon the stage at present their early productions, which were formerly so well received, it would discourage the young poets to see the indifference and disdain of the public. The ignorance of the age alone could have given admission to the Prince of Tyre; but it is to that we owe the Moor. Had Every Man in his Humour been rejected, we had never seen Volpone."-Essays. vol. 1. page 223.

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CRITICAL ENQUIRY,

&c. &c. &c.

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debate.

HE writings of Johnson have been an endless source of enquiry and Volumes have been written to prove what was never yet doubted; and biographers have exhausted every incident of his life to eke out their languid narrations. Minute and insipid enquiry have supplanted just and rational investigation: childish and impertinent tales have been obtruded upon the public: the felling of Osborne is still related with wonder; and, we are told, with extacy, of his magnanimous letter to the translator of Ossian.*

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* It is surprizing to fee the avidity with which these tales are related to the public. It must be confessed the remembrance of them can add little to the veneration, which the reader of Johnson might feel for his character. His letter to M'Pherson is a specimen of the most unpolished and ungentlemanly conduct, that it is easy to conceive; and his behaviour to Osborne was that of a sullen barbarian, who returns blows for words.

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