hurt it. Yet he is prepared to meet some censure; for those who lie under the influence of public opinion will regard him as audacious, and those who are too idle to investigate truth will think him a trfler. Perhaps he may be both; of that, however, he is no proper judge. But whatever fate may attend it, his own internal consciousness will support him. He equally disdains to avoid censure by flattery, or to court it by pretended indifference. He dismisses it with tranquility, to stand by its own merit, or to fall by the condemnation of those who are capable of judging. He shall only say, that whatever may be its doom, whether it be decried as dull, as trifling, or as useless, he is little anxious; while he can assure himself that his motives were virtuous, and that he gratified no illaudable passion or desire. APPENDIX. AFTER a few of the foregoing Essays had appeared in the Columns of the Porcupine, a Journal, celebrated for its moral purity and political independence, I was aware, in consequence of the answers to Correspondents, inserted in that Paper, that a serious controversy would arise. The firm partizans of Johnson announced their intention of combatting my arguments, and some Essays in justification of that celebrated writer had already been committed to the Press, when the singular and unexpected change in the principles of the Porcupine, and its subsequent incongruous junction with another Journal, induced many of its admirers (myself among the rest) to decline their future contributions. One article however, of a satyrical nature, which was sent for insertion, but did not appear in print, I have added to this Treatise by way of appendix; the following note will explain how the manuscript came into my possession. To |