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worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth, indeed, cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit." Milton has made metaphysics the idle sport of the fallen angels:

Others apart, sate on a hill retir'd,

In thoughts more elevate; and reason'd high
Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate-
Vain wisdom all, and vain philosophy.

Paradise Lost, book 2.

Telemachus (of Bishop Fenelon)

Is a most beautiful book; pleasing and instructive in its morals; sound in its politics and religion. The description of the old and patriotic King of Tarentum is a very masterly-drawn picture; and his virtues are their own rewards, viz. the love of his subjects, and his own cheerfulness and peace of mind. The style is very elegant, the rural scenery very delightful and picturesque. The character and description of the priest of Apollo is designed in the finest traits of a christian minister. The whole composition is perfumed with the" odour of sanctity."

Ariosto, Tasso, and Dante.

The dispute concerning the different merits of these Italian poets may be laid at rest by ascribing

to each his due inerits. As a regular poem, according to the acknowledged rules of the critics, Tasso is superior; and must also bear the bell, as to workmanship. Ariosto, on the contrary, has many passages very superior to any in Tasso ; but they are ill arranged; and the fable of his poem is not sufficiently agreeable to the Aristotelian taste. The scholars of Italy admire Tasso, and love Ariosto. Dante is too gloomy for any reader but who is, or wishes to be, a monk of the Monastery of La Trappe.

Men of mere Memory.

This is a faculty, which, when attached to a feeble mind, may prove hurtful, or of little use. A young person who has been praised for bis strengh of memory, is very apt to content himself with his powers of quoting the product of other intellects, rather than labour in the cultivation of his own. From this circumstance arise many babblers and few philosophers. A man of genius may be possessed of little force of memory, he therefore cultivates his own mind like a skilful gardener, who knows if he cherishes the root, the branches and flowers will sprout and flourish of themselves. Ask a mere man of memory on what principle

such a position may be fixed, and the babbler is silenced; he knows that his recollection of, detail constitutes all his talk; and the parrot would as soon be able to converse, as the babbler to reason; so well sings our poet of reason:

The coxcomb bird, so talkative and grave,

That from his cage cries cuckold, whore, and knave,
Tho' many a passenger he rightly call,

You hold him no philosopher at all.

Pope's Moral Essays, epist. 1, line 5.

Arguments.

Many persons unaccustomed to the restraints of more polished society are always ready to resist the sentiments of the last speaker by opposition, or what they choose to call arguments. Let the subject be what it will, interesting or not to either party, these gentlemen are ever ready to “play a fit of argument." When it happens among young lawyers, the reason of this practice is obvious, as it sharpens their wit, and strengthens their nerves for the Courts of Law; but it may be a matter of surprise, why a man without any fee or reward should raise the anger of a dull neighbour, by proving to him that his positions are absurd, and his expressions confused, and his sentiments altogether untenable. Silence in such company would

which succeeded, had exhausted the portion of credulity which belonged to their age; that now nothing was left to a writer but that species of the marvellous which yet might be produced, and with as great an effect as ever, though in another way, that is, the marvellous in life, in manners, in characters, and in extraordinary situations, giving rise to new and unlooked-for strokes in politics and morals."

Gray the Poet.

We are surprised that so accurate a scholar and sublime a poet, as Gray must be esteemed by all the lovers of poetry, should write two such couplets as follow:

Gay Hope is theirs, by Fancy fed,

Less pleasing when possess'd.

This elliptical expression exceeds poetic licence: the object of hope is less pleasing when possessed, no doubt; but can it be said so of hope itself? Again,

This the force of Erin hiding,
Side by side as proudly riding,

Triumphs of Owen.

That a man of genius, as Gray was, should describe a ship as hiding instead of containing her troops, is wonderful, except he wanted a rhyme.

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Nouvelle Heloise, &c.

J. J. Rousseau, like other madmen, had many lucid intervals and many ingenious devices. As a literary man, he knew that romances had had their day, and could attract no more, though the love of the marvellous was as much alive as ever. He then drew characters, and described moral events, and founded sentiments, as much out of the way of nature and common sense as he could. His pencil was bold, his imagination warm, his colouring brilliant; and his pictures attracted all those who exercise their fancy more than their reason, and their morality not at all. With the cunning of a madman, he knew that what was new and striking would be attractive to many readers, so he exhibits himself in his confessions a vile compound of lewdness, roguery, cowardice, and ingratitude. Most of his heroines are fitted for a brothel, and his heroes would shine in the Newgate Calendar.

Extra Boswellism, and a singular Comparison.

Such was the strong prejudice and reverence which Pope entertained for the extraordinary abilities of Lord Bolingbroke, that he used to speak of him as of a superior being; and at the

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