These contemporary testimonies are such as fully prove that the noble plan which Addison and Steele had formed for the reformation and instruction of their fellow-subjects was rapidly and extensively carried into execution, and that they had the felicity of themselves witnessing in part the amelioration to which they so largely contributed.

It will be necessary and useful, however, to dwell somewhat more minutely upon the improvements which taste and literature, manners and morals, received from these celebrated writers, who, in fact, produced a new era in that most important of all concerns, the diffusion of practical knowledge and philosophy.

The acquisition of a popular relish for elegant literature may be dated, indeed, from the period of the publication of the "Tatler;" to the progress of this new-formed desire, the "Spectator and Guardian" gave fresh acceleration; nor has the impulse, which was thus received, for a moment ceased to spread and propagate its influence through every rank of British society. To these papers, in the department of polite letters, we may ascribe the following great and never-to-be-forgotten obligations. They, it may be affirmed, first pointed out in a popular way, and with insinuating address, the best authors of classical antiquity and of modern times, and infused into the public mind an enthusiasm for their beauties; they, calling to their aid the coloring of humor and imagination, effectually detected the sources of bad writing, and exposed to never-dying ridicule the puerilities and meretricious decorations of false wit and bloated composition; they first rendered criticism familiar and pleasing to the general taste, and excited that curiosity, that acuteness and precision, which have since enabled so many classes of readers to enjoy, and to appreciate with judgment, the various productions of genius and learning.

To the essays of Addison, in particular, are we likewise indebted for the formation of a style, beyond all former precedent, pure, fascinating, and correct; that may be said to have effected a revolution in our language and literature, and which, notwithstanding all the refinements of modern criticism, is still entitled to the praise of a just and legitimate model.

If in taste and literature such numerous benefits were conferred upon the people through the medium of these papers, of still greater importance were the services which they derived from them in the department of manners and morals. Both public and private virtue and decorum, indeed, received a firmer tone and a finer polish from their precepts and examples; the acrimony and malevolence that had hitherto attended the discussion of political opinion were, in a short time, greatly mitigated; and the

talents which had been almost exclusively occupied by controversy, were diverted into channels, where elegance and learning mutually assisted in refining and purifying the passions. * *

Nor were the admonitions of the "Spectator" confined to topics merely of a moral or ethic nature, or to the regulation of manners and social intercourse; the weightier and more awful concerns which religion should awaken in the human breast were never treated in a way better calculated to amend the heart, and inform the understanding of the multitude, than by Addison in his Saturday papers. These admirable essays, while they excited and kept alive attention by their beauty of diction and felicity of illustration, and by the benevolent and tender enthusiasm which animated their pages, at the same time very powerfully elevated and expanded the mind, by the dignity of their theme and the purity of their sentiments; an union of qualities which strongly recommended them to readers of all classes: for, by appealing to the general feelings of our nature, they alike fascinated the simple and the devout, the learned and the refined, who to an extent hitherto perhaps unequalled, agreed in applauding their execution, and profiting by their subject.

The result, indeed, of the publication of the "Tatler," "Spectator," and "Guardian," has been of the first national importance. The diffusion of private virtue and wisdom must necessarily tend to purify and enlighten the general mass; and experience in every age has proved that the strength, the weight, and prosperity of a nation are better founded on knowledge, morality, and sound literature, than on the unstable effects of conquest or commerce. Rational liberty, indeed, can only be supported by integrity and ability; and it is of little consequence to the man who feels for the honor of his species, and who knows properly to value the character of a freeman, that his country has stretched her arms over half the globe, if, at the same time, she be immersed in vice, in luxury, and sensuality, and subjected to the debasing caprice and control of tyranny.

It is but just, therefore, to infer that the periodical writings of Addison and of Steele have contributed more essentially to the national good, to the political influence even, and stability, of the British empire, than all the efforts of her warriors, however great or glorious. By expanding the intellect, and improving the

"But if there be in glory aught of good,

It may, by means far different, be obtained
Without ambition, war, or violence:
By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent :
By patience, temperance."

Paradise Regained.

morals of the people, by promoting liberal education and free inquiry, they have enabled the public to understand, and to appreciate duly, the principles of genuine liberty; and consequently to value highly, and to defend strenuously, the constitution under which they live. They have, by directing and invigorating the energies of society, given a manly tone to the national character; an effect which can never be elicited beneath the clouds of ignorance and immorality, and which depends not upon the abilities of a few solitary statesmen, or the fleeting consequences of military prowess, but upon the majority of the people thinking and acting justly for themselves, from that knowledge of political good, and that rational love of their country, from those pure principles and virtuous motives, which could only have been disseminated through the medium of writers who, like the authors of the "Spectator," have permanently and extensively exerted their moral and intellectual influence over the general mind.

In short, if we compare the state of society, private and public, as it existed previous and subsequent to the appearance of Addison and Steele, we shall not for a moment hesitate to assert, not only that Great Britain is indebted to these illustrious writers for a most salutary revolution in the realms of literature and taste, for a mode of composition which in a mere literary view has been of great and progressive utility; but that a very large portion of the moral and political good which she now enjoys is to be ascribed to their exertions-to efforts which entitle them to the glorious appellations of GENUINE PATRIOTS AND UNIVERSAL BENEFACTORS.

CHARACTER OF DR. JOHNSON.

Let us now recapitulate the various channels into which the efforts of Dr. Johnson were directed.

As a Poct he cannot claim a station in the first rank. He is a disciple of Pope; all that strong sentiment, in nervous language and harmonious metre, can effect, he possesses in a high degree. We may further affirm that his "London," his "Vanity of Human Wishes," his "Prologue on the Opening of Drury-Lane Theatre," and his "Stanzas on the Death of Levet," will never die.

To excellence as a Bibliographer he had many pretensions; strength of memory, an insatiable love of books, and a most extraordinary facility in acquiring an intimacy with their contents. What he has produced in this department is not of much extent, but it is well performed.

His merits as a Biographer are so prominent as to be beyond all dispute. His Lives of Savage, of Cowley, of Dryden, and of Pope, are masterpieces, which, in many respects, can fear no rivalry. An intimate acquaintance with the human heart, and the most skilful introduction of moral and monitory precept, combine to render many of his productions under this head unspeakably valuable to the dearest interests of mankind. It must not be concealed, however, that they are occasionally deformed by his prejudices, his aversions, and his constitutional gloom.

In his character as an Essayist, though essentially different in mode from, he ranks next in value to, Addison. He lashes the vices rather than ridicules the follies of mankind; and his wit and humor are, by no means, so delicate and finely shaded as those of his predecessor. In force, in dignity, in splendor of eloquence; in correctness of style, melody of cadence, and rotundity of period; in precision of argument and perspicuity of inference, he is much superior to the author of the "Spectator;" but, on the other hand, he must yield the palm in ease and sweetness, in simplicity and vivacity. The three great faults, indeed, of Johnson as an Essayist, are, a style too uniformly labored and majestic for the purposes of a popular essay, a want of variety in the choice of subject, and, in his survey of human life, a tone too gloomy and austere, too querulous and desponding. The "Rambler" is, however, notwithstanding these defects, a work that, in vigor of execution, and comprehensiveness of utility, will not easily be paralleled; it is, in fact, a vast treasury of moral precept and ethic instruction.

The reputation of Johnson as a Philologer appears to be somewhat on the decline. The attention which has been lately paid to lexicography has laid open many omissions and defects in his Dictionary; but it should be considered that a work of this kind must necessarily be defective; and that with our author rests the sole merit of having chalked out a plan, which, if not filled up by his own execution, must, there is every reason to think, be closely followed by his emulators, to attain the perfection at which he aimed.

When we consider Johnson under the appellation of a Novelist, it is impossible not to regret that "Rasselas" is the only work on which he can properly found a claim to the title. Yet we must add that, if in beauty of imagery, sublimity of sentiment, and knowledge of men and manners, too much praise cannot be given to this philosophic tale, it is obligatory on us to confess that it is greatly deficient in two essential qualifications of a legitimate novel, plot and incident. "Rasselas," indeed, is merely the vehicle

of the author's opinions on human life, and which, we are sorry to remark, partake of the same gloom which darkens the pages of the "Rambler."

A very few lines will sketch our author's pretensions to the honors of a Commentator. The plan of his edition of Shakspeare has been much and justly admired; and no greater proof can be given of its excellence than that every subsequent annotator has pursued the path which he had laid open. He was himself, however, too indolent, and too deficient in the very line of reading which he had recommended for the illustration of his bard, to carry his own instructions into effect; his edition, therefore, though it has been the parent of the best that we possess, is now of little value.

Not much, I am afraid, can be said in favor of our author as a Politician. He was at one time a most furious Jacobite, and his tenets at all times, with regard to legislation, were vehement, confined, and partial; so arbitrary, indeed, as to be frequently repugnant to the spirit of the British Constitution. He was, however, a high-flown Tory on principle; and his political pamphlets, though deficient in candor, display considerable subtlety in point of argument, and much energy and perspicuity of style.

With a few deductions for prejudices which he had early imbibed, his merits as a Tourist will appear great and unclouded. His object was to analyze and compare men, manners, and modes of life; and his volume is at once elegant, philosophic, and ingeni

ous.

That he is entitled, in the most honorable sense of the term, to the appellation of a Critic, those who shall merely peruse his Preface to Shakspeare, and his Lives of Cowley, Dryden, and Pope, will not probably deny. Since the days of Quintilian, indeed, no better specimens of criticism than these have been given to the world. How highly is it to be lamented then, that, prosecuting the study of his "Lives," we find the residue for the most part tinctured and deformed by relentless prejudices; by party-zeal and unfeeling dogmatism; by a spirit systematically hostile to received opinion, and unfriendly to contemporary merit. With all these defects, however, and they are strikingly prominent, great has been the benefit derived to elegant literature from the publication of his "Critical Biography." It has established an era in the Republic of Letters; it has set an example in this country, which has been assiduously followed, of recording the events attendant on the lives, the studies, and publications of literary men; and it has given birth to a widely-extending taste for critical disquisitions.