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whose wisdom, valour, and patriotism, as ministers of the mercies of Providence, nations owe the chief and the most numerous blessings which they enjoy, are still but men; and of all men, if the liability to fall be estimated by the force of temptation, the most exposed to error. Placed" on high among the people," the rapturous and always excessive people, whirled round and round upon their dizzy eminence, even to giddiness," by indiscreet or designing adulation; by nature too in general of strong passions and ardent temperament, every thing from within and from without conspires to their seduction. If they fall, it behoves mankind in gratitude for what they owe, and out of filial affection, each individual to his own country, (as her character happens to be implicated), not surely to pardon or approve errors so lamentable (for guilt is guilt by whomsoever incurred), but to bury them in oblivion, or at least in silence, wherever no weighty matter summons them up to solemn judgment. Perhaps their follies or failings were mixed up with the great scenes of history in which they moved, and were, in some way or other, operative upon the public events in which they were principal agents; perhaps, as we said before, the moralist desires to exhibit to us, as a warning, our weakness even in our strength, our nature's inconsistency, its misty spots even, in its solar effulgence; if so, let the curtain be slowly and reluctantly, yet entirely withdrawn: in the one case important truth, in the other important morality demands the sacrifice. But it should be considered a sacrifice; the task should, and to a generous mind would be a very painful one, not to be performed for any but such weighty motives-to do so for lucre, for transient currency with the worthless herd of readers, to pamper general curiosity, or private rancour, to do so lightly, or with any but the saddest feelings; this is indeed shocking, and to be compared in point of spirit only to the jesting of an anatomist in his lecture room over the mournful spectacle of mortality before him.

In recommending the distinction, which we have endeavoured to draw, we are not aware, that we plead for the vices of the great, or seduce them with hopes of impunity. We would abolish the libel and the pillory indeed of the literary mob; but it is (in the spirit of our excellent laws) to substitute a temperate, and authorized prosecution, a fair examination, a regular trial, and a solemn punishment.

We express ourselves with some earnestness on this subject; but, we hope and trust, with no more than its importance demands. The evil, great and deadly as it is, generated, subsisting, and nourished only in, and by the corruption of all right, decent, or generous feelings, is daily increasing. To this may,

in some measure, though not entirely, be attributed that growing scepticism, which pervades all ages equally with all ranks, as to the goodness and integrity of distinguished publick men. There is not a more fearful sign of these fearful times than this; and it behoves every well-wisher of his country to oppose strenuously whatever in any degree contributes to nourish it. In place of the entire undoubting ardour with which in former times our youth venerated the great names of English history, we have now substituted a cold and measured applause, paid rather to the success, than the motives of their actions. The Earl of Chatham had not so learned; whenever that great practical philosopher spoke of those who were prime agents in the memorable æras of our history, he used no measured language; not that he knew less of that history, but that he knew more of political wisdom and human nature. If he mentioned the Great Charter, he did not describe its framers as imperioust and turbulent barons, selfishly actuated, desirous of preserving their own power from royal encroachment, and doing good to the commonalty only by unintentional consequence; but he spoke of them as men,

cere.

"Whose virtues were rude and uncultivated, but great and sinTheir understandings," said he, "were as little polished as their manners, but they had hearts to distinguish right from wrong, they had heads to distinguish truth from falsehood, they understood the rights of humanity, and they had spirit to maintain them."

There is more of real wisdom in this mode of interpretation, than may at first sight appear (nor does it, if the obvious distinction above laid down be attended to, involve any pious fraud); for it is of the last importance to propose pure models to those who are entering life; at that time imitation is ardent and indiscriminating, minds are fearless and zealous with pure models before him, the candidate for glory advances upon principle, and consistently; to be great he knows is impossible without being good; he connects the motive inseparably with the action, and bestows neither censure nor blame on the latter (considered on the score of glory), till he has scrutinized the former; all his progress is then regular and worthy of the end proposed. Prin ciples in this way become deeply rooted, and judgment at the same time strengthening, and the powers of discrimination improving, he may be safely trusted with the information which would probably have disgusted him before; when he examines the inconsistencies of character, which the sober page of history will shew him, he will now be ready to make allowance for the inseparable frailties of our nature, and to diminish, without wholly denying, applause.

The

The present system is grounded on opposite principles, and must produce opposite effects; instead of attempting to carry on the simplicity and ardour of the child into the man, it seems to be our object to dwarf the child with the doubtfulness and timidity of the man. We are to be credulous of evil, incredulous of good where an action is of an ambiguous nature, it is to be condemned by presumption; where it is confessedly wise and useful, we are to look for a bad, or unworthy motive; is the unexceptionable motive too strongly marked to admit of imputation, we shall be presented with some degrading inconsistency on a similar occasion. In this way we are stripped by degrees of all objects, and almost of all capability of humble and imitative admiration; we grow to be out of charity with our own nature, and out of heart in our pursuit of virtue, for the former seems so corrupt, that the latter may well be considered an unattainable abstraction; if we pursue our course under all these hindrances, it is rather for worldly honours and profits, or the breath of popularity, than to purchase an enduring name; principle ceases to operate, and the ascent to fame comes to be considered an affair of twists and starts, of shifts and expedients. It is not to be doubted, that the effects of such an education must be visible in the individual character in after life, and, by consequence, in that of the nation.

The pursuit of these thoughts has led us astray from our subject, nor can we return to it, till we have ventured on a few words to the public, who encourage the trash, which is one mean of producing the bad effects we deplore. It is certainly no apology for a wanton scribbler, that he will never be without readers; but if the public, whose neglect would soon put an end to the race, encourage and maintain them by credulous ap probation, and a willing audience, it must be content to bear an equal share of the guilt. "There are not only slanderous throats, but slanderous ears also," says an old and most eloquent Divine," not only wicked inventions, which ingender and brood lies, but wicked assents, which hatch and foster them."

We have heard of an infamous book, a disgrace indeed to our language, in the last paragraph of which, its author triumphantly congratulates himself on having erected a temple to Virtue and Modesty. In something of the same spirit the author of the work before us "utterly disclaims the malignant intention of dragging failings to the light," and makes most liberal professions of the purity of his motives. We will not be so rude as to tell him, that we disbelieve these professions; but we will venture to ask him two questions, to which we find no satisfactory answer in his book; what objects important to history or morality could be answered by the biography of such a personage as

Lady

Lady Hamilton; and secondly, why he became her biograplier?

The sum of her life may be told in a very few words. Her youth, and the early part of womanhood, were passed in obscurity or vice; a few years followed of splendour, during which she interfered somewhat in the politics, and more in the pleasures of one of the least considerable and most depraved of the European courts. The decline of her life languished in privacy, and, we fear, it ended in bitter distress. Now, if we were to admit, which yet we are very far from doing, that during the few years passed at Naples, the part she played was so prominent, as to entitle her whole life to a substantial place in history, this admission would be of very little service to our author in helping him to his reply. For the very grounds of the admission imply, that her conduct at Naples should occupy the greater part of her history, and that valuable information should be communicated respecting it. Has our author fulfilled this expectation? nothing less; the proportions are inverted; all that was important is slightly passed over, and respecting the conduct of Lady Hamilton at Naples, nothing is communicated, which no reader of magazines or newspapers was not perfectly well acquainted with before. No new fact is recorded by him either of an important nature, or on satisfactory authority; he ventures indeed to deny on several occasions what others have asserted and believed, but as his denials come no better supported than by his own bare word, he can hardly imagine, that those who love to examine before they believe, will set much store by such communications.

The second question it may give him more pain to answer, and we will answer it for him. He did not become the biographer of Lady Hamilton from any of the motives that usually prompt to such undertakings. He did not know her better, or love her more than other people; it does not appear that he had any the slightest acquaintance with her, that he was possessed of any materials for her memoirs, or that any common friends have communicated to him peculiar sources of information as to her character or history. Rather we should say, that the contrary of all these is demonstrable from every chapter of the book. The same internal evidence alone leads us to the solution of the riddle, and if it be no very creditable one to the author, it is not our fault. There is a person, whom the unfortunate subjects (we say subjects, for it has more than one) of his book certainly most deeply injured. Whether the esteem of the good and generous. is to be acquired by the display of unrelenting, and unchastised feelings, or whether a desire to conceal wounds, which it seems cannot be healed, would not have been more delicate, more en

titled to pity and admiration, as we are no judges of private conduct, it is not for us to decide. It is, however, matter.of serious congratulation, that even if the design had been as odious and unworthy, as many will be inclined to consider it, it could not have been committed to a feebler or more contemptible in

strument.

It would be very improper for us to go into the proofs of what we have ventured to insinuate above; and it would be equally unnecessary, for they are so thickly spread in every part of the book, that whoever runs through it, must come to the same conclusion. To save, however, so much trouble, we refer to the 13th chapter, and the 384th page.

Our readers will think that we have detained them long enough on a production so dull in execution, so worthless in materials, and so bad in design; but we will beg their patience while we notice two passages that have particularly attracted our attention. The first is not important in itself, but it strongly characterises the spirit in which the book is written. A letter from Lord to Lady Nelson is cited, in which he describes his meeting with Lady Hamilton on the return of his ship from the battle of the Nile: the passage is short.

"Along side came my honoured friends; the scene in the boat was terribly affecting up flew her Ladyship, and exclaiming, O God, is it possible?' she fell into my arms more dead than alive. Tears however soon set matters to rights."

The comment is somewhat longer.

"The scene mentioned in this letter as having been so terribly · affecting, was no more than one of those fine pieces of acting, which fired the brain of Romney the painter, and made him desirous of running into Sussex, to bring up his friend the poet (Mr. Hayley), to witness a performance which he wanted words to describe. The truth is, that as the boat drew near to the Vanguard, Lady Hamilton began to rehearse some of her theatrical airs, and to put on all the appearance of a tragic queen. There was a great swell at this time in the bay; and just as the barge reached the ship, the officer, who saw through her affectation, exclaimed with an oath, that if she did not immediately get up the side, the consequences might be dangerous; for that he could not be answerable for the safety of the boat. On this our heroine laid aside her part, till she reaches the gangway, where, instead of fainting on the arm of Nelson, she clasped him in her own, and carried him into the cabin, followed by Sir William Hamilton and the rest of the company." P. 203.

Properly to comprehend the whole beauty of this unparalleled morceau, our readers must have seen the courtship of Mr. Lu

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