PREFACE.

WHEN the Memoirs of Cumberland were published, I was forcibly impressed with their insufficiency in all that regarded the estimation of his literary character; and while I found in them all that could be wished about the man, I was conscious that whenever his death should happen, an ample and interesting opportunity would occur for the union of this personal history, with a minute enquiry into the pretensions of the author. In what way, however, I conceived this scheme might be best executed, may be easily known from the following pages, which I have endeavoured to make as interesting as I could. If I have failed, I will not seek to mitigate censure by an appeal to indulgence.

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Whether any thing respecting Cumberland, yet unknown, might have been obtained by application to his family, is uncertain. I forbore to try the experiment, because I wished to perform my undertaking with an unbiassed mind. Had I been indebted to them for any communications, or for courtesies of any kind, I should only have increased my own embarrassment, without, perhaps, increasing the advantage of the reader. No man can disregard the influence of those feelings which are generated by friendly intercourse, or by polite attentions; and he might justly be charged with ingratitude and insincerity, who should obtain from the relatives of a person what information he needed, and then requite the obligation by giving them pain in his opinions. I resolved therefore to place myself in no such equivocal situation, for I wished to think with freedom, and with freedom to speak my thoughts. Nor do I imagine that much could have been given had I asked, and had they, whom I asked, been willing to give; for Cumberland probably told all that need be, if not all that could be, known.

In examining the writings of Cumberland I have sometimes done it with a minuteness which may be thought unnecessary, and perhaps tedious. I did it, however, because I considered it as the fittest means of attaining my end, which was, to discover the full extent of his merits as an author. It enabled me, also, by adducing the grounds of my belief, to avoid the imputation of indiscriminate censure or praise.

In the note, p. 62, I have spoken of Lord Chatham's Letters to Lord Camelford, and drawn a false inference, from believing that they were addressed to the late nobleman of that name, who fell in a duel. I am indebted to the vigilance of a friend for being able to notice the error in this place.

I experienced some difficulty in ascertaining the dates of Cumberland's various productions, in which he has been inexcusably negligent. As often as I could I have supplied his deficiences; but sometimes I found it impossible to do so without more loss of time than the acquisition would have compensated.

The extracts which I have occasionally made from his Memoirs, have been of such passages as either tended to illustrate particular events of his life, and in which I conceived the employment of his own language might confer a character of authenticity; of such as exhibited his talents as a writer; or, finally, where I imagined the amusement of the reader would be promoted by their introduction. I hope it will not be thought, however, that I have done this too copiously; a splenetic reader, indeed, might tell me that I have not done it enough, by hinting that these extracts form the only valuable part of my book. I selected them sometimes with the expectation that they would relieve the aridity of continued critical discussion, or the barren commemoration of familiar and unimportant facts.

For the freedom with which I have expressed my opinions upon the works of living authors, I have no apology to offer, because I deem none necessary. I would have suppressed them, had I felt any adequate motive for it; but I could not falsify

them. I disclaim all influence of malignity or envy; but I am not very anxious about the reception of my renunciation, because I know that the reverse will be more willingly believed by the majority of mankind. Obtrectatio et livor pronis auribus accipiuntur. TACIT.-I have not sought occasions for censure; but when they presented themselves I did not shrink from the expression of it. Let those who differ from me disprove my positions by argument, and I shall be ready to listen, and happy to be convinced, but if they answer by the compendious reasoning of scornful disregard, I shall know where the truth lies, and be sufficiently pleased with that proud silence which is more frequently the refuge of weakness than the conscious dignity of power disdaining to exert itself. It is often more prudent to despise an adversary than to oppose him, for while no evidence of inability is manifested, there will always be a credulous part of mankind who will disbelieve its existence.

When I had just begun the composition of the present volume I was informed, by a friend, that I might expect a competitor in