ther, which, like the inns and roads, is remarkable for being fometimes better, and fometimes worfe. And these are the main incidents of this excellent writer.

In the choice of his remarks and difquifitions, he is equally judicious they are indeed of a touching fimplicity; they are conftantly introduced, left the uniformity of the narrative might difpofe us to wander entirely from the page; and are delivered in language fo monotonously refembling their meaning, (when they chance to have any), that, in very truth, the found may be called an echo to the sense. In the extension of this branch of his work, Mr Hunter proceeds upon one fundamental principle, of a most univerfal application,-that the self-evident truth of any propofition is no reafon why it fhould be either fuppreffed or affumed, but that, on the contrary, it fhould, on this precife ground, be often repeated, fupported by numberlefs arguments, and enforced by much declamation; rightly judging, that so invaluable a treasure as plain truth can never be too ftrongly guarded, or too warmly celebrated. It would be endless to collect fpecimens of the felicity with which this principle is followed out in all its ramifications; it forms, indeed, the cement of the whole work-the callida junctura by which all the parts are held together-and fo fmoothed as not to ruffle the moft irritable and active of readers. In juftice to Mr Hunter, we shall cull a few famples. How convincing are his arguments to thow that it is wrong to plunder a fhipwrecked mariner!

To take advantage,' faith he, of a man who is an unequal opponent, is the act of a coward; but to ftrip of what little he ftill poffeffes, the unfortunate being who throws himself on your mercy, who implores your affiftance, and whofe life and fortune might be rescued by a trifling exertion of charity, is a conduct fo much at variance with the common feelings of nature, that we are at a lofs how to account for fuch barbarous and complicated depravity. Why is the law,' &c. &c. (I. 142.)

By topics, no lefs judiciously selected, does the mafter prove, that a tale of complicated villany and perfecution' creates • emotions of horror and indignation. A propensity to hate our enemies,' he remarks, and to avenge the wrongs they have inflicted on us, is a principle which is coeval with the inftinctive feelings of the human frame.' The perception of this truth fuddenly tranfports him; he is rapt in the fervour of infpiration; and gives loofe to the burstings of his heart- It has an eternal bafis in nature, and prevails throughout the extent of the animal creation. It is a fundamental law, which is univerfally established in the breaft, and is neither to be fub

verted

verted by fophiftry, nor invalidated by perfuafion, nor extirpated by power.' (I. 353-4-) Whoever would be convinced that fighting against one's country is criminal, and that a bloody field of battle is a dismal object, may be accommodated with the proper arguments by turning to pages 379. and 383. of the first volume. A long investigation is undertaken, in two whole pages, (391-2), to show that cheating at cards is improper; and after much reafoning, we are gently, led to the conclufion, that thofe whofe fentiments of honour are fo relaxed, as to allow them, without repugnance, to cheat at cards, must be of a mean and fordid difpofition.' The following remark on human nature is of the most general kind, and evidently flows from what is called a fenfible man.'' Such is the folly and fallibility, or the perverfenefs and obduracy of human nature, that the moft facred obligations are very frequently either openly infringed, or artfully evaded, when they are repugnant to our ideas of happiness, or inconfiftent with our views of pleasure, convenience, or profit.' (II. 72.)—-If any one has occafion for a fermon upon loffes fuftained by fire, or homilies proper to diffuade the Turks from using wine, and the dervifes from leading irregular lives, or lectures against the ufe of ftays, he may be conveniently fupplied at p. 4. 72. 78. and 102. of vol. II.-We extract the following brief and elegant definition of comfort: Comfort gladdens and warms the heart wherever it is found; it is the animating fpring of focial life; and in proportion as it is diffufed, is our fatisfaction in beholding it increased.' (II. 150.) After a large differtation on matrimony, Mr Hunter takes occafion to inform us, that he is convinced that private virtue is the only folid basis of public happiness and profperity; and that the religion, the morality, and the freedom of a state, derive, in no fmall degree, both their origin and protection from the purity of domestic life.' (II. 216.) We cannot help regarding it as rather a fingular deviation from his ufual plan, that he does not explain at length the reafons on which fo very strange. an opinion is founded."

The plain downright falfehood of fome pofitions illuftrated in thefe volumes, is as remarkable as the felf-evident truth of others in no cafe is any thing left to doubt or ingenuity. While, at one time, we are reafoned into a conviion, that it is more agreeable to gaze upon young and beautiful girls, than on the old and the ugly; at another we are defired to believe, on the evidence of the author's own obfervation, that the fcarcity in 1851 was entirely fictitious, and that the arts of monopolifts must for the future be checked by legiflative interference, otherwife the country will be ftarved, (II. 139.) Page after

page is filled with demonstrations that there is fomething improper in defpotifm, and fomething unhappy in the fituation of a tyrant. Then we are told, that a great capital drains a country of its wealth and provifions,' (II. 185.) Sometimes the defcription of a diftrict is, that its produce confifts either of animals, vegetables, or minerals; and fometimes we have a mufeum mentioned, as containing minerals, foffils, fpars, petrifactions, marbles, opals, fhells, metals, and volcanic productions,' (II. 197.) But none of Mr Hunter's feats of skill gives his reader lefs trouble than the argument to prove that the public revenue fhould be augmented by an open and avowed increase in the denomination of the coin; for fuch we conceive to be the meaning of the following differtation:

Thefe mines bring in a confiderable revenue to the Crown, by which the chief part of their produce is purchased. Copper fimply refined fetches thirty-fix florins a cwt. ; and, when manufactured into bars and plates, about forty-eight. But the moft lucrative ufe to which it is applied by the government is converting it into coin, as by this operation, one cwt., which cofts originally thirty-fix florins, yields about eighty in money, leaving a profit of 44 per cent. This, to be fure, is not clear gain, as the expences of coinage mult be deducted; but thefe are comparatively trifling. Such immense advantages might furnifh a hint to our own government,' &c. (II. 271.)

By a careful adherence to this method of compofition, and more especially by a frequent introduction of his own concerns and feelings, Mr Hunter has happily attained the perfection of the fedative art in writing. But as it is not the object of this art, entirely to lull the reader, and ftill lefs to risk his fuddenly fhutting the book, whereby the fpell would at once be diffolved, the skilful practitioner well knows how to excite from time to time a most gentle titillation of curiofity or hope, never indeed to be gratified, but juft fufficient to maintain a flight degree of attention, and to continue the exercife of his power-as the magnetizer renders his fubject obedient, and keeps up the trance, without permitting him either to fleep or awake, by tickling his nerves in a certain fmall degree at proper periods of the operation. In this branch of the art, Mr Hunter mainly excels. The travels of an Englishman, according to immemorial ufage, begin with a storm in the Channel. Now, Mr Hunter's ftorm, in which he one moment rides on a boisterous wave, the next bumps on an inhofpitable rock' (I. 8.), might peradventure have brought

The whole of the blunder here is indeed arithmetical; but one part of it is ftill more palpably fo than the reft; for the alleged profit fhould be above 222 per cent, instead of 44.

brought the reader's repofe to a premature end, had he not, with wonderful adroitness, made use of the tickling process, and promifed an anecdote of a lufty gentleman.' This proves to be, that the perfon in queftion fwore a little because he was dropt into the water; that his oaths were in English, he not underftanding French; and that, having nobody to carry him, he walked afhore on foot. Thus the titillation is allayed, without having been productive of the flightest gratification to disturb our repofe. The fame procefs is very often repeated, especially at Paris and Conftantinople; and in no part of the route more frequently than in the unexplored country of Hungary, and the military frontiers of the two emperors. Sometimes he avails himself dexterously of the influence of affociation; and by commencing a sketch with the fame lines by which a celebrated mafter has formerly pourtrayed it, leads us to expect a continued refemblance of the picture. It must be admitted, however, that he is apt occafionally to mingle a little difappointment, by the fudden transition; as, for example, in the following inftance:

The poor Queen of France, fo lately an object of envy! Who can reflect on her fudden reverse of fortune, on her unmerited fufferings, on the favage infults to which fhe has been expofed, without being ftruck with that entire change of fentiment and opinion, which at prefent agitates and directs the minds of this fickle people? Those who once idolized the charms of beauty, and the pomp of royalty, are now become their bittereft perfecutors. The age of chivalry is, indeed, gone with them, and with it all thofe milder and more rational virtues by which it was fupplanted, Chivalry was an enthufiafm, which, as it efpoufed the cause and afferted the rights of unprotected innocence and female youth and beauty, was highly ferviceable to the ftate of fociety under which it prevailed. It fprang'with a good deal more to the fame purpose, vol. 1. p. 32-3-4

As our duty enjoins ftrict impartiality, we cannot avoid hinting to Mr Hunter, that this forms fome deviation from the ordinary harmlefsnefs of his profe, and ought, in future editions, to be placed at a greater diftance from the beginning, that the reader may firft be well dozed before fo trying an experiment is made upon his temper,

The general mufic of Mr Hunter's language is intended, for fimilar reafons, to refemble that of Dr Johnfon. The likenefs between the two ftyles is indeed pretty exact, unless that Mr Hunter's has not the fenfe, nor the variety, nor the justnefs of his model; fo that he has, we apprehend, produced fuch a parody, as the memorable fong by a perfon of quality' is of a fong by a poet. To which may be added, that he has borrowed fomewhat from a female authority, of a more impure age, the eloquent Mrs Malaprop-ufing, after her example, fuch

93

doubtful

doubtful forms of fpeech, as errant for arrant, (II. 99.); fuit for Junte; interchange for change, (II. 436.); alternately for at once, (1. 407.)-and betraying, moreover, a taste in grammar fomewhat fufpicious, as women fent in prefents,' (I. 295.); majo jority, clergy, number, &c. is' (paflim); enemy are' (I. viii.); after we (II. 50.) In gratitude to Mr Hunter, we farther recommend, that if he thould at any time have occafion again to defcribe the extreme of impoffibility,' he would not make choice of a figure which denotes poffibility, and indeed alludes to a circumftance of hourly occurrence. In vol. II. p. 5. he talks of fomething being as impoflible as it is to restore life when every puife has ceafed to vibrate.' We are alfo inclined to hint at the propriety of omitting fuch anecdotes about harams, ftallions, and brood-mares, as occur in vol. I. 309. 311. and II. 457, when he fhall at any future period indite letters to his fifter. Thefe are points of doctrine not effentially neceffary to female education, and may tend to interrupt the fumbers of the young ladies who fhall haply follow our prefcription, and make use of Mr Hunter's volumes. For we now think it our duty, notwithstanding the above trifling exceptions, to recommend this work as in every respect the best and fafcft fedative of the kind which the prefs hath of late times produced; and the most commodious fimple which thofe perfons of quality, country gentlemen, and young officers can take, who have got into the habit of turning over the leaves of books during a certain part of the morning. Its operation is certain, agreeable, and efficacious; and poffeffes the notable advantage, of not interrupting other pur fuits, or confining the patient for any length of time to his

room.

ART. XVII. The Works of Thomas Chatterton; containing his Life, by G. Gregory, D. D. and Mifellaneous ems. London. Longinan & Rees. 3 vols. 8vo. 1803.

THE THE works of Chatterton, whofe life and death will be the lafting honour and indelible difgrace of the eighteenth century, are at length, after the lapfe of more than thirty years, edited in a collected fate. We were at fome lofs to conceive what could have occafioned the long delay of fo interefting a publication; and the explanation has proved rather mortifying. A priori, fuch a work feemed particularly calculated to t ge the public attention. To the internal merit of the poems, now at length published, is united all the intereft excited by the romantic hiflory and lamentable death of the wonderful author, as well as that which arifes from the exercife of critical in. vestigation,