literature and manners,

This select fraternity

consists of a Mr. Johnson, a gentleman of great genius, erudition, and accomplishments; of Dr. Lacon, a physician; of Sir Eustace Locker, whose favourite studies are metaphysics and theology; of Sir Arthur Wimbleton, a widower, a man of uncommon beneficence and humanity; of Ned Freeman, a compound of gallantry, good humour, and classical elegance; and of Mr. Ravenscroft, the secretary, the history of whose eventful life is given in the third number.

Of these personages, five owe their existence to Sir Richard Blackmore; and the sixth, the portrait of Ned Freeman, is the conception of Mr. Hughes. They are supported with consistency and spirit; and it was the opinion of Hughes, that, had not Sir Richard been unexpectedly diverted from the prosecution of the plan, the work would have gained its share of popularity, and might have been continued with credit and advantage to its authors. The style is, in several of the papers, elegant and correct, and the subject-matter occasionally interesting. Two Essays, N° 31 and 32, contain an ingenious parallel between poetry and painting; they are, being Monday and Wednesday papers, the composition of Sir Richard; and, as specimens of his diction

and manner, I shall select, from the first of them

a couple of passages.

"With what wonderful success has nature painted all the scenes of this wide theatre, the world! How masterly are her designs, how strong and bold her draughts, how delicate her touches, and how rich and beautiful is her colouring! It is with inimitable skill that she manages and proportions her lights and shades, and mixes and works in her colours; the gardens smile with her fruits of different dye, and the verdure of the fields is beautifully varied by different flowers. What pencil can express the glowing blushes of the rose, the glossy white of the lily, or the rich crimson of the amaranth? What master can delineate the changeable colours in the neck of the dove, and in the tail of the peacock, arising. from the rays of light glancing and playing among their feathers?"

"As the epic and tragic poets by the warm ideas they convey, touch all the springs and movements of our minds, and take possession of our hearts, by propagating their own passions, and transmitting their very souls into our bosoms; so the masters of the great manner in painting history, who express in their pieces great design, generous sentiments, and the dignity of the

sublime style, animate their canvas with the most lively and active passions. All the emotions of the heart appear in the faces of their figures with the utmost spirit and vivacity: the whole soul is collected and exerted in the eyes, which sometimes flash with fury, and sometimes are transported with joy, or uplifted with admiration; in one piece they are filled with horror and consternation, and at another they melt with tender affection.

"What poetical design and description, what an epic imagination does Raphael show in his celebrated piece of Constantine and Maxentius! And what masterly and admirable painting does Virgil express, when he describes the battle of the Latins and the Trojans."

22. THE MERCATOR, OR COMMERCE RETRIEVED. So general had become the taste for periodical composition, that even subjects of a commercial as well as a political nature, were conceived capable of being published to advantage in this form. Mercator appeared in 1713, and was soon followed by

23. THE BRITISH MERCHANT, OR COMMERCE PRESERVED. Both these papers are noticed in the following advertisement at the close of N° 129 of the Guardian, dated August 8th, 1713. "This day is published, The British Merchant, or Commerce Preserved, N° 1, to be

It

published every Tuesday and Friday, in answer to the Mercator, or Commerce Retrieved." cannot be supposed, that productions of this kind would long survive the occasion which gave them birth; and it is probable, that Mercator and The British Merchant can now only be said to havẹ once existed.

24. THE RHAPSODY.

25. THE HISTORIAN. Of these papers, over which time seems to have thrown nearly an impenetrable veil, I know nothing more than that it is with some probability we assign their publication to the period under discussion; their titles lead in some degree to a general conception of their contents.

26. THE HIGH GERMAN DOCTOR. This tissue of nonsense and political abuse was the production of one Philip Horneck, who is very deservedly stigmatized in the Dunciad of Pope. It consists of one hundred numbers, which were published twice a week; the first being dated, May 4th, 1714, and the last May 12th, 1715. They were collected in 2 vols. 12mo, of which the first was published in 1715, and the second in 1719. After much loss of time in perusing this mass of ribaldry and inanity, I can safely declare that there is not a single paragraph in the work which merits preservation.

It should not be forgotten, that during a great part of the five years which this sketch embraces, three periodical papers, which were noticed in our first Essay illustrative of the Tatler, &c. continued to meet the public eye; the Rehearsal of Leslie, the British Apollo, and the Review of De Foe; the first expired in 1711, the second in the same year, and the third in 1713.

Such and so numerous were the periodical compositions that attempted to imitate and to rival the essays of Steele and Addison, whilst the town was yet daily receiving their elegant contributions. That they completely failed in their design, is evident from the circumstance, that not one of them, with the exception of the Lay Monastery, can be read with any degree of interest or pleasure; and even this small volume is so neglected and obscure, that it is now procured with much difficulty.

It was a step, indeed, fatal to the reputation and longevity of the greater number of the authors of these productions, that, when they found themselves incompetent to contend with their prototypes in wit, humour, or literature, they' endeavoured to attract attention by depreciating and abusing what they could not imitate, and by presenting a copy which retained all the defects