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36

Johnfon and Bofwell on Men and Books.

book; and, if it were not attached to his previous reputation, one would not think much of it. Had he written nothing elfe, his name would not have lived. Addifon does not feem to have gone deep in Italian literature: he thews nothing of it in his fubfequent writings. He fhews a great deal of French learning."

"I mentioned Pope's friend Spence.Jobafon. He was a weak conceited man.'Bofwell. A good fcholær, Sir?-Jabufon. Why, no, Sir.'-Bofwell. He was a pretty fcholar.'-Jebnfon. You have about reached him.'

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"Mifs M'Lean is the most accomplished lady that I have found in the Highlands. She knows French, mufic, and drawing, fews neatly, makes thell-work, and can milg cows; in short, the can do every thing. She talks fenfibly, and is the first perion whom I have found that can tranflate Erle poetry literally."

"I mentioned that I heard Dr. Solander fay that he was a Swedith Laplander.Fabyfon. Sr. I don't believe he is a Laplander. The Laplanders are not much above four feet high. He is as tall as you; and he has not the copper colour of a LapJander. Bofwell. But what motive could he have to make himself a Laplander?

himself.

obnen. Why, Sir, he must either mean the word Laplander in a very extenfive feufe, or may mean a yoluntary degradation of For all my being the great man you fee me now, I was originally a Barbarian; as if Burke thould fay, I came f over a wild Irifhman,-which he might fay in his prefent ftate of exaltation.""

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"Pulteney was as paltry a fellow as could. be. He was a Whig, who pretended to be honeft; and you know it is ridiculous for a Whig to pretend to be honeft. He cannot hold it out.-He called Mr. Pitt a meteor: Sir Robert Walpole a fixed ftar."

"The Turkiffs Spy told nothing but what every body might have known at that time; and what was good in it did not pay you for the trouble of reading to find it,”

"We talked of Galdiaith's Traveller, of which Dr. Johnfon poke highly; and, while I was helping him on with his great coat, he repeated from it the character of the English nation, which he did with fuch energy, that the tear started into his eye.

He maintained that " Arbibald Date of Armyle was a narrow man?"

On communicating to Dr. Johnfon the news that Dr. Beattie had got a pention of two hundred pounds a year, he fat up in his bed, clapped his hands, and cried, O brave

we!

a peculiar exclamation of his when

be rejo ces."

Tas nobleman, when Earl of Hay, began a forech in the Houfe of Peers, with - Aly Lords, I am a Probyterian, &c."

"Once, in a coffeeshoufe at Oxford, he called to old Mr. Sheridan," How came you, Sir, to give Home a gold medal for writing that foolish play?' and defied Mr. Sheridan to shew ten good lines in it. He did not insist they fhould be together; bar, that there were not ten good lines in the whole play. He now perfifted in this. endeavoured to defeed that pathetic and beautiful tragedy, and repeated the following pallage: Sincerity,

Thou firft of virtues ! let no mortal leave Thy onward path, altho' the earth thould gape,

6

And from the gulph of hell deftruction cry, To take diffimolation's winding way, Jobafon. That will no do, Sr. Nothing good but what is confident with truth or probability, which this is not. Juvenal, indeed, gives us a noble picture of indexible

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Mifecit idile dalci. HOR: Ars Poer.
Profit and pleasure here together mix.
FRANCIS.

Of all the lavcations which have ap

peared fince the cultivation of letters, uothing feems to lay a greater clim to the attention of the public than a periodical exemplifies this obfervation than the repaper; and nothing more fally peated encomiums a Spectator, a Ram bler, or an Adventurer, have received, and the feveral imitations they have railed. A periodical paper has all the advantages of variety, time, and place; it affords a continual fund of entertainment, as well fe ious as comic, both feafonable and local; it enlarges the underftanding, without crowding it with fuerfluities; and charms the heart, without palling the appetite. Many valua ble though early geniufes, which are unequal to a more laborious or more uletul talk, may here indulge their inclinations, or perhaps their vanity, in thort and aninated Phrains, til time and practice fhall mature their undet ftanding, and exchange the warm ellutions of a youthful imagination for the more furious and weighty cmplo m ts of judgement and

capa

THE TRIFLER, N° I.

37

Friend, which, it must be remembered, will be the common fignature of all fuch papers, &c. which are not the genuine productions of the Trifler.

The numbers, in general, will be rather brief than todious, rather gay than grave; and fince a Magazine is the mean through which I purpofe convey

capacity. Indeed, there have been many men whofe whole province was works of this nature, where the imagination and paffions are to be affected, who have left us nothing befide thefe valuable remains; yet many of thofe hours, which would otherwife have been fquandered away in idlenefs and obfcurity, were happily employed in compofing thofe precious jewing my trifling labours to the public, the els for the improvement and entertainment of mankind. We had not experienced any confiderable lofs, if, inflead of dry, cold, and accurate narrative, the afte and elegance of Hawkeforth had furnished us with a fecond Adventurer, as Jabafon attempted to do with a fecond Rambler. Had we not been better pleased to have viewed the ingenious author of Roderick Random dancing in the airy circles of romance, though on the brink of futurity, than amid the barren deferts of chronology, toiling after the drudgery of unfaccefsful hiftorians ?— "Mifcuit utile dulci," is a faying which a periodical publication comprehends in its largest fignification, and which may at once fupply the places of a motto and an introduction to the Trifler. In this number, therefore, fall forbear to make any apology for the appearance of a new paper, but content myfelfth laying out in reality what I have fketchet in idea, and must leave my impartial readers to judge of its execution.

It would be at once ufelefs and prefemptive to deviate from the general tract of periodical writers, and it would difcover a weak and prejudiced underftanding to follow the beaten path of any particular favourite. I fhall therefore neither confine myfelf to the ftrictnefs of a Rambler, nor the levity of a Spectator; neither awe by the gravity of a Johnfon, nor captivated by the gaiety of an

Addison:

Virtus in medio eft.

As to the mottos, I thall felect them as the various authors I may have re courfe to, or as my bare memory may fometimes fupply me; and fhall give fuch tranflations as I find beft adapted in the courfe of my ftudies: but, as it may fometimes happen, in cafe I meet with no tranflation that fuits my purpofe, either in profe or verte, I fhall take the liberty of giving one of my own, as my predeceffors have done before me, which the reader will know by the letter F. Or if, at any time, fhould be favoured by my friends or acquaintances with either tranflation or a paper, I hall give them one general title of a

narrow compafs to which that is confined must plead for their brevity, and the vcry nature and intention of fuch a mean muft account for their gaiety. But I would by no means have it thought, that the Trifler will contain a repeated fund of light and airy fcenes, without a proper mixture of ferious and useful digreflions; this is far from my intention: a continual fe ries of effays of the fame nature, thougl ranged ever fo methodically, and executed ever fo matterly, muft, in the end, prove difguftful to the reader, and of courfe confiderably leffen'the author's reputation. Whenever the fame courfe of objects (though at firft fight never fo captivating) is repeatedly prefented to the view, without an agreeable intermiffion of novelties, the appetite becomes palled, and no longer poffeffes a relifh for what was once fo charming and defirable. A garden of variegated flowers captivates more than a long range of trees, whofe profpects must be equally dull, and whofe fhadows are always the fame.

If the fentiments and difpofitions of mankind have not been confiderably changed fince the commencement of this century, I flatter myfelf no inconvenience will arife from the infertion of fome poetical lucubrations, which I fhall now and then take the liberty of doing, provided they are short and delicate, as well to vary the icene, as to oblige a friend: But, left the world fhould centure me on this account, let it reflect, that entertainment depends upon variety, and variety in a great meature on furprize; and that entertainment (as I mentioned above) will be rather the purport of the following papers than inforination; but entertainment itfelf, when enforced without variety, and enjoyed without even hopes of intermiffion, becomes at length taftelefs, and perhaps irkfome. when the attention is fuddenly inatched from the noify impertinences of the town to the foft fecurities of folitude, the mind is agreeably furprifed with the change, and returns with fresh vigour to is wonted amufements: But, on the contrary. when that mird is feriouly enployed in the contemplation of ang ta

But,

38

THE

TRIFLE R, NI.

vourite obje&, when all its faculties are engaged in exploring the depths of antiquity, or bewildered in the mazes of enquiry, to draw afide the attention by the dazzling charms of temporary amufe ment, would be to break that train of 'ideas which it might be as tedious to reaffenble as difficult to re-unite. But this is not the cafe at prefent; fpeculative philofophy is the province of philofophers; let the Trifler, content with the appellation he aflumes, amufe himself amid the lower employments of life, with this pleafing reflection, that there has been a time, when he no more thought himself capable of writing fuch a paper as this, than he now thinks himself equal to what an Addifon or a Johnson have written before him. -But perhaps the female part of my readers are now waiting impatiently for my opinion of them, and whether I intend to emplov any of my fpeculations either as their Advocate or their Enemy. I must contels, I have frequently indulged my wanity fo far, as not only to profefs myfelt an advocate for the generality of shem, but even in fome measure to think myfelf their favourite; and could never be brought to a belief that innocence and beauty are two oppofite endowments, or that modefty and conftancy are not the alive characteriflicks of the fair fex. But if I fhould ever have occafion, from the irrefittable impulfes of love on the one fide, and the cruel ftubbornness of beauty on the other, to reverfe thele fentiments, it may happen, that my belief in their depravity may be equally strong as my prejudice in their favour is now univerfal. But fuch an occafion as this is, I hope, will never offer itflf to the heart that now dictates, or the hand that now writes, either that the one may be obliged to regret, or the other erafe, what is now witten; nor fo oppófite a change be wrought in one, who, while he irongly believes in the univerfal power of love on the human feelings, as trongly denies (what has been fo frequendly afferted) that beauty can be fo cruel, or the heart of woman fo fubhorn, as to hear the piercing groans of a dying lover, without any viable emozions of pity and diftrefs; this may be reckoned a frailty, but it cannot be reckoned a fault: and even if it were a fault, to err is human," and fince to err is not confined to any certain rank of the human fpecies, but even the belt may err," furely an error of fo flight a nature as this is will father es impeted

to the frailty of our natures than any breach of our morality; nor will it either caft any reflection on the character. of the Trifler, nor draw upon him the cenfure of gravity or strictness. By this time, I fuppofe, my fair readers will have great reafon to conclude, that not a few of my fpeculations will be taken up in the contemplation of their perfections and the improvement of their weakneffes, by exalting the tranfcendent beauties of the one, and expofing to pub lic view the fatal confequences of the other.

Thus I have given the full intention of my prefem delign, as far as I could be able to comprehend its extent; how much I fall fail in the execution, time and patience must determine. But let it be remembered, that I have not the vanity to hope, from fo trifling a production as this is, any degree of fuccefs equal to what may be expected from more extensive and more laborious employments; that even the smallest atten tion will deferve my greatest respect; and that a tolerable thare of commendation will be fully adequate to the utmost extent of my labours.—But perhaps there are fome who may find their expectations difappointed, and themselves difphealed, at this firft fpecimen: Let them, in pity to the infcription I have taken, contain their cenfure till the perufal of fome future numbers, when the improvement, which time and application muf naturally enfure, may take away their former prejudices, and claim fome fhare of their approbation, And perhaps there are others who, at the very fight of the infeription, will immediately pafs it over without allowing it even a bare perufal, confidering themfelves no ways obliged to throw away their time in what is profefledly trifling: of this rank I fhall hope to have very few, when they recollect, that, if the grave author of the Rambler was content to idle away fo many valuable hours of his time for the inftruction and amufement of the public, furely a perfon of thefe days may not be afhamed to trifle away fome portion of his time (which perhaps had otherwife been fpent in total inactivity and obfcu rity) in humble imitation of fo glorious an original. And as there are frequent1. found, concealed in a pair of mouldy, moth-caten covers, many precious remains of antiquity, many interefting lights to pofterity; fo, under the appel lation of the Trifler, many fcenes of amufen.ent may be contained, and many

ufeful

Imitations and accidental Refemblances of Milton.

uleful obfervations on life may be gathered. With thefe confiderations, therefore, I commit the fruits of my labour to the public, requesting that, before they refolve upon any rafh conclusions, they will favour me with an attentive perufal, and feriously confider the nature of my defign; for neither the eye can be offended at what it never faw, nor the ear be grated with what it never felt.

MR. UREAN,

Dec. 26.

W fert a few remarks which I have

HEN it fuits you, please to in

made in looking over Newton's edition of Milton. If fome of them appear minute, let it be confidered, that whatever gives the leaft light into any obfcure paffage in Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, or Pope, fhould not be efteemed trivial; neither will imitations or accidental resemblances be neglected by thofe who are defirous of feeing in what manner different authors exprefs the fame thought. The works of these our greateft mafters are growing every day darker from the fhades which time gradually fpreads over them, and which it is much beyond the power of any one man to clear off effectually. I therefore throw my mite occafionally into your valuable collection.

Yours, &c.

T. H. W.
MILTON.

PARADISE LOST.

NOTES ON

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Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugeft that swim th' ocean fiream:
Him haply flumb'ring on the Norway foam
The pilot of fome fmall night-founder'd kit
Deeming fome iland, oft, as feamen-tel',
With fixed anchor in his fkaly rind
Moors by his fide ander the lee,- Ver. 200.
"It fometimes falleth out, that mariners,
binking thefe whales to be ilands, and caft-
ing out ankers upon their backs, are often in
danger of drowning. The Bishop of Breme,
Ta old time, fent certaine legates with a co-
en of friers to preach and publishi in the

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North the popish faith; and when they had
fpent a long journey in failing towards the
North, they came unto an iland, and there
cafting their anker, they went afhore, and
kindled fires, and fo provided victuals for the
reft of their journy. But when their fires
grew very hote, this iland fanke, and fud-
denly vanished away, and the mariners ef-
caped drowning very narrowly with the boate
that was prefeht." Hakluyt's Voyages, 1. 563
His pond'rous fhield,
-the broad circumference
Hung on his thoulders like the moon,-

Ver. 284.

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"That bairy comet, that long Breaming ftar, Which threatens earth with famine, plague, and war."

Du Bartas, ad Day, 1ft Week. Pope hath introduced this paffage from Milton into the tranflation of the Iliad, where Homer only fays, nacing was like a flur.

"Like the red far, that from his flaming bair
States down alfa fekilence, and war.'
B. xix. v. 412.

As when a prowling wolf Whom Hunger drives to feek new haunt for prev,

Watching where thepherds pen their flocks

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Imitations and accidental Refemblances of Milton.

Bentley, in a note on verfe 303 of this book, is furprifed that Milton, in his defcription of the perfon of Adam, fhould omit his beard. Newton inagines i was becaufe the painters never reprefent our first parent with one. But neither the eritic nor the good bishop were aware of the ignominy which the beard of man lies under. Helmont gravely afferts, that Adam was created an handsome young man, without a beard; but that his face was afterward degraded with hair, like the beafts, for his difobedience; and that Eve, being lefs guilty, was permitted to retain her fmooth face. The fantaftic philofopher alfo adds this extraordinary remark, that, if an angel appears with a beard, you may depend on it that he is an evil one, for no good angel ever wore a beard. dam creabatur juvenis, imberbis, floridus; quamobrem ut primus verecundia infractor enotefceret, Deus mento, genis atque labris Adami pilos obnafci voiuit, ut multorum quadrupedum compar, focius et fimilis effet: Evam vero, pudoris et pudicitiæ tenaciorem, vultu polito decoram retinuit. Inter figna quibus angeli in apparationibus diftinguuntur unum, capitale eft: fi apparuit barbatus angelus, malus efto; Eudæmon enim nuaquam barbatus apparuit."

Thither came Uriel, gliding through the

even

On a fun beam, fwift as a fhooting far
In autumn thwarts the night,-

A

V. 555.

The angel Michael thus defcends:
"Or in the ftillneffe of a moone-thine eaven,
A falling flar fo glideth down from heaven."
Fairefax's Taffo, B. ix, ft. 62.
Neither various ftile

Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise
Their Maker, in fit ftrains pronounc'd or fung
Unmeditated, fuch prompt eloquence
Flow'd from their lips, in profe or numerous
verse,

More tuneable than needed lute or harp
To add more fweetness ;-

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B. V. v. 146. On the contrary, a modern writer on the Origin and Progrefs of Language hath laboured much to prove what Lucretius had laid in fewer words, that the first men were mute, and that it was fe veral ages before they could fpeak diftinctly. The feelings of Lord M.would have been much hurt, if he had known that he was flatly contradicting a perfon of fo amiable a character as St. Hildegardis, as well as Milton; for the tells us, that the voice of the first man was to extenfively harmonious, that it contained the whole art of mufic, and

was fo powerful, that it would havebeen
too much for degenerate ears; nay, that
it was fo fonorous, that when Adam be-
gan to fing, it frightened even the devil
himfelf. But take the very words of
this virgin-faint and prophetefs, in the
fermon which the preached in Latin to
the good people of Mentz in the twelfth
century. “Adam-in cujus voce fonus
omnis harmonia et totius muficæ artis,
antequam delinqueret, fuavitas erat; ita
ut fi in illo flatu, quo formatus erat,
permanfiflet, infirmitas mortalis hominis
virtutem et fonoritatem vocis illius ferre
non pollet. Cum autem deceptor ejus
audiffet, quod homo,-tam fonorè can-
tare cœpillet,-exterritus eft."
Who thall decide when lords with faints con-
tend ?

Hear all ye Angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues,

Powers,

V. 600.

Of Seraphim and Potentates and Thrones
The mighty regencies
In their triple degrees ;--
V. 748.
"Those hierarchies that Jove's great will
fupply,

Whofe orders formed in triplicitie,
Holding their places by the treble trine,
Make up that holy theologike nine:
Thrones, Cherubin, and Seraphin, that rife
As the first three: when Principalities,
With Dominations, Poteflates, are plac'd
The fecond; and the Epiphonian last,
Which Vertices, Angels and Archangels bee."
Drayton's Man in the Moone
Every eye

Glar'd lightning and thot forth pernicious
fire

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Among th' accurs'd, that wither'd all their
Atrength,-
B. VI. v. 848.

This animated defeription refembles a paffage in fchylus, Prometheus vinctus, v. 356, &c.

The fan with arched neck Between her white wings mantling proudly,B. VII. v. 438. "The jealous fan, there fwimming in his pride,

With his arcb'd breaft the waters did divide."
Drayton's Man in the Moone.

Again :

"Swanne, Which like a trumpet comes from his long arched throat." Polyolbion, Song 25. Mantling is a term in falconry. "Nis there hawk which mantlerb her on pearch."

Spinfer's F. Q. b. VI. cant. ii. fl. 32. That milky way, Which nightly as a circling zone thou feed Powder'd with flats.

V. 579.

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