greater part of the subjects enumerated above are new in the history of Essay-writing: and the few that were touched by former writers, such as the virtuoso's rarities, recommend themselves to the fancy by new combinations and sportive fictions.

But the religious and moral tendency of the RAMBLER is, after all, its principal excellence, and what entitles it to a higher praise than can be earned by the powers of wit or of criticism. On subjects connected with the true interests of man, what our author has said of GOLDSMITH may with much more truth be applied to himself, Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit. If we do not discover in his essays the genius which invents, we have a wonderful display of those powers of mind which, second only to the genius of the poet, most happily illustrate and almost instantly strike conviction. Whatever position Dr. JOHNSON lays down, is laid down with irresistible force; it is not new, but we wonder that we have before heard it with indifference; it is perhaps familiar, and yet we receive it with the welcome of a discovery. Whatever virtue he praises, receives dignity and strength; and whatever vice he exposes, becomes more odious and contemptible. To select examples from a work so well known would be superfluous; yet one paper, No. 148, on parental cruelty, which has not generally been pointed out by his criticks, has ever appeared to me pre-eminent in every grace of moral expostulation. Men who have not seen much of life, and who believe cautiously of hu

man depravity, cannot think it possible that such a paper should ever be read without improvement; yet without any very extensive knowledge of what is daily passing in the world, we may be allowed to assert with the author, that there are some on whom its persuasions may be lost. "He that can bear to give continual pain to those who surround him, and can walk with satisfaction in the gloom of his own presence; he that can see submissive misery without relenting, and meet without emotion the eye that implores mercy, or demands justice, will scarcely be amended by remonstrance or admonition: he has found means of stopping the avenues of tenderness, and arming his heart against the force of reason."

Instances might be multiplied in which common truths and common maxims are supported by an eloquence no-where else to be found; and in which the principles of human nature are explained with a facility and truth which could result only from whatappears to have been the author's favourite study, the study of the heart. Yet this distinguishing characteristick of the RAMBLER, added to a style by no means familiar, may have rendered it a less agreeable companion to a very numerous class of readers than other works of the kind. It is certainly not a book for the uneducated part of the world, nor for those who, whatever their education, read only for their amusement. In the comparison of books with men, it may be said that the RAMBLER is one of those which

are at first repulsive, but which grow upon us on a farther acquaintance. Accordingly those who have read it oftenest are most sensible of its excellence: it will not please at first sight, nor suit the gay who wish to be amused, nor the superficial who cannot command attention. It is to be studied as well as read; and the few objections that have been made to it would have probably been retracted, if the objectors had returned frequently to the work, and examined whether the author had preferred any claims which could not fairly be granted. It cannot be too often repeated that the RAMBLER is not a work to be hastily laid aside; and that they who from the apparent difficulties of style and manner have been led to study it attentively, have been amply rewarded by the discovery of new beauties; and have been ready to confess, what it would be now extremely difficult to disprove, that literature, as well as morals, owes the greatest obligations to this writer; and that since the work became popular, every thing in literature or morals, in history or dissertation, is better conceived, and better expressed, conceived with more novelty, and expressed with greater energy.

One objection, indeed, remains to be considered, which is common with the friends as well as the enemies of this writer-the melancholy picture he every-where exhibits of human existence. "He had penetration enough to see," says Mr. BoswELL, "and seeing would not disguise the general misery of man in this state of being, and this may have given

VOL. XIX.

rise to the superficial notion of his being too stern a philosopher. But men of reflection will be sensible that he has given a true representation of human existence, and that he has, at the same time, with a generous benevolence, displayed every consolation which our state affords us, not only those arising from the hopes of futurity, but such as may be attained in the immediate progress through life." The latter part of this opinion may be conceded: indeed Dr. JOHNSON's most gloomy thoughts are so generally followed by consolation, that perhaps no great evil can arise from his dwelling so frequently on the melancholy side of human life; yet I am none of those "men of reflection" who think he has given "a true representation of human life." In writing the papers alluded to, it is evident he was describing his own feelings and state, and that his resources were not the observation of what was passing around him, but that morbid melancholy which domineered over his body and mind, and dictated at this time the reflections which he was fond to indulge in solitude and silence, and often amidst poverty, and sickness and neglect. That he was depicting his own mind must be obvious now when the world knows so much of his history; and that he was conscious his feelings might betray him into exaggeration, is evident from the conclusion of many of his papers, in which, by way of consolation, he almost refutes his former positions. Nay he could sometimes laugh at his prevailing propensity. In No. 109, in the character of a

correspondent, he has perhaps said all that his enemies could wish to say on the subject-"Whether it be that continued sickness or misfortune has acquainted you only with the bitterness of being; or that you imagine none but yourself able to discover what I suppose has been seen and felt by all the inhabitants of the world; whether you intend your writings as antidotal to the levity and merriment with which your rivals endeavour to attract the favour of the publick; or fancy that you have some particular powers of dolorous declamation, and warble out your groans with uncommon elegance or energy it is certain that whatever be your subject, melancholy for the most part bursts in upon your speculation, your gaiety is quickly overcast, and though your readers may be flattered with hopes of pleasantry, they are seldom dismissed but with heavy hearts. That I may therefore gratify you with an imitation of your own syllables of sadness, I will inform you, &c."-Thus humorously could he play with his own failing, in more happy and social intervals.

These gloomy representations appear to have arisen partly from his not having distinguished between the avoidable and unavoidable miseries of life; if these are combined, our state will appear wretched indeed, and we sorrow as those who have no hope;" if to the dispensations of Providence we add the crimes and follies of mankind, we place ourselves in a situation in which there is no remedy, and from which there is no escape. Another reason for