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dedications; if so, he must have been in some degree reconciled to his bookseller. But as to the address or preface, entitled "The publisher to the reader," I think it extremely doubtful whether he had any hand in it. ADDISON's assistance is acknowledged in this singular way: " All these papers, which are distinguished by the mark of an hand, were written by a gentleman who has obliged the world with productions too sublime to admit that the author of them should receive any addition to his reputation, from such loose occasional thoughts as make up these little treatises. For which reason, his name shall be concealed." Can we suppose that this awkward compliment could be paid by a man who knew how to appreciate ADDISON's writings, and knew upon which of them his future fame was to rest? Would STEELE have characterised ADDISON'S papers as "loose occasional thoughts" unworthy of his name? And what were the sublime productions, the productions too sublime to admit of the mention of his GUARDIANS in the same sentence?

The compliment paid to POPE, and the advertisement tacked to it," that he is now translating Homer's Iliad by subscription," seems likewise to favour the conjecture that this preface was drawn up by TONSON, or by his instructions *; and the last paragraph adds considerable weight to

* Mr. TICKELI is by some supposed to have written this arti cle. HUTCHINSON's History of Cumberland, art. TICKELL. He quotes "The Editors" as his authority, meaning the Editors or Annotators on the GUARDIAN, but I find them uniformly ascrib ing the Preface to STEELE,

it. "There are some discourses of a less pleas ing nature which relate to the divisions among us, and such (lest any of these gentlemen should suffer from unjust suspicion) I must impute to the right author of them, who is one Mr. STEELE, of Langunnor, in the county of Carmarthen, in South Wales!" Surely one can scarcely forbear smiling at this solemn attempt to throw STEELE, who at this time was writing the ENGLISHMAN, and notoriously plunging into every political contest in the metropolis, into the obscurity of a private gentleman "of Langunnor, in the county of Carmarthen, in South Wales."-On these grounds I have ventured to differ from the opinion of the Annotators, and to attribute this preface to Tonson, or some person in his employment *.

But whatever circumstances attended the conclusion, it appears that STEELE came prepared for the commencement of the GUARDIAN, with more industry and richer stores than usual. He wrote a great many papers in succession with very little assistance from his contemporaries. ADDISON, for what reason is not very obvious, except that he might now be looking to higher employment, does not make his appearance until No. 67, nor after that, except once, until No. 97,

*In the Address to Mr. CONGREVE, prefixed to ADDISON'S Drummer, STEELE takes occafion to repeat the compliments he paid ADDISON on every occasion, and the frank-acknowledgments he made of his assistance in the Prefaces to the TATLER and SPECTATOR, but takes no notice of this "Publisher to the Reader," which it is not improbable he would have thought himself obliged to do, if he had written it.

when he proceeds without interruption for twenty seven numbers, during which time STEELE's affairs are said to have been embarrassed. STEELE'S share amounts to seventy-one papers, in point of merit equal, if not superior, to his SPECTATORS. ADDISON wrote fifty-one papers, and generally with his accustomed excellence, but it may perhaps be thought that there is a greater proportion of serious matter, and more frequent use made of the letter-box than was usual with this writer.

man

The contributors to this paper were not many, and of these few some have been already noticed as contributors to the SPECTATOR. The first for quantity and value, was the celebrated Bishop of Cloyne, Dr. GEORGE BERKELEY, a uniformly so amiable as to be ranked among the first of human beings; a writer sometimes so absurd that it has been doubted whether it was possible he could be serious in the principles he laid down. His actions manifested the warmest zeal for the interests of Christianity, while some of his writings seemed intended to assist the cause of infidelity. Yet the respect which all who knew Dr. BERKELEY have felt for his excellent character, has rescued him in some measure from this imputation, and he will deservedly be handed down to posterity as an able champion of religion, although with a love of paradox, and somewhat of the pride of philosophy, which his better sense could not restrain.

This eminent writer was born March 12, 1684, at Kilcrin, near Thomastown, in the county of Kilkenny, in Ireland. At the age of fifteen he

was admitted a pensioner of Trinity College, Dublin, and fellow of that college, June 9, 1707. The first proof he gave of his literary abilities, was a little piece, entitled "Arithmetica absque Algebrâ aut Euclide demonstrata," in which he discovers an early passion for the mathematics, and for metaphysical studies. His most celebrated works, "The Theory of Vision," and the "Principles of Human Knowledge," appeared in 1709 and 1710.

Of the "Theory of Vision," we are assured by one who well understood the subject*, that it does the greatest honour to the author's sagacity. It was the first attempt ever made to distinguish the immediate and natural objects of sight from the conclusions we have been accustomed from infancy to draw from them: a distinction from which the nature of vision has received great light, and by which many phenomena in optics, before looked upon as unaccountable, have been clearly and distinctly resolved. To "The Principles of Human Knowledge," and the "Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous," which may be considered as a defence of the Principles, the same praise has not been given. In these he argues with uncommon subtlety and firmness against the existence of matter, an opinion which has occasioned his being classed, by some writers, among sceptics. HUME very decidedly asserts that his writings form the best lessons of scepticism, and Dr. BEATTIE also considers them as having a sceptical tendency. He adds, that if

• Dr. REID.

BERKELEY'S argument be conclusive, it proves that to be false, which every man must necessarily believe, every moment of his life, to be true, and that to be true which no man since the foundation of the world was ever eapable of believing for a single moment. BERKELEY'S doctrine attacks the most incontestable dictates of common sense; and pretends to demonstrate, that the clearest principles of human conviction, and those which have determined the judgment of men in all ages, and by which the judgment of all reasonable men must be determined, are certainly fallacious*.

The " Dlalogues between Hylas and Philonous" were published in 1713 in London, to which he now came over, and where the reputation of his writings made his company be generally courted by the learned and the great: at this time he wrote his GUARDIANS for Sir RICHARD STEELE. At the end of this year he went abroad with the celebrated EARL of PETERBORough, who was appointed ambassador to the king of Sicily, and to the other Italian States, as his lordship's chaplain and secretary. In August 1714 he returned to England with Lord PETERBOROUGH, and as he had yet no preferment in the church, he accepted the office of travelling tutor to Mr. ASHE, son of Dr. St. GEORGE ASHE, bishop of Clogher. In this excursion he

*BEATTIE'S Essay on Truth. BERKELEY'S system is explained and confuted at great length in Dr. REID's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, chap. 10 and 11. It is not necessary to dwell longer on the subject in this place.

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