obferve in the conduct of a fingle perfon) is deemed an admirable one. Men of feeling and reflection, who difapprove of the dominion exercifed by this motive on this occafion, without always perceiving that it is the fame motive which in other inftances meets with their approbation, deem it an abominable one; and because the multitude, who are the manufacturers of language, have not given them a fimple name to call it by, they will call it by fome fuch compound name as the love of falfe glory or falfe ambition. Yet in all four cafes the motive is the fame: it is neither more nor less than the love of reputation.'

After many more inftances of a fimilar kind, Mr. B. proceeds to the confideration of human difpofitions and of the confequences of mischievous actions; and this leads him gradually from the theory of morals to the difcuffion of fome topics which more immediately concern the fubject of legiflation, and efpecially that branch of it which relates to the bufinefs of penal jurifprudence. Here he takes a general view of the cafes unmeet for punishment; adjusts the proportion between punishments and offences; inveftigates what are the properties that ought to be found in a lot of punishment; and in a very long and elaborate chapter attempts a methodical arrangement and diftribution of the various kinds of offences into their several claffes and fubdivifions. The introduction concludes with an inquiry into a topic which caufed the original fuspension, the fubfequent alteration, and at last the unfinished complexion of the prefent work, viz. the limits of the penal branch of jurifprudence, and its diftinction and feparation from the other branches of the law.

Greatly to our own fatisfaction, and to the author's credit, could we multiply our extracts from almoft every chapter of this introduction; but, confined as we are to ftated limits, the felections which we have already made muft fuffice;-and indeed they cannot fail to give the reader decifive proofs of that deep thought, acute diftinction, and extenfive inquiry, which he will find more amply displayed in the work at large. Highly, however, as we rate the author's powers, and valuable as we deem his labours, we are not blind to the imperfections of his work. Indeed he is not blind to them himself, but juftly remarks that, as an introduction to the principles of morals, it ought to have treated of many other topics which belong to all the branches, or at leaft to feveral of the branches, of moral science, in common with those which he has here confidered; and as an introduction to the principles of legiflation, it ought to have been more general, and to have treated rather of matters belonging to civil jurifprudence, which is the genus, than of penal jurifprudence, which is but the fpecies. Thefe and fome other imperfections, which

the

the author acknowledges, are, we think, the confequence of his not fufficiently confining his researches within narrower limits, and fuffering himself to take too wide a range into the fields of science. Should he profecute his inquiries on the uncommonly extensive scale which he has marked out in his preface, we fear that the fame cause will to a greater degree produce the fame effect: but notwithstanding that want of well-defined method and accurate precifion which at once supply all that is neceffary and retrench whatever is fuperfluous-a want which is unavoidable, and to be expected, in plans of fuch unbounded extent we are fatisfied that Mr. Bentham's defigns, fhould they be executed, will contain, like the prefent work, much that will be highly deferving of the ferious and deliberate attention of all who would wish to make a thorough and profound inquiry into those branches of knowlege, on which Mr. B. has chofen to exert his abilities.

ART. IX. Curiofities of Literature. Vol. II. A new Edition; with large Additions and Improvements. 8vo. pp. 583. 7s. 6d. Boards. Murray. 1794.

WHE WHEN we examined the first edition of this work, though we manifested no partiality by general and indifcriminate approbation, yet the length of our article, in which the acid of cenfure was foftened by the faccharum of praise, may convince the author that neither contempt nor denunciation was in our thoughts. The public must be the ultimate judge of the merit of a book, after all that critics can say, or that the author may feel. We have been too long acquainted with buman nature, and with the partiality of literary parents for their offspring, to expect that any thing short of admiration will fatisfy them.

After having commended the author's diligence, therefore, we fhall proceed, without a revision of our fentence, to mention the additions which this work has received in its regeneration.

Under the head of literary follies, we have feveral ridiculous addenda; and though there be no lack of them at present, yet those of our forefathers, being of a different kind from the follies in vogue, will amufe without involving us in the difgrace.

At p. 11, where the following line from the Duke of Buckingham's "Effay on Poetry" is quoted,

"Nature's chief mafter-piece is writing well," we could not help reflecting that, if the noble author had publifhed this poem fince we affumed the privilege of analyzing the productions

Ff 4

productions of the pen, we should have begged of his Grace to inform us when nature produced a book? and whether forming letters, and compofing verfes, be not equally works of art? In p. 51, in the article relative to literary blunders, we were a little furprised in perufing the following paffage:

Furetière, in his Dictionary, has these verses at the word

mariage:

"Boire et manger, coucher ensemble,

C'eft mariage, ce me femble."

which fomebody tranflates very well:

"Meat, drink, and bed, in concert taken,

Is marriage, or I'm much mistaken.”

Though the French allow ensemble and me femble to be rhymes, we can hardly agree with Mr. d'Ifraeli (unless miftaken were made to rhyme with taken in fport,) that Mr. Somebody tranflates very well. It has long fince been remarked that "the healer is as bad as the ftealer ;"-and it may with equal truth be faid that to approve bad writing is as blameable as to produce it :-but a more indifputable axiom fays that "notes upon nonsense are worse than the text:"- we therefore proceed to p. 131, where Dr. Warton should have been T. Warton, the late laureat.

In addition to the article Ariosto and Taffo, we have the following definitive fentence of the great French critic:

Boileau, fome time before his death, was asked by a critic, if he had repented of his celebrated decifion concerning the merits of Taffo, whom fome Italians had compared with thofe of Virgil? This had awakened the vengeance of Boileau, who hurled his bolts at the violators of claffical majefty. It is fuppofed that he was ignorant of the Italian language; no pofitive marks of his knowledge can be traced in his works; I find one or two quotations, but when an author quotes from another language, it does not prove his knowledge of that language. By fome expreffions ufed by Boileau in the following anfwer, which he made to the critic, one may be led to think he was not ignorant of the Italian.

"I have" (he answered) "fo little changed my opinion, that in a re-perufal lately of Taffo, I was forry that I had not more amply explained myself on this fubject in fome of my reflections on Longinus. I should have begun by acknowledging that Taffo had a fublime genius, of great compafs, with happy difpofitions for the higher poetry. But when I came to the ufe he made of his talents, I fhould have fhewn, that judicious difcernment rarely prevailed in his works. That in the greater part of his narrations, he attached himfelf to the agreeable oftener than to the juft. That his descriptions are almost always overcharged with fuperfluous ornaments. That in painting the strongest paffions, and in the midst of the agitation they excite, frequently he degenerates into witticifms, which fuddenly deftroy the pathetic. That he abounds with images of too florid a kind; affected turns; con

ceits and frivolous thoughts, which, far from being adapted to his Jerufalem, could hardly be fupportable in his Aminta. So that all this, oppofed to the gravity, the fobriety, the majefty of Virgil, what is it, but tinfel compared with gold ?"

It must be acknowledged, that this paffage, which is to be found in the Hiftoire de l'Academie, t. ii. p. 276, may serve as an excellent commentary on our poet's well-known cenfure. The merits of Taflo are exactly difcriminated; and this particular criticifm muft be valuable to the lovers of poetry.'

The Italians, who probably understand Virgil as well as the natives of France, ftill think differently. Metaftafio, whose claffical tafte was exquifite, in his riper years preferred Taffo to Ariofto. He does not indeed compare him with Virgil; yet, though he faw in him fome flight marks of human imperfection, a few mean conceits, below the dignity of his own mind, he thought that it would be a malignant and pedantic vanity to point out with severity the little fpots in so bright a luminary. National partiality may incline the Italians to overrate the merit of their epic poets: but the French, who have never produced a tolerable epic poem, except the Henriade, have always envied and depreciated the productions of Ariofto and Taffo. We fhall, however, leave to the Italians the defence of their own bards. We fcarcely think that the decifion of any Englishman will terminate this difpute; or even that concerning the merits of Bayle, which occafioned an interminable controverfy between the Marquis d'Argens and Voltaire.

The addition to the article Grammarian contains information:

⚫ Grammarian was a mere title of honour, bestowed on excellent writers, as late as the fixteenth century; for as Baillet obferves, Saxo Grammaticus was thus called merely for the beauty of his style; and Thomas d'Averge, a Neapolitan lawyer, who lived in 1580, although he composed on no fubject but what related to his profefsion, is diftinguilhed by the title of Grammarian.'

In addition to the article Bayle, we find a reflection which we fhall extract for the information of our readers, as we apprehend that the author wishes it to be well confidered:

Abridgers, compilers, and even tranflators, in the prefent faftidious age, are alike regarded with contempt; yet to form their worke with skill requires an exertion of judgment, and frequently of taste, of which their contemners appear to have no conception. It is the great misfortune of fuch literary labours, that even when performed with ability, the learned will not be,found to want them, and the unlearned want the difcernment, which is necessary to give them a just value.' This fubject is again well touched in fome interesting additions to the article on the cenfure of authors:

⚫ Criticifm is certainly a great evil in the republic of letters, when a writer will not reftrain the wantonness of wit, and the acrimony of malice,

malice. The decrees of criticifm receive force from mildnefs, and grace from modefty. A juft opinion of a work may be conveyed to the public, without being accompanied by a bitter invective. When we perceive a critic cenfuring while he appears loath to cenfure, the poifon he diftils on the heart of the author is foftened by the balm with which it is mingled.'

To the article poetical and grammatical deaths, we have a very interefting addition, in the pious and poetical exclamation of the admiable poet Metaftafio, a very fhort time before his last moments.'

Some amufing additions are made to the accounts of Scarren, Corneille, Malherbe, and Longuerue.

Thus far we have only pointed out fome of the additions to that fection of the work before us which relates to Literature and Criticism. We now proceed to Hiftorical Anecdotes; and of thefe articles, the first confiderable augmentation concerns James the First, (p. 316) and is extracted from the prefent Lord Orford's Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors; in which the frivolity of that prince's character, his pedantry, and his pursuits, have not been spared.

The next addition, which is very confiderable, furnifhes particulars concerning the trial and execution of King Charles the First. After this we have extracts from Sir Henry Wotton's life of the Duke of Buckingham ;—and piquant addenda to the following articles-magical fuperftitions-fire-works-writing -relics-English hiftory-and European manners.

The third fection, entitled Mifcellanea, is enlarged by addi tions to almost every article. On painting, we have fome intelligent reflections, by Mr. Jackson of Exeter; and an extract from a Tour on the Continent by Dr. Smith, which feems tinctured with severity, on the colouring of our great painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. That the colours of fome of his early pictures have faded, he did not himfelf deny: but, respecting his later works, this effect, we believe, has been taken for granted, and retailed, without proof. Sir Joshua, ambitious of the brilliancy of colouring which he fo much admired in the works of Rubens, was perpetually trying experiments, (without the leaft knowlege in chemiftry,) which fometimes fucceeded, but more frequently failed. Chemical knowlege feems as neceffary in painting, for the mixture and permanence of colours, as in medicine, for afcertaining the goodnefs and effects of drugs.

Confiderable addition is made to the article Entertaining Preachers, from old French fermons, which feem to have atforded the editor entertainment from the coarfe manner in which admonitions are given on fubjects hardly decent at any