T attempt to examine the whole of a work, which embraces fuch a variety of fubjects as the PURSUITS of LITERATURE, might feem a rash and hardy undertaking, were I not fatisfied that many of them are treated fo fuperficially as to require no great depth of reading, to expose to contempt the arrogance of an author who attempts to guide the public tafte, where he feems fo little qualified to decide: but before I enter into a particular difcuffion of the merits of the work, let me not omit to express my indignation, with all the force I am mafter of, to reprobate the dark, infidious, cowardly policy of ftabbing in the dark, those whom he dares not face in open day. He pretends to be the advocate, the defender, the fupporter of every thing that is noble and gener ous, of every thing that is British, of every thing that is worth preferving in our national conftitution and character; and he difgraces them both, by a conduct worthy only of a ficarious Italian, without either courage or honefty. Does he imagine that any man regards the reproofs of an anonymous cenfor, who fhews no title to his office, either from his character or his former exertions? Let him look to the great fatirifts of former times, and fee how they acted, as he is fond of the authority of the claffics: they publicly stood forward to attack vice and folly, defended by the triple armour of their own innocence; and whenever they came forth to the charge, they spread terror in the ranks of their enemies they were always dreaded, because they were known: had Horace, Juvenal, or Pope, concealed their names, their writings could never have outlived themselves; after a little temporary popularity, they must have funk, where the author of the Purfuits of Literature is finking, into nameless oblivion : but now they and their authors live together; we admire them for the fake of each other; the men, because they had the courage to avow them; and the works, because they re quired it. But however our author may flatter his own vanity, his fatire carries very little weight with it: many people read, but few regard him. Does he think that the efficacy of his book will be loft, if his name were known, and that his only chance to be attended to is to fneak under the fame of another? or does he fear the perfonal confequences of his many personal attacks? If so, literature and morality will not be much benefited by a champion who dares not defend them openly, as they have a right to be defended. The book, it is true, has gone through eight editions; an extraordinary number for a work which is partly literary, and dragged down too by fuch a dead weight of quotations: but its refiftance to thefe difadvantages is in a great measure owing to the political matter it contains, and the number of individuals it attacks; for fome people have a great defire to fee what is faid of them in print; and others are not lefs defirous to fee what is faid of their acquaintance, particularly if it is ill-natured: but let not the author be proud of this circumftance; for it is no more a proof of public approbation, than the crowds that attend many public fights * are a proof that they are liked there is a great difference between liking, and liking to fee. Should it be asked, why I (who am not even alluded to in the book) ftand forward the champion of other people? I will anfwer, it is not the men, but the principles which are attacked, that I am anxious to defend: if others have not thought the author worthy of an answer, I have; not because he has the talent to be dangerous, but because he has the power to mifreprefent; not because he is vigorous, but because he is venomous; not because he is admired, but because he is read, and read too by many who cannot fee faults without having them pointed out. With fuch intentions I have ventured to come forward to a conteft, in which I trust to be in some measure equal to my antagonist; not because I am a David, but because he is no Goliah. I have judged that the best method of fhewing the book in its true light, is to examine it piece by piece: it is the longest, but it is the faireft; and if I fhould prove, as I trust to do, that the author's egotifm and vanity are every where evident; that his ftile is poetical and affected; * An Execution, or a Whipping, for inftance. |