consent to resign her hatred to the family of Cranstoun. The end of the drama could not have been attained but by the aid of magic.

The conduct of the dwarf, which has also been objected to, is to be defended upon the same principle. The book without him would have been useless; and he, though far from intending it, was a principal agent in conducting the poem to its destined conclusion. The dark obscurity in which his story is involved, both when he was lost and found, is highly poetical, and affords a delighful scope for the imagination.

As a minor blemish it may be observed, that the character of Margaret is not sufficiently prominent to excite much interest. There is nothing to distinguish it from any other; and therefore to most readers the recovery of the " young Heir" will seem an event of more consequence than her marriage.

It has also been mentioned as a fault, that there are no similies throughout the poem; but whether that can be so deemed, in a work which lays claim to no higher rank than that of a Minstrel's Song is, I think, at least doubtful. If the objection be well founded, it is one which only the judgment makes on reflection; and which the imaginatiou, warmed with the beauty of the piece, and deeply engaged

by the attention which it excites, can hardly stop to discover.

But there is another light in which this work has a claim to be considered, which is that of a narrative, meant to exemplify the curious system of Border manners. In this respect it is unrivalled: no history has yet appeared which gives so just an account, so interesting a picture of the lawless ravages of the Borders, which were equally a disgrace to both nations. With regard to these the romance has the singular advantage of being a true history as to the general facts, and the usual conduct of the Moss Troopers; and the characters of the two English leaders, Howard and Dacre, are admirably discriminated, and evidently drawn from the most authentic sources of information.

9 of the singular character of Lord William Howard there are some curious traits recorded by Gilpin, in his Tour to the Lakes. There is a history of the Borders, by Ridpath, in 4to. and an account of the "Ancient State of the Borders" in Burn's and Nicolson's Hist. of Westmorland and Cumberland; but a more complete account of them would be very acceptable to the lovers of history, and there are abundant materials for that purpose.

April 1, 1807.

N° VII.

On the proper Objects of Biography.

that

It is a palpable, but a very common, error, lives of activity and adventure only can afford proper materials for biography. "What interest," it is asked, "can the Memoirs of ** **** exhibit? That person passed through the world, in peace, leisure, and retirement, without encountering any extraordinary events!" "Is it possible," I answer, "that this remark can be made on a character of transcendent talent, erudition, and virtue; whose writings have illuminated more than half a century, and whose labours in the closet were calculated to produce effects a thousand times more extensive, than all the busy results of the most practical industry?"

Pictures of the mind, delineations of the movements of the heart, the records of the private and undisguised opinions of those, who have been distinguished for their intellectual endowments, are the ingredients which a cultivated reader most values in personal history. "Hair-breadth escapes, and perilous accidents by sea and land," are calculated principally to interest a vulgar curiosity. The

relation of the ramble of a man of genius in a field of daisies, or along banks scented with the early primrose, if it describes his sensations, or any of the visions that floated across his fancy, is more affecting and more instructive, than the account of the most surprising actions, in which a man of a common understanding has been engaged.

If these observations are just, the memoir of one, whose life has been employed in exercising and improving the best faculties of the soul, is of all others, when properly executed, the most.attractive, and the most important; even though it should have been spent in the most unvaried solitude, or the most equable course of outward circumstances. We are anxious to know the confidential thoughts of those, on whom Nature has bestowed the power of deeper insight into human affairs, on those points of our existence which come most home to our bosoms, and on which every reflecting mind must occasionally ruminate. Sometimes perhaps we are pleased to find in them weaknesses congenial with our own; and we are consoled with this sympathy, which makes us appear less despicable to ourselves.

The great characteristic of persons of genius seems to be, not that they feel differently from others, but that they feel more acutely, and with more distinctness, and are capable therefore of

clearly and forcibly delineating what they feel. Thus the sentiments contained in Gray's Elegy, "find," as Johnson says, "an echo in every bosom;" they are instantly acknowledged to be such, as its readers have continually experienced; but which they could not before analyse, or perceive with sufficient vividness to be expressed by them. When the picture is thus brought before them, they are surprised that they never produced such an one themselves; and, while they admit its truth, think they hereafter could paint like it with the greatest facility. We hear much, among the critics, about INVENTION as the first characteristic of poetry: but is not this INVENTION?

Endued as they are with powers of this kind, we peruse with eagerness all the private letters, the careless sketches, and retired and unambitious memorials of those, who have been thus distinguished for mental superiority. We delight to see the fleeting visions of the head, or the heart, embodied in language; and fixed before us for leisurely contemplation. What avails the opportunity of having seen many men and many cities," unless the traveller, like Ulysses, has the talent to make observations and profit by the experience! What signifies, to have beheld all the sublime scenery of Salvator Rosa, unless he, who has viewed it, has the pencil able to paint, or the pen fo describe it!