guage. This work, therefore, has obtained for itself an inheritance; it is fairly off my hands, and what I have to say about it will be confined to a few fimple facts; I had no acknowledgments to make in my concluding effay, for I had received no aid or af fiftance from any man living. Every page and paragraph, except what is avowed quotation, I am fingly refponfible for. rence. "I have been fufpected of taking ftories out of Spanish authors, and weaving them into fome of thefe effays as my own, without acknowledging the plagiarism. One of my reviewers instances the ftory of Nicolas Pedrofa, and roundly afferts, that, from internal evidence, it must be of Spanish conftruction, and from thefe affumed premifes leaves me to abide the odium of the infeTo this I answer, with the moft folemn appeal to truth and honour, that I am indebted to no author whatever, Spanish or other, for a fingle hint, idea, or fuggeftion of an incident, in the ftory of Pedrofa, nor in that of the Mifanthrope, nor in any other which the work contains. In the narrative of the Portu. guefe, who was brought before the Inquifition, what I fay of it as being matter of tradition, which I collected on the spot, is a mere fiction to give an air of credibility and horror to the tale : the whole, without exception of a fyllable, is abfolute and entire invention. "I take credit to myself for the character of Abraham Abrahams; I wrote it upon principle, thinking it high time that fomething should be done for a perfecuted race; I feconded my appeal to the charity of mankind, by the character of Sheva, which I copied from this of Abrahams. The public prints gave the Jews credit for their fenfibility in acknowledging my wellintended fervices: my friends gave me joy of honorary prefents," and fome even accufed me of ingratitude for not making public my thanks for their munificence. I will fpeak plainly on this point; I do most heartily wish they had flattered me with fome token, however fmall, of which I might have faid, this is a tribute to my philanthropy, and delivered it down to my children, as my beloved father did to me his badge of favour from the citi zens of Dublin; but not a word from the lips, not a line did I ever receive from the pen of any Jew, though I have found myfelf in company with many of their nation; and in this perhaps the gentlemen are quite right, whilft I had formed expectations that were quite wrong; for if I have faid for them only what they deferve, why fhould I be thanked for it? But if I have faid more, much more, than they deferve, can they do a wifer thing than hold their tongues? "I think it cannot be fuppofed but that the compofition of the Obferver' must have been a work of time and labour; I truft there is internal evidence of that, particularly in that portion of it, which profeffes to review the literary age of Greece, and gives a history of the Athenian ftage. That feries of papers will, I hope, remain as a monument of my induftry in collecting materials, PP 3 materials, and of my correctness in difpofing them; and when I lay to my heart the confolation I derive from the honours now bestowed upon me, at the clofe of my career, by one, who is only in the first outfet of his, what have I not to augur for myfelf, when he who ftarts with fuch aufpicious promife has been pleafed to take my fame in hand, and link it to his own? If any of my readers are yet to feek for the author to whom I al lude; the Comicorum Graecorum fragmenta quædam will lead them to his name, and him to their respect. "If I cannot refift the gratification of inferting the paragraph, (page 7,) which places my dim lamp between thofe brilliant ftars of claffic luftre, Richard Bentley and Richard Porfon, am I to be fet down as a conceited vain old man? Let it be fo! I can't help it, and in truth I don't much care about it. Though the following extract may be the weakest thing that Mr. Robert Walpole, of Trinity College, Cambridge, ever has written, or ever fhall write, it will outlive the strongest thing that can be faid against it, and I will therefore arreft and incorporate it, as follows: Aliunde quoque haud exiguum ornamentum huic volumini accepit, fiquidem Cumberlandius noftras amicè benevolèque permifit, ut verfiones fuas quorundam fragmentorum, exquifitas fane illas, mirâque elegantia conditas et commendatas huc transferrem*. Forty numbers of the Qbferver in an octavo volume t, and printed at Tunbridge Wells, were published in London in 1785; this collection being well received, both by the public and the critics, it was reprinted by Dilly, the fucceeding year, in three volumes, crown 8vo, with fuch numerous additions, as augmented the numbers to ninety-three. In 1788, a fourth volume was given; and in 1790, the fifth and laft. Of this arrange ment in five volumes, a new impreffion was published in 1791, which is the edition in my poffeffion, extending to one hundred and fifty-three effays. The Obferver, in fix volumes, appeared in 1798; in 1803, it was incorporated with the British Effayifts; and in 1808, it was reprinted in three volumes 12mo. The effays which compofe thefe interefting volumes, may be claffed under the appellations of Literary, Critical, and Narra tive; Humorous, Moral, and Religious. "To the Literary papers, which amount to about forty in number, we are indebted for the most original feature in the work, Thefe include, together with fome account of the civil history of Greece, a compreffed and connected detail of Grecian poetry, from the earliest era to the death of Menander. The refearch has been particularly directed to the remains of the Greek Dra matists, and more efpecially to the writers of the Old, the Mid dle, and the New Comedy. Of thefe, the fragments, which the defolating hand of Time has fpared, have been tranflated with Vol. ii. p. 199, et feq." + Mr. Cumberland fays two, perhaps the fecond was not completed. uncommon ancommon felicity, by Mr. Cumberland; and merit the eulogium which Mr. Walpole has fo happily expreffed. The eafy and flowing metrical ftyle of Fletcher and Maffinger furnished Mr. Cumberland with an appropriate model for his verfions, which he has imitated with fidelity and fpirit. The patience and perfevering labour required for the due execution of this task, may be estimated from the declaration of the Obferver, that it was his ambition to give the world a complete collection of the beauties of the Greek stage, in our own language, from the remains of more than fifty comic poets*.' "The papers ftrictly Critical, in the Obferver, amount to feventeen, of which eleven are devoted to the confideration of dramatic character and conduct. Among thefe, the contraft be tween the characters of Macbeth and Richard; the parallel between Efchylus and Shakspeare; the obfervations on Falstaff and his group; and the comparative review of Rowe's Fair Penitent with the Fatal Dowry of Maffinger; are peculiarly interefting and conclufive. The effay on ftyle, in No. 133, contains many just remarks on the diction of Addison and Johnfon; with the judicious recommendation of the former as the fafer model for the ftudent, The character of Mr. Cumberland's own ftyle, indeed, partakes much more of the elegant and idiomatic fimplicity of Addison, than of the elaborate, though fplendid, compofition of Johnson; with the exception of a few phrafes, which are too flat and colloquial, it is eafy, fluent, and correct. Of the Narrative portion of the Obferver, which occupies no fmall share of the work, it is impoffible not to fpeak highly. Powerful invention, ftrong delineation of character, and adhe rence to coftume, diftinguish the greater part of our author's fictions. The ftories of Abdullah and Zarima; of Chaubert, the Mifanthrope; of the Portuguéfe Gentleman, who died by the rack; of Ned Drowfy, and of Nicolas Pedrofa, may be instanced as fully fupporting the opinion that we have advanced; the last two more efpecially abound in the richest traits both of pathos and humour... "There are many papers, likewife, in the Obferver, which may more exclufively be termed Humorous; fuch as the Letters from Mr. Jedediah Fith, in Nos. 45 and 69; the Letter from Rufticus, in No. 80; the Letter from Pofthumous, in No. 9.2; the characters of Simon Sapling and Billy Simper, in Nos. 129, 131, and 132; the adventures of Kit Cracker, in No. 134; and the Letter from Tom Tortoife, in No. 149. These, and others. of a fimilar kind, very agreeably relieve the literaty and didactic portion of the work; and, at the fame time, exhibit a know ledge of the world, its follies, and eccentricities. It may be affirmed of this periodical paper, very highly to its is Vol. iv. p. 119, edition of 1791.” PP 4 credit, credit, that almost every part of it, either directly or indirectly poffeffes a Moral tendency; a confiderable number of essays is avowedly appropriated to fubjects of this kind, fubjects calcu, lated to improve the manners, and meliorate the heart; and even in those which are fet apart for literary and critical enquiry, great care has been taken to render them, in almost every in ftance, fubfervient to the best purposes of virtue and instruction. "Nor fhould we fail to notice that fome papers of great value, ftrong in argument, and curious in refearch, are devoted to Religious topics. The comparison of Pythagoras with Chrift, in No. 12; the defence of our Saviour's Miracles, in No. 13; the morality of Chriftianity, as compared with that of natural reli. gion, in No. 83; and an argument for the evidences of the Chriftian religion, in No. 93; together with three papers in volume the fourth, in anfwer to the cavils and objections of David Levi, are of this kind, and imprefs us with a deep fense of the piety of their author. The Obferver, though the fole labour of an individual, is yet rich in variety, both of fubject and manner; in this refpect, in. deed, as well as in literary intereft, and in fertility of invention, it may be claffed with the Spectator and Adventurer; if inferior to the latter in grandeur of fiction, or to the former in delicate irony and dramatic unity of defign, it is wealthier in its literary fund than either, equally moral in its views, and as abundant in the creation of incident. I confider it, therefore, with the excep tion of the papers juft mentioned, as fuperior, in its powers of attraction, to every other periodical compofition." P. 385. After fuch fpecimens of certainly one of the most pleafing publications of modern times, it will not be wondered that we exprefs great fatisfaction, in the profpect of receiving from the fame author a felection from these numerous periodical works, under the title of " the Gleaner:" The taste and judgment of Dr. Drake may be relied on for giving such a felection as will make the work valuable, and whatever illuftrations he fhall think fit to add will doubtlefs add to the fatisfaction, as well as information of his readers. ART. V. The Secret Hiftory of the Cabinet of Bonaparte, &c. "THE relating relating to Great Britain. As introductory to this fubject, he reverts to a former period of the French Revolution, ftating that during the existence of the Republic, and at an early period of the authority of its five directors, all the diplomatic plans and memoirs, which had been prefented to the late Kings of France, were published under the title of Politiques de tous les Cabinets de l'Europe pendant les regnes de Louis XV & Louis XVI. A certain M. De Segur, now in a high employment under Bonaparte, it feems, enriched (as this author terms it,) the work with a preface and revolutio nary notes; in which he fays, "Il fera facile de fe convaincre qu'y compris même la Revolution, en grande partie, on trouve dans ces mémoires et ces conjectures le germe de tout ce qui arrive aujourd'hui, et l'on ne peut pas fans les avoir lus, etre bien au fait des intérets, et même des vues actuelles des diverfes puiffances de l'Europe." The Directory (it is obferved) had not the means of carrying this grand plan into execution; which required the government of a defpotic military ruler, and one whofe maxim fhould be per fas et nefas. Some outline of this plan fhould have been given by the author, as the publication is not, we believe, generally known in England. What is wanting however, in this respect is, in a great degree, fupplied by the author's comments on the well known work of Hauterive, published during the confulate of Bonaparte, and probably grounded on the fyftem laid down in the former publication. Our readers may recollect, that this artful manifefto was * noticed by us not long after its appearance, as was alfo (more fully) the able and conclufive † anfwer by Gentz. The prefent author (who tranflated it) obferved, it feems, to Hauterive, that it was only “ un ouvrage belliqueux." The answer, he affures as, was Ob que non; il faut regarder cela comme la code politique de la France." Several paffages are here cited from that work; which (in our opinion) moft clearly prove the defigns of its patron Napoleon, not only against the honour and interefts of Great Britain, but against the independence of Europe, and, in the words of this author, "demonftrate clearly that the immortal Pitt was correct, when he proclaimed him to be,"-" the child and champion of Jacobinifm !" The tendency of this hoftile state paper did not, this author obferves, prevent the great powers of Europe from con * Brit. Crit. Vol. XVIII. p. 95. + Brit. Crit. Vol. XX. p. 424. eluding |