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ftuff is here!" we shall therefore only, as friends, whisper in her ear a word of advice; not to appear again before the public, till the has improved her powers of invention by exercise, refined her tafte in compofition, and acquired fomewhat more of the ftyle and manner of perfons in genteel life.

As a small specimen of this writer's abilities for the invention of natural incidents, we make the following extract:

At fupper Eliza complained that he had a violent headach, and as foon as it was over flipt away unknown to me and went to bed-Jerfey, who fat on a fettee by me while at fupper, availed himfelf of my friend's abfence to make fresh declarations of his paffion, and would not let me ftir to look for her; clafping me round the waist, and almoft fhedding tears of tenderness over me, after vowing eternal fidelity to me a thousand times. The weather being very fevere, and being much tired with our journey the day before, and it growing late, I accidentally fell asleep in his arms; and on awaking feme bours after I found him in the fame fituation.'-Did the fleepy fair fteal a pair of gloves from her fleeping lover?-If you wish to know, fee v. i. p. 98.

E. ART. IX. The Triumph of Truth; or, Memoirs of Mr. De la Vilette: tranflated from the French by R. Roberts. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6 s. Cadell.

HE Author of this work has united two fpecies of writing, which have certainly no natural alliance,-fyftematic divinity and fictitious narrative; and might very properly have entitled his piece, a theological novel. However, the union is by no means unpleafing; and may ferve to give young perfons fome general ideas of the grounds of religious faith, in a form which will be likely to make a strong impreffion upon the memory, and thus by an innocent artifice to cheat them into inftruction, where they expected nothing but entertainment.

The principal perfons, in this little drama, are a father and his fon. The father, being from conviction an infidel, in the most extenfive meaning of the term, determines to educate his fon in the most perfect retirement, that receiving no information and imbibing no prejudices, from thofe about him, he might make a fair experiment, how far the principles of religion are written on the human heart, and naturally arife from the free exertion of the rational faculties. The experiment fucceeds. The felf-inftructed youth discovers the grounds of religious faith; and on perufing the books of the Old and New Teftament, acknowledges the divine authority of the Jewish and Chriftian revelation: and the father, over

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come by the force of his fon's reasonings, gives up his fceptical opinions, and becomes a fincere and zealous believer.

In the train of reasoning put into the mouth of the fon, we find no new arguments, and fome not very judiciously chofen; and we obferve through the whole a ftrong tincture of the orthodox fyftem of theology. Thus, the chief end of the Deity, in creating the world, is faid to have been, his own glory, and the happiness of his creatures only a fubordinate end; and the crucifixion of Chrift is ftyled, Deicide. Nevertheless, the defign of the work is fo laudable, and in the execution, inftruction and entertainment are fo agreeably blended, that it will, we doubt not, be very acceptable to the generality of readers. The incidents which occurred when the young man was first introduced into the world, and his reflections upon them, are particularly pleafing. Of these we fhall lay before our readers the following fpecimen.

Mr. De Janfon, my uncle, had taken a great deal of pains to gain one of the best cooks in Paris; and the fuccefs of his pains we now experienced. A fupper where tafte was carried to the utmost profufion, drew from the greatest part of his guests compliments without number. It must be confefled,' replied he with an air of fatisfaction, that my cook ftands alone and indeed the duke of B--has neglected nothing to induce him to leave me; but a hundred piftoles added to his former appointment has confirmed him in my fervice.' I was curious to know what were the wages of this extraordinary man; and I learned that he received annually a thoufand crowns. During fupper, I ftudied the countenance of each gueft: but he who fixed my attention moft was a gentleman placed at the lower end of the table between Mr. Janfon's two fons. He appeared a ftranger; and not one of the guests deigned to addrefs him in converfation. His mortified air convinced me that he felt all the contempt which was fhewn him: he seemed uneafy when he was obliged to call for any thing; and I remarked that the fervants never ferved him, but when they had nothing else to do. I could not help wishing to know the reason why this man was in a place where nobody feemed to take notice of him. I had very foon an opportunity of fatisfying my curiofity; for when the defert came on table, he went out with my coufins. I then afked my uncle who this mute perfon was. He is, replied he, a pedant, who teaches my fons to barbarize fome Latin words; a perfon who has not common fenfe, and yet thinks himself the most learned man in France.' It astonishes me,' replied I, that you should entrust to the care of fuch a perfon all that you hold moft dear. Every thing depends on the first impreffion; the heart of a child is as foft as wax,

which eafily takes the print. Of what importance then is it, to put it only into the hands of people of diftinguished merit What pains should we not take in the choice of such perfons?' You are in the right,' faid my uncle; it were much to be wished that people of merit would employ themselves in that way; but the misfortune of it is, there is no choice: except a very small number, they are all fuch as you have juft now feen.' I can easily perceive it, replied I; and if you will permit me, I will convince you that it is impoffible for a man of merit to be willing to accept of fuch an employ.' Courage, nephew,' cried Mr. Janfon; you will do me a favour to prove this impoffibility." My timidity made me hefitate; but, making an effort to vanquish it, I demanded of my uncle what he gave yearly to his fon's tutor. Five hundred livres and my table,' replied he. And a thousand crowns to your cook,' added I, laughing. Mr. De Janfon, who did not want fenfe, was ftruck with this reflection, and convinced that it was juft. But,' continued he, a greater falary would be more than equal to the defert of the perfon you have seen this evening, would it not?' Yes, certainly,' faid I; but it would encourage men of fuperior talents to take upon them fo important an employ, if they were paid in a manner worthy their abilities.'

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E.

ART. X. Dialogue from the German of M. Wieland. I. Arafpes and Panthea, or the Effects of Love. II. Socrates and Timoclea, on apparent and real Beauty to which is prefixed, an Effay on Sentiment, by the Editor. 8vo. 4 s. fewed. Leacroft. 1775.

TH

HE first of thefe dialogues approaches nearer to the dramatic than the philofophic kind. In fome parts indeed, long narration, or a continued train of didactic obfer vations and reflections are introduced, which would not fuit with theatrical reprefentations: but the incidents are throughout fo interefting, the expreffion of the paffions is fo bold and animated, and the whole is enriched with fuch a variety of poetic imagery,, that from the materials which it furnishes, it would not be difficult to manufacture a tragedy at least equal to most of the modern productions of this kind. There are, however, in the piece fome traces of myftical philofophy and theology, which but ill agree with the bufinefs of the drama, and will perhaps be fcarcely intelligible to the genera lity of readers. Of this the following is a fpecimen. Arafambes, the friend of Arafpes, obferving the excess of his paffion for Panthea, the fair captive whom Cyrus had entrufted to his care, thus addreffes him :

I believe, truly, that thou feeleft all this; the confequence thou wilt draw from it, cannot be juft.-It remains ftill un

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decided, why thy fentiments are greater than their object. O, my friend! there is fomething myfterious in our nature, which will perhaps unfold itself in an enlightened futurity. Wisdom, to whom I confecrated my earlieft youth, that awoke me at the dawn of the day, and was the companion of my folitude in the tranquillity of night, granted me many a tranfient glance into the fanctuary of the foul, and into the empire of fpirits. If the hath not deceived me with glittering dreams, then every thing we fee, is only a fhadow of reality then we are intitled to the fublimeft hopes; and all our inclinations, all our bold undertakings, are produced by a prophetic confcioufnefs of our being created for greater objects and actions, than this gloomy terreftrial fphere offers us. All we admire, this pomp of nature, this harmony of things, all we call noble, decent, and great, in the manners and actions of mankind, all these are only imperfect imitations of a perfect original, the fullied emanations of the pure fountain of order and beauty, which in other words we call the Sovereign Deity, the Author of all beings, the foul of the world, and the ruler of fpirits. The weakness of our understanding permits us only to fpeak of this mysterious affair in dark figures. As the fun is reflected in the trembling waves, or as it communicates to all vifible things its own lovely light and multifarious colours; fo every thing that exifts, ftreams with emanations of fomething divine, and is arrayed with a beauty and goodness, that are not its own. Does not this corporeal world, illumined as it were by the weakest ray of the Divinity, fill our whole foul with a facred admiration? It is the Deity we feel, that we admire fo much, and that myriads of more excellent fpirits, inhabiting yon spheres, those fountains of light far above us, admire fo much more than we do. And the foul, before fhe was abforbed in this terreftrial clay, perhaps enjoyed a heavenly exiftence, converfed with the gods, and brought down with her this propenfity towards perfection as a mark of her celeftial defcent. Or whence this proud, this wonderful inftinct towards the infinite, which our weakness feems to condemn? What is it but a dark consciousness either of paft existence, or a prophetic conjecture of our deftination to mount, through endle degrees, to him, whofe nearer prefence exhibits new wonder, a purer light, and more heavenly scenes? And can we not hence refolve that apparent incongruity, which I difcovered in thy love? The foul impregnated with the feeds of divine love, but fettered by the fenfes, is mistaken either in the measure, or the object, of its defires. Every thing that nature presents either to our fenfes, or to our understanding, in the corporeal, as well as in the intellectual world, breathes a

certain

certain divinity; the foul, ftimulated by fome myfterious prefentiment, flies to meet her; and a thousand graces and multifarious beauties having juftified the erroneous apotheofis, then the fancies he has found the true object of her defires, and pours out all her tenderness upon it. And how can she feel aught but extafy, fo long as the pleafing error lafts? Give me leave, Arafpes, to add to this difcovery one word of advice thou loveft the excellent Panthea; wisdom herself approves of thy paffion; but he will refufe her approbation, if thou wilt not believe, that even a Panthea can be too much beloved. Do not fix an affection, as unlimited as Nature herfelf and her divine original, on one fingle object, be it never fo beautiful.'

The fecond dialogue is between Socrates, and Timoclea, the daughter of one of his friends. The fcene is the toilet of the young lady. The philofopher makes her a vifit at the moment of finishing her drefs for a grand feftival. She is represented as a beauty improved by every ornament of art. The dialogue turns on a diftinction which the philofopher makes between real and apparent beauty: it is pursued in the focratic method: we fhall lay before our readers a fhort fpecimen of this philofophical dialogue.

SOCRATES. Why is this rofe placed on thy forehead? Undoubtedly thou haft made a vow to the fmiling goddess of doing her flower extraordinary honour on fo folemn an occafion. TIMOCLEA. How entered fo fingular an idea into thy head? It is a very natural ornament, it belongs to the headdrefs. Then the rofe is placed there to make thee handfomer? faid Socrates.-For that very reafon, replied the fmiling.-SOCR. What doft thou think, Timoclea, if a peacock were to take it into his head that such as nature has made him, he was not hand fome enough, and would embellish himself with ftrange feathers; would he take feathers of a finer bird than himself, or would he fteal them from a fparrow or a raven? TIMO. Undoubtedly he would take them from a finer bird than himself. SoCR. Thus he would confefs, that the bird, whofe feathers he borrows, is finer than himfelf. TIMO. It feems fo. SOCR. Then thou believeft the rofe fairer than thyfelf, as thou thinkeft, that without it thy beauty would be defective? TIMO. Thou haft caught me, Socrates; I ought at first to have given thee another anfwer. I ought to have faid, the rofe is only there, that the fpectators may compare it with my cheeks, and decide in my favour.'

The introductory effay on fentiment has nothing in it sufficiently new or ftriking to merit particular notice. See more of this Writer's productions, in Rev. vol. xlvi. p. 625, and vol. xlviii. p. 126.

E..

ART.

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