ignorant perfons themfelves acquire the knowledge they are enabled to impart to others on this fubject. It is taken from the Life of John, Duke of Argyle, a ftatefman who was cautious not to deceive any by lavish promifes, or to lead them to form vain expectations. in low circumftances, and heard that fuch a fmall place was now vacant, and in his grace's gift, therefore he took the liberty to beg that his grace would put him into it. The demand was fo uncommon, that his grace made him repeat it again before he gave any answer; and then he faid, A young gentleman of North Bri-Sir, I know your family very well, tain, liberally educated, and endued but don't flatter yourfelf with that; with a large fhare of natural parts, take for answer that I will not give it was fent up to London by his father, you.' The young gentleman replied, who had feveral other children, and had advanced his fon, for this expedition, as much as he could fpare with out beggaring his family. He had confented to this journey of his fon on the repeated promifes of a certain peer of that country, to put him into a handfome way of bread; his reliance on this nobleman's faith made him ftretch a point to furnish his fon, fince he looked upon that as beltowed in order to fettle him for life. Full of pleafing hopes of immediate preferment, our young adventurer arrived at his patron's houfe, who received him with open arms, and a thousand proteftations of ferving him; but feveral months paffed over, and nothing but promifes came; years went away in the fame empty manner; every next month promifed him happiness, but still it was as barren as the laft. The young gentleman had paid levee to this little ftatesman till he had exhausted all his patrimony, and wearied all his relations, yet ftill he was enjoined patience and promised mountains. In the third or fourth year of this attendance, this young gentleman was walking very melancholy in Hyde park, when he fpied the duke of Argyle alight from his coach, in order to take a walk. A thought truck into his head to addrefs the duke, though an utter ftranger to him, for a place in his grace's difpofal, in the ordnance, depending on his humanity for fuccefs. He accofted his grace, told him he was a gentleman of his country, of fuch a name and family; that he was God bless your grace, this exactly anfwers the character I have heard of you.' Thefe laft words a little furprifed the duke, and he defired the young man to explain himself; which he did by faying, that if another peer had been fo honourable as to make him the fame answer, upon his first application to him, he should have been now in a condition to live, without making fo odd an application as his preffing neceffities obliged him juft then to make to his grace His grace recollecting fome circumstances he had formerly heard of the connexion between this young gentleman's family and his former patron, was much affected with the unhappy youth's cafe, After a fhort paufe, he directed him to call at his house next day, and in lefs than three days provided for him beyond his expectations. I fhall offer no other obfervation on this anecdote, than that it is very fingular that fuch a man as the illuftrious John, duke of Argyle, fhould have been fo deplorably deficient in words of course! especially as a little petty peer of the fame country feems to have been fo amply provided with them. But to proceed: Great men, by which expreffion I would not be thought to mean only men enjoying high offices in the state, but all, from the prime minifter down to the pew-opener of the church, who have places and favours to bestow, agree in being remarkably expert in the ufe of words of courfe. Their skill in this refpect arifes not from indefatigable ftudy, or from previous defign, (for at the time they firft be come come great men, they are as ignorant of words of courfe as any other men) but from a kind of neceffity impofed upon them to be affable to all. Now, the very effence of what is called affability confifts in a happy and familiar adaptation of words of courfe to all times and circumftances. If, for example, a place is vacant, and there are twenty perfons defirous to fill it, it is plain that twenty together cannot fil! it; nor can it be divided among twenty, because it is as plain that none of the applicants would think fuch a dividend worthy of acceptance. What, then is to be done? Words of courfe here prefent themselves very a-propos. The great man amufes all with them, while he gives the place to one only. When the manager of a theatre, who in his own opinion, as well as in the opinion of all who apply to him, is the greatest man on earth, is addreffed by an author with an humble request to read his play, and give him an anfwer whether it be fit for the ftage; the great man, difdaining that plain and fhort road which the duke of Argyle, and three or four more, would have chofen in fuch case, affures the author that his play is excellent; that, perhaps, in fome fmall refpects, of no great confequence, it might admit of alteration; but that upon the whole it is admirably adapted to the ftage, and fhall be brought forward early in the feafon. The author cannot but rejoice to hear such a sentence pronounced; but time elapfes, and he hears no more, and applies again, when he is told, that the play is certainly a good one, but will require very confiderable alterations to fit it for the ftage, and it is recommended to him to revife it, take the opinion of his friends on the propriety of the alterations, and bring it again to the manager, as foon as he has made them. When this is complied with, and he begins to be fomewhat impatient, he makes a third application, and is now informed, that the play, although, to be fure, altered for the better, is yet rather deficient in ftage qualities. If it has plot, it is devoid of character; if it has character, the plot is rather thin; if it poffefs both, the language is not well fuited to the ease of dialogue; or if the language be as good as that of Congreve or Sheridan, there is a want of buftie and business; and when all thefe combine together, there is a defect of fentiment; or, to conclude, if it poffefs all the requifite good qualities, the feafon is rather too far advanced to produce it this year, but if he will reconfider, and retouch particular paffages of it, he may depend on its being brought forward the very firft play next feafon. After a year or two of this agreeable interchange of civilities, the author, who thought himfelf wife and witty enough to inftruct and please the most polite and crowded audiences, finds that he was fo deplorably ignorant of language as not to understand mere words of course. See this fubject illuftrated at great length in the hiftory of Mr. Melopoyn in Roderick Random. But words of courfe are not confined to great men in high ftations. In the common traffic and bufinefs of life, they are in very general use. Very few payments are made, I mean, offered to be made, and fcarcely any money can be borrowed without them. Every man who wants to borrow, declares that he wants the fum only for a week or a month, until remittances come from the country, until certain perfons who have disappointed him fhall learn to be a little more punctual, or until he has time to draw out certain bills, which he purposes to do directly, and fend them where he is fure they will be paid. On the other hand, every man who does not want to lend, but who is applied to in the character of a lender, and who might deferve the character in its most liberal fenfe, if he thought proper, is at prefent rather out of cash, has lately been egregiously disappointed, but hopes in a week or two to be able to accommodate his friend; he is alfo very feriously convinced how fcarce money is, and how bad trade is; for his part, he knows not where all the money is gone to, unless it be buried under ground, or melted into air, or locked up fome how or other; and he never experienced a time when taxes were higher, bufinefs fo flack, and fuch difficulty in getting in one's bills. Both parties perfectly underhand thefe words of courfe, although, by fome ftrange misconception, they fuppofe each other ignorant of them. But, after all the ufes to which words of courfe have been applied, and the great advantages which fome people find in them, may it not be doubted whether we are not greater lofers than gainers, by taking from words their proper fignification, and giving them a meaning perfectly arbitrary, which, when it is understood, contributes very little to the character of the fpeaker, and very grievoutly to the difappointment of the hearer? It is certain that many men, who have gone through fundry offices of great truft and confequence, and who have acquired a diftinguished rank in life, have found in the courfe of a long experience, that fincerity is the most valuable mode of communication between man and man, and that in order to receive it from others, we muft learn to give it to them. Sin cerity, fays an author of confiderable celebrity, is not to much a fingle virtue, as the lustre and glory of all the reit; and that from which they derive both their being and perfection. It is that excellent habitude and temper of mind, which gives to virtue its reality, and makes it to be what it appears. What the foul is to the feveral parts and members of the body, which it actuates and unites, fincerity is to the virtues; their effential form, their vital and uniting principle, by which they are knit together, and from which they have all their motion and vigour. Men who hold fuch opinions as thefe may probably be miltaken and deceived, but their fyftem is founded upon principles acknowledged by the wife and good of all nations; and it feems to be much preferable to that which depends upon the caprice of a few individuals, and ultimately deftroys that confidence between mankind, without which life is a feries of frauds, and fociety a state of treacherous hoftility. Such at least is the humble opinion of one who has always attempted to act as A STRAIGHT-FORWARD-MAN. CHARACTER of GEORGE II: With a View of the State of Literature in his Reign. [From Belham's Memoirs of the Kings of Great Britain, of the House of Brunfwic-Lunenburg.] pains to improve and expand his original powers by intellectual cultivation. Equally a stranger to learning and the arts, he faw the rapid increase of both under his reign, without contributing in the remoteft degree to accelerate that progreffion by any mode of encouragement, or even beftowing, probably, a fingle thought on the means of their advancement. Inheriting all the political prejudices of his father-prejudices originating in a partiality natural and pardonable he was never able to extend his views beyond the adjustment of the nal demonftration of perfonal bravery Germanic balance of power; and nor did the general tenor of his conrefting with unfufpicious fatisfaction duct exhibit proofs lefs ftriking of his in that fyftem, into which he had been rectitude and integrity: and, if he early initiated, he never role even to cannot be ranked among the greatthe conception of that fimple, digni- eft, he is at leaft entitled to be claf fied, and impartial conduct, which fed with the most respectable princes it is equally the honor and intereft of of the age in which he lived, and his Great Britain to maintain in all the memory is defervedly held in national complicated contests of the continen- efteem and veneration. tal Atates. It is curious to remark, that the grand object of the two continental wars of this reign were diametrically oppofite: in the firft, England fought the aggrandizement-in the fecond, the abafement of the Houfe of Austria. And in what mode the confequent advancement of Pruffia, at an expence to England fo enormous, to the rank of a primary power in Europe, has contributed to the efablishment or prefervation of that political balance, upon the accurate poize of which many have affirmed, and perhaps fome have believed, that the falvation of England depends, yet remains to be explained. In the internal government of his kingdoms, this monarch appears, however, to much greater advantage than in the contemplation of his fyllem of foreign politics. Though many improper conceffions were made by the parliament to the crown during the course of this reign, it must be acknowledged, that no violation of the established laws or liberties of the kingdom can be imputed to the monarch. The general principles of his adminiftration, both civil and religious, were liberal and juft. Those penal ftatutes. which form the difgrace of our judicial code, were, in his reign, meliorated, and virtually fufpended, by the fuperior mildness and equity of the executive power. And it was a well-known and memorable declaration of this beneficent monarch, that, during his reign, there fhould be no perfecution for confcience fake.' Though fubject to occafional fallies of paffion, his difpofition was naturally generous and easily placable. On various occafions, he had given fig The general state of literature and the arts during this reign, it may be thought improper to pass over without a fpecific, however tranfient, mention. In the early part of it, a fhadow of royal protection and encouragement difplayed itself in the countenance given by queen Caroline-a princefs of an excellent underftanding and much liberality of fentiment-to feveral learned men, with whom he loved freely to converse; particularly with Dr. Samuel Clarke, fo famous for his theological and metaphyfical writings; and whofe fpeculative opinions, in their full extent, the queen was believed to have deeply imbibed. Hoadly, the friend of this illuftrious philofopher, was advanced, through a long feries of promotions, to the bishopric of Winchester; and Dr. Clarke himself was, it is faid, deftined, had not his death prematurely and unexpectedly intervened, to the archbishopric of Canterbury. These great and celebrated ecclefiaftics, the brightest ornaments and luminaries of the English church, were anxiously folicitous to advance its true intereft, as well as honor, by affect. ing a farther reform, both of its difcipline and doctrine, on the genuine principles of proteftantifm. But the political caution, and not the religious bigotry, of the governing powers, unhappily precluded the attempt. The prince of Wales alfo, at a fubfequent period, fhewed a difpofition, though restrained in the ability, to become a munificent patron of literature: and Mallet, Thomson, and Young, are faid to have been particularly diftinguished by his bounty. The Seafons, and the Night Thoughts, are are poems of high and deserved cele, brity. But the most truly poetical genius of this reign was unquestionably Gray, had his powers been fully expanded by the funshine of popular and courtly encouragement. The Bard and Church-yard Elegy are mafter-pieces of fublime enthufiafm, and plaintive elegance. In the drama no tragedies appeared which could ftand even a momentary competition with the admired pathetic productions of Otway, or even the elegant though lefs impaffioned performances of Rowe. In comedy, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar yet remained unrivalled. And of the far greater part of the numerous dramatic pieces of this period, It may be affirmed in the words of Dryden, that the tragic mufe give fmiles, the comic fleep.' In one fpecies of literary compofition, however, and that of the higheft importance, the reign of George II, may boast a decided and indifputable fuperiority; and in the province of hiftory, the names of Hume and Robertson will ever claim the highest rank of eminence. Taking it for all in all, Hume's Hiftory of England may perhaps be justly regarded as the greatest effort of historic genius which the world ever faw. His philofophic impartiality, approaching indeed occafionally the confines of indifference, his profound fagacity, his diligence of refearch, his felicity of felection and arrangement, the dignified elegance of his ftyle, which yet rarely afpires to elevation or energy-all combine to stamp upon this work the characteristics of high and indifputable excellence. With fuch happiness, and with touches fo masterly, are the principal perfonages of his hiftory delineated, that a more clear and perfect idea is frequently conveyed by Mr. Hume, in a few lines, than we are able to derive from the elaborate amplifications of lord Clarendon, whofe hiftorical portraits, though drawn certainly with great accuracy and clofeness of observation, are finished rather in the style of the Flemish I than the Roman fchool. With refpect to the Hiflorian of Charles V, it is fufficient to fay, that he has been often highly, but never too highly praised. From a rude and indigefted chaos of matter he has felected those facts which are truly and permanently intereffing, and which alone it imports pofterity to know, connecting them with exquifite skill, and adorning his narration with all the graces of a simple, pure, and luminous diction, wholly free from thofe meretricious ornaments, that tumid pomp, and gaudy difplay of eloquence, by which later writers have been unfortunately ambitious to aequire reputation. In metaphyfics, Hartley established a fyftem admirable for its fimplicity, for the extent and importance of its practical application, and its perfett correfpondence with all the actual phænomena of human nature, upon the firm and immovable foundation of Locke. In theology, amid an hoft of great and refpectable names, it cannot be deemed invidious to bestow the higheft applaufe on that of Lardner, who, unaffilted by the advantages, and una dorned by the honors of our national feminaries of education, compofed a ftupendous work on the credibility of Christianity, no lefs to be admired for its candor, impartiality, and fagacious fpirit of research, than its amafing extent and depth of erudition; and it is not without reason that he has been ftyled, by a july celebrated writer, who cannot be fufpected of partiality either to the caufe or the advocate, the prince of modern divines.' Fofter, Leland, Chandler, Abernethy, Duchal, and many other eminent names, not of the Established Church, maintained also, with distinguished honor to themselves, by their various learned theological and philofophical writings, at once the reputation of their feparate communion, and the authority of that common faith which all denomination of Chriftians are equally concerned to fupport. In the pale of the Establish ment, |