stones, medallions and prints-to the artist, also, let us not be less liberal,-he whose glowing and creative imagination, impregnated with the fire of genius, and richly embued with the unperished and exquisite forms of classic antiquity, imparts life to the inanimate marble, or charms us with the magic of pictorial design, and the fascination of colour-and who his mind full of the lustre which his art sheds, and will ever shed, round the proudest states, dwells with transport on names and topics connected with his profession-will not, assuredly, fail of our indulgence when, the recollection of the sublime geniuses who have graced it floating across his memory, he launches forth in its commendation, and elevates it above all other pursuits. And thus is it with every one whose avocation relates to the nobler endowments of our nature; in the tradesman and working mechanic it would, indeed, be not a little absurd to expect such a feeling, inasmuch as the objects occupying their thoughts, time we had better said, are of a nature completely distinct from those connected with intellect; but with respect to every pursuit demanding the active co-operation of mind, we conceive it will be usually remarked that in the estimation of its cultivators its supereminent value acquires a most implicit faith, and that they are ever ready to speak its praises with an ardour and enthusiasm which, however it may excite the ridicule of the vulgar, will always be met with the utmost candour and indulgence by the more refined and intelligent portions of the community.

And shall not the MAN OF LETTERShe whose occupations more than those perhaps of any other class of society, are largely and intimately linked with those qualities and attributes which give to man his superiority over the brute creation-shall not the man of letters be admitted to the same privilege? Shall a profession so manifold in its departments, and in each so important, be unpermitted the claims to distinction freely granted to the practisers of sciences which, however honourable and deserving they may be of the respect of mankind, are nevertheless incalculably more limited in their range, than the almost boundless field within which the literary character pursues his researches? Granting to the advocate, the architectural and medical professor, the artist, &c. their full title to the admiration of the world, would it be just to refuse our applause to him whose mind, frequently at the expense of his

constitution, and by the inflexible rejection of all the pleasures of society, has acquired a strength and subtility, which elevate him, in the happiest instances of such acquisitions, far beyond the ordinary level of even cultivated intellect? He has expatiated over an ampler surface-he bas become familiarised with all the remoter springs of whatever is sublime and beautiful-of all that is intellectually grand or splendid-of all, in fine, that approximates the human to a higher order of beings. Of the professional characters we have enumerated, the lawyer may advance high and legitimate pretensions to the esteem of his fellow-citizens;—as a moralist by avocation-for law may be defined as neither more nor less than a system of practical reasoning and morality,-his studies have deeply initiated him in the duties which civilized society imposes on its members-his profession is eminently a public one—he is a conservator of the general weal-and from his perpetual intercourse with various classes of men, he acquires a practical knowledge of the human character in all its shades of good and evil, unattainable by any other process. In one respect, indeed, it has frequently occurred to us that the profession of the lawyer assimilates him with the confessor of catholic countries, an order of men who have always been celebrated for their knowledge of the world, which is only another phrase for the vir tues and vices of its members. The very nature of his employment renders it necessary for all who seek his assistance to unbosom themselves to him with scarcely more reserve than the Italian or Spaniard uses towards his priest, and though, unlike the monk, the lawyer is not invested with the power of absolution, he will, if he be a moral and conscientious man, not infrequently be enabled to frustrate the machinations of evil minds, and diminish the pressure of unmerited misfortune. The advocate and his client-the confessor and his penitent-stand related to each other, as far as regards the important and main result of such connexion

pretty nearly in the same manner and ratio-with this essential difference, however, that, while the influence of the priest, exercised over the fears of ignorance and superstition, tends to the abasement, and, through the medium of absolution, to the corruption of society, the same knowledge which he attains through terror, and practises for deception, the lawyer acquires by means honourably and indispensibly connected with his profession, and uses for purposes

diffusion throughout Greece, of the taste which is generally spoken of as confined to Athens; and were it not for the pains taken by the Greek and Roman writers to transmit to posterity memorials of their countrymen's excellence in arts, as well as in arms and legislation, we might now have to lament our very imperfect acquaintance with their general and ardent cultivation of them. Literature has always been the firm ally of every thing connected with the glory of the countries in which it has flourished, and has provided for the productions of art, and the discoveries of science, a temple which lightning cannot scathe, nor the thunderbolt level with the dust, nor the earthquake heave from its foundations and now that the press extends its Briaræan support to the friends of the muses, we have little reason to apprehend the destruction of her treasures from any of the causes which, previously to its invention, had contributed to mutilate or destroy them—and we have reason to suppose that it will eternally continue the proud and noble prerogative of letters, to gather up in their silent but glorious march, the memorials of contemporary genius. and to bear down to future ages the record of all that art and science have accomplished to illustrate the past. Indeed, it will be evident to the least reflective mind, that the productions of the painter and sculptor, depending for their existence on materials subject to all the casualties of nature and accident, would be gradually obliterated from the memory, and abandoned by the admiration of society, were it not for the protecting hand and embalming influence of literature. How strikingly is this evinced by the brightest periods of modern art-the age of the Medici-and that of Louis XIV. To what chances have the chefsd'œuvres of those times, so honourable to the arts, been exposed! And how probable is it that the course of events which have already and repeatedly placed the capitals of Italy, Germany, and France in the power of exasperated enemies-may, and, perchance, at no very distant period, involve in destruction the works of Michael Angelo, Titian, and Rembrandt; of DAVID, and CANOV But their memory will not perish, and it will be the task of the muse and the historian, to inform all ages of the contributions made by the illustrious of their times to the splendour and glory of their country, and to waft down to latest posterity the tidings of their mighty achieve

ments.

We have indulged ourselves to such length upon the train of reflections to which the words of Johnson, and the work before us, gave birth, that we are compelled to deal in rather a summary with the pleasing volume of Mr. D'Israeli. It is an enlarged republication of a tract that we recollect to have perused many years since in England. The motives which induced the ingenious author to bring it again forward, will be best described in his own words :

"I published, in 1795, an Essay on the Literary Character;' to my own habitual and inherent defects, were superadded those of my youth; the crude production was, however, not ill received, for the edition disappeared; and the subject was found to be more interesting than the writer.

"During the long interval which has elapsed since the first publication, the little volume was often recalled to my recollection by several, and by some who have since obtained celebrity; they imagined that their attachment to literary pursuits had been strengthened even by so weak an concurred with these opinions:-a copy effort. An extraordinary circumstance has which has accidentally fallen into my hands, formerly belonged to the great poetical genius of our times; and the singular fact that it was twice read by him in two subsequent years, at Athens, in 1810 and 1811, instantly convinced me that the volume deserved my attention. I tell this fact assuredly, not from any little vanity which it may appear to betray, for the truth is, were I not as liberal and as candid in respect to my own productions, as I hope I am to others, I could not have been gratified by the present circumstance; for the marginal notes of the noble writer convey no flattery-but amidst their pungency and sometimes their truth, the circumstance that a man of genius could, and did read, this slight effusion at two different periods of his life, was a sufficient authority, at least, for an author to return it once more to the anvil; more knowledge, will now fill up the rude sketch of my and more maturity of thought, I may hope, youth; its radical defects, those which are inherent in every author, it were unwise for me to hope to remove by suspending the work to a more remote period.

"It may be thought that men of genius only should write on men of genius; as if it were necessary that the physician should be infected with the disease of his patient. He is only an observer, like Sydenham, who confined himself to vigilant observation, and the continued experience of tracing the progress of actual cases (and in his department, but not in mine) in the opera tion of actual remedies. He beautifully says Whoever describes a violet exactly as to its colour, taste, smell, form, and other properties, will find the description agree

in most particulars with all the violets in the universe.'

"Nor do I presume to be any thing more than the historian of genius; whose humble office is only to tell the virtues and the infirmities of his heroes. It is the fashion of the present day to raise up dazzling theories of genius; to reason a priori; to promulgate abstract paradoxes; to treat with levity the man of genius, because he is only a man of genius. I have sought for facts, and have often drawn results unsuspected by myself. I have looked into literary history for the literary character. I have always had in my mind an observation of Lord Bolin gbroke Abstract, or general propositions, though never so true, appear obscure or doubtful to us very often till they are explained by examples; when examples are pointed out to us, there is a kind of appeal, with which we are flattered, made to our senses, as well as to our understandings. The instruction comes then from our authority; we yield to fact when we resist speculation. This will be truth long after the encyclopedic geniuses of the present age, who write on all subjects, and with most spirit on those they know least about, shall have passed away; and Time shall extricate Truth from the deadly embrace of Sophistry."

"Thus an invisible brotherhood is exista ing among us, and those who stand connected with it are not always sensible of this kindred alliance. Once the world was made uneasy by rumours of the existence of a society, founded by that extraordinary German Rosicrucius, designed for the search of truth and the reformation of the sciences. Its statutes were yet but partially promul gated; but many a great principle in morals, many a result of science in the concentrated form of an axiom; and every excellent work which suited the views of the author to preserve anonymous, were mysteriously traced to the president of the Rosicrucians, and not only the society became celebrated, but abused. Descartes, when in Germany, gave himself much trouble to track out the society, that he might consult the great searcher after Truth, but in vain! It did not occur to the young reformer of science in this visionary pursuit, that every philosophical inquirer was a brother, and that the extraordinary and mysterious personage, was indeed himself! for a genius of the first order is always the founder of a society, and, wherever he may be, the brotherhood will delight to acknowledge their master.

6

"These literary characters are partially described by Johnson, not without a melancholy colouring. To talk in private, to think in solitude, to inquire or to answer The following is the manner in which inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He he has divided his subject :

"1. On Literary Characters.-2. Youth of Genius.-3. The first Studies.-4. The Irritability of Genius.-5. The Spirit of Literature, and the Spirit of Society.-6. Literary Solitude.-7. The Meditations of Genius.-8. The Enthusiasm of Genius.-9. Literary Jealousy.-10. Want of mutual Esteem.-11. Self-praise.-12. The Domes tic Life of Genius.-13. The Matrimonial State.-14. Literary Friendships.-15. The Literary and the Personal Character-16. The Man of Letters.-17. Literary Old Age. 18. Literary Honours.-19. The Influence

of Authors."

With the concluding observations of the first chapter we were not a little pleased-and we present them to our readers as worthy of the author and his subject.

"Literary characters now constitute an important body, diffused over enlightened Europe, connected by the secret links of congenial pursuits, and combining often insensibly to themselves in the same common labours. At London, at Paris, and even at Madrid, these men feel the same thirst, which is allayed at the same fountains; the same authors are read, and the same opinions are formed.

"Contemporains de tous les hommes, Et citoyens de tous les lieux.

De La Mothe

wanders about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor valued, but by men like himself. But eminent genius accomplishes a more ample design. He belongs to the world as much as to a nation; even the great writer himself, at that moment, was not conscious that he was devoting his days to cast the minds of his own contemporaries, and of the next age, in the mighty mould of his own, for he was of that order of men whose individual gcnius often becomes that of a people. A prouder conception rose in the majestic mind of Milton, of that lasting fame and perpetuity of praise, which God and good

men have consented shall be the reward of those whose PUBLISHED LABOURS advance the good of mankind.'

"Literature has, in all ages, encountered adversaries from causes sufficiently obvious; but other pursuits have been rarely liable to discover enemies among their own votaries. Yet many literary men openly, or insidiously, would lower the literary character, are eager to confuse the ranks in the repub lic of letters, wanting the virtue which they maliciously confer the character of knows to pay its tribute to Cæsar; while author on that ten thousand,' whose recent list is not so much a muster-roll of heroes, as a table of population.*

"We may allow the political economist to suppose that an author is the manufac

* "See a recent biographical account of ten thousand authors.