ven, but could not ftoop to decorate our manners with thefe leffer graces, which make life amiable. Johnfon, at fuch a tafk, was Hercules at the distaff, a lion' courfing of a moufe, or an eagle ftooping at a fly. He was formed to fuftain the character of a majestic teacher of moral and religious wifdom. His Rambler furnishes fuch an affemblage of discourses on practical religion and moral duty, of critical investigations, and allegorical and oriental tales, that no mind can be thought very deficient, that has by conftant study and meditation affimilated to itself all that may be found there. Though instruction be its predominant purpose, yet it is enlivened with a confiderable portion of amusement. Nos. 19, 44, 82, 88, 179, 182, 194, 195, 197, and 198, may be appealed to for inftances of fertility of fancy, and accurate defcription of real life. Every page of the Rambler fhows a mind teem

ing with claffical allufion and poetical imagery: illustrations from other writers, are úpon all occafions fo ready, and mingle fo eafily in his periods, that the whole appears of one uniform vivid texture. The ferious papers in his Idler, though inferior to thofe in the Rambler, in fublimity and fplendor, are diftinguifhed by the fame dignified morality and folemn philofophy, and lead to the fame great end of diffusing wisdom, virtue, and happiness. The humourous papers are light and lively, and more in the manner of Addifon.

As a novelift, the amazing powers of his imagination, and his unbounded knowledge of men and manners, may be plainly traced in the oriental tales in the Rambler, in which he has not only fupported to the utmost, the fublimity of the eastern manner of expreffion, but even greatly excelled any of the oriental writers, in the fertility of his invention, the conduct of

his plots, and the justness and strength of his fentiments. His capital work of that kind is his Raffelas. None of his writings have been fo extensively diffused over Europe. Such a reception demonftrates great beauties in the work; and there is no doubt that great beauties do exift there. The language enchants us with harmony; the arguments are acute and ingenious; the reflections novel, yet juft. It aftonishes with the fublimity of its fentiments, and at the fertility of its illustrations, and delights with the abundance and propriety of its imagery. The fund of thinking which it contains, is fuch, that almost every fentence of it may furnish a subject of long meditation. But it is not without its faults. It is barren of interesting incidents, and deftitute of originality, or diftinction of characters. There is little difference in the manner of thinking and reasoning of the philofopher and the fe

male, of the prince and the waiting woman. Nehagah and Imlac, Raffelas and Pebuah, are all equally argumentative, abftracted, eloquent, and obftinate. Of that dark catalogue of calamities, which are defcribed as incident to the feveral fituations of life which he contemplates, fome are not the neceffary confequence of the fituation, but of the temper; and others are not those which are most generally or feverely felt there. The moral that he feeks to inculcate, that there is no fuch thing as happiness, is one ungrateful to the human heart. If he could fucceed in establishing it, it would cripple every incitement to virtue, and palfy every ftimulus to action. It would leave man contented to be drifted down the ftream of life, without an object or an end; to lose attainable excellence for the want of exertion, and fink under furmountable difficulties, without a struggle. Though there

may not be permanent happiness in the gratification of our wishes, there is much in our expectations that they will be gratified. Hope is the fweet and innocent folace of our frail natures. It is the staff of the unhappy, and however feeble its support, it is immoral and unkind to wreft it from our hands.

The effect of Raffelas, and of Johnson's other moral tales, is thus beautifully illuftrated by Mr. Courtenay, in his Poetical Review;"

Impreffive truth, in splendid fiction drest,

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Checks the vain with, and calms the troubled breaft;
O'er the dark mind a light celeftial throws,

And fooths the angry paffions to repose.

As oil effus'd illumes and fmooths the deep,
When round the bark the fwelling surges sweep.

As a political writer, his productions are more diftinguished by fubtlety of disquifition, poignancy of farcafm, and dignity and energy of style, than by truth, equity, or candour. He makes much more use