pieces of humour. Sir Roger de Coverley, and the Tory Fox-hunter, need not to be mentioned. Johnfon had a fund of humour, but he did not know it, nor was he willing to defcend to the familiar idiom and the variety of diction which that mode of compofition required. The letter, in the Rambler, No. 12, from a young girl that wants a place, will illuftrate this obfervation. Addifon poffeffed an unclouded imagination, alive to the first objects of nature and of art. He reaches the fublime without any apparent effort. When he tells us, If we confider the fixed ftars as fo many oceans of flame, that are each of them attended with a different iet of planets; if we fli'l discover new firmaments and new lights, that are funk further in thofe unfathomable depths of æther, we are loft in a labyrinth of funs and worlds, and confounded with the magnificence and immenfity of nature;' the cafe with which this paffage rifes to unaffected grandeur, is the fecret charm that captivates the reader. Johnfon is always lofty; he feems, to ufe Dryden's phrafe, to be o'er-inform'd with meaning, and his words do not appear to himself adequate to his conception. He moves in ftate, and his periods are always harmoni ous. His Oriental Tales are in the true style of Eastern magnificence, and yet none of them are fo much admired as the Vifions of Mirza. In matters. of criticism, Johnfon is never the echo of preceding writers. He thinks and decides for himself. If we except the Effays on the Pleafures of Imagination, Addifon cannot be called philofophical critic. His moral effays are beautiful; but in that province nothing can exceed the Rambler, though Johnson used to say, that the Effay on The burthens of Mankind' (in the Spectator, No. 558) was the most exquifite he had ever read. Talking of himfelf, Johnfon fid, Topham Beauclerk has wit, and every thing comes from him with eafe; but when I fay a good thing, I feem to labour.' When we compare him with Addison, the contrast is still ftronger. Addison lends grace and ornament to truth; Johníon gives it force and energy. Addifon makes virtue amiable; Johnfon reprefents it as an awful duty. Addison infinuates himfelf with an air of modefty; Johnfon commands like a dictator; but a dictator in his fplendid robes, not labouring at the plough. Addifon is the Jupiter of Virgil, with placid ferenity talking to Venus: Vultu quo coelum tempestatesque serenat. Johnfon is Jupiter tonans: he darts his lightning, and rolls his thunder, in the caufe of virtue and piety. The language feems to fall fhort of his ideas; he pours along, familiarizing the terms of philofophy, with bold inverfions, and fonorous periods; but we may apply to him what Pope has faid of Homer: It is the fentiment that fwells and fills out the diction, which rifes with it, and forms itself about it; like glafs in the furnace, which grows to a greater magnitude, as the breath within is more powerful, and the heat more intense.' It is not the defign of this comparifon to decide between those two eminent writers. In matters of taste every reader will chufe for himself. Johnfon is always profound, and of course gives the fatigue of thinking. Addifon charms while he inftructs; and writing, as he always does, a pure, an elegant, and idiomatic style, he may be pronounced the fafeft model for imitation. The effays written by Johnfon in the Adventurer may be called a continuation of the Rambler. The Idler, in order to be confiftent with the af fumed character, is written with abated vigour, in a ftyle of ease and unlaboured elegance. It is the Odyssey after the Iliad, BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER of eminent PERSONS deceased in 1791 B Rev. JOHN WESLEY, M. A. ORN in 1703, died March 2, 1791. Of the life and writings of this extraordinary man we have given memoirs, with a fine portrait, in our Magazine for April 1791. M. DE MIRABEAU, Born in 1749, died April 2, 1791. Of this eloquent fenator and diftinguifhed writer, we have given a fine portrait and life in our Magazine for November 1791. Rev. RICHARD PRICE, D. D. Born 1723, died April 17, 1791. Memoirs of his life and writings were given in our Magazine for June 1791. Mrs. MACAULAY GRAHAM. .C Macaulay began her literary career with the Hiftory of England from the Acceffion of James I, to the Revolution,' the first volume of which, in 4to. was published in 1763, and the laft (the eighth) in 1783.-She was likewife the authorefs of A Modest Plea for the Property of Copy Right;* Obfervations on a Pamphlet, entitled Thoughts on the Caufes of the prefent Difcontents,' 1770; an Address to the People of England, Scotland, and Ireland, on the prefent important Crifis of Affairs,' 1775; a Hiftory of England, from the Revolution to the prefent Time, in a Series of Letters to the Rev. Dr. Wilfon, Prebendtife on the Immutability of Moral ary of Westminster,' 1778; a TreaTruth,' 1783; and Letters on Education,' 1790.-Mrs. Macaulay's merits as an hiftorian have been acknowledged to afford an eminent proof of the capacity of the fair fex for the more fevere ftudies, and her philofophical and moral writings have gained her no fmall degree of merited fame. Her attachment to liberty, not to party, was ardent and uniform; and it procured her a fingular mark of platonic admiration from the patriotic divine, to whom the addreffed her hiftorical Letters. He prefented her with a handsome houfe, called Alfred Houfe, in Bath, and placed a ftatue of her, in her life-time, in his church of St. Stephen's Walbrook. This, however, he took down, on her fecond marriage, which, although perfectly compatible with the facred principles of liberty, he might think not quite confiftent, perhaps, with those of philofophical difcretion. She died at Binfield, in Berkshire, on the 23d of June 1791. Catharine Macaulay Graham, a ċelebrated historian, and political and moral writer, is one of the many perfons who have been eminent for their literary pursuits, but whofe lives afford very little information to the biographer, who must be content with the mere enumeration of works already well known to the public. This lady was the youngest daughter of John Sawbridge, efq. of Olantigh in Kent, and fifter to John Sawbridge, efq. one of the prefent reprefentatives in parliament for the city of London. She was married, on the 13th of June 1760, to George Macaulay, doctor of phyfic, by whom the had a daughter, who was married, on the 7th of December 1787, to Charles Gregory, efq. a captain in the fervice of the Eaft India Company. Some years after the death of Dr. Macaulay, our philofophical hiftorian married Mr. Graham, a very young gentleman, brother to Dr. Graham, the perfon fo long noted in the metropolis for his many eccentric projects.-Mrs. * See Biographical Regifter for 1790, in our Magazines for April and June 1791. Rev. Dr. BLACKLOCK, An ingenious divine and poet of Scotland, whom the Rev. Mr. Spence has has defcribed as one of the most extraordinary characters that has appeared in this or any other age, was born at Annan, in the county of Annandale, in Scotland, in the year 1721. His parents were natives of Cumberland, in which county his paternal ancestors had lived from time immemorial. They generally followed agriculture, and were distinguished by a degree of knowledge and humanity above their fphere. His father, who had been in good circumftances, but who had been reduced by a feries of misfortunes, was a poor tradesman at Annan. His mother was the daughter of Mr. Richard Roe, who dealt extenfively in cattle, which was a confiderable bufinefs in the north, and was much efteemed by all his connections, as a man of fortune, character, and confequence.-Young Blacklock, before he was fix years old, was totally deprived of his fight by the fmall-pox. His father (who, by his fon's account of him, must have been a particularly good man) had intended to bring him up to his own, or fome other trade; but as this miffortune rendered him incapable of any, all that this worthy parent could do, was to fhew the utmost attention to him, in this unhappy feuation. This left fuch an indelible impreffion on the mind of his fon, that he mentioned it, ever after, with the greatest warmth of gratitude and affection. Of this he has given a very striking proof in his poems. What was wanting to this poor youth, from the lofs of his fight, and the narrowness of his fortune, feems to have been compenfated to him by the goodness of his heart and the capacities of his mind. It was very early that he fhewed a strong inclination to poetry in particular. His father, and a few other friends, ufed often to read, to divert him; and, among the reft, they read feveral paffages out of fome of our poets. Thefe were his chief entertainment and delight. He heard them, not only with uncommon pleasure, but with a fort of congenial enthusiasm; and, from loving and admiring them fo much, he foon began to endeavour to imitate them. Among thefe early effays of his genius, there is one inferted in his works, which was compofed when he was only twelve years old, and has fomething very pretty in the turn of it, and very promifing for one of fuch a tender age. Indeed, it is obfervable, that there have been few of our most eminent poets, who have not given very early proofs of their genius this way; a quick and promifing bloffom preindicating, as it were, the abundance and excellence of the fruit which their maturity affords. In 1740, Mr. Blacklock's father having been informed, that a kiln, belonging to a fon-in-law of his, was giving way, his folicitude for his intereft made him venture in below the ribs, to fee where the failure lay; when the principal beam coming down upon him, with eighty bushels of malt, he was inftantly crushed to death. When this melancholy event happened, Mr. Blacklock had just attained his nineteenth year; and as the lofs of his good father occafioned his falling into more hands than he had been accustomed to before, he began, by degrees, to be more talked of, and his extraordinary talents to be better known. About a year after, he was fent for to Edinburgh by Dr. Stevenfon, a man of tafte, and one of the phyficians of that city, who had the goodnefs to fupply him with every thing neceffary for his living and ftudying in the university. Mr. Blacklock juftly confidered this gentleman as his Mæcenas; and the first poem in his works, was a tribute of gratitude, which he addreffed to him, in imitation of the firft Ode of Horace, by which the Roman bard has immortalized his illuftrious patron. Mr. Blacklock studied at Edinburgh ten years; in which time he not only * An Account of the Life, Character, and Poems of Mr. Blacklock, Student of Philofophy, in the Univerfity of Edinburgh: by the Rev. Mr. Spence, 8vo. 1754. acquired acquired great knowledge in the Greek, Latin, and French languages, but made a confiderable progrefs alfo in all the fciences. What was ftill more extraordinary, he attained great excellence in poetry; although the chief inlets to poetical ideas were clofed up to him, and all the vifible beauties of the creation had been long blotted from his memory. How far he contrived, by the uncommon force of his genius, to compenfate for this vaft defect; with what elegance and harmony he often wrote; with how much propriety, fenfe, and emotion, it is as easy to perceive, on reading his poems, as it is difficult to account for it. Confidered in either of these lights, he must be allowed to have an extraordinary fhare of merit: but if thoroughly confidered in all together, we may be allowed to fay, with his friend the late celebrated Mr. Hume, that he must be regarded as a prodigy. Mr. Hume, alfo, fpeaking of his moral character, observed, that his modefty was equal to the goodness of his difpofition and the beauty of his genius; and Mr. Spence, fpeaking of the pieces which Dr. Blacklock would not fuffer to be printed, obferves, that they abound with fo many poetical beauties, that nothing could do him greater honour. • But I muft except, continues Mr. Spence, his private character, which, were it more generally known, would recommend him more to the public efteem than the united talents of an accomplished writer.'-Among his virtues, one, not the least to be admired, was his contentedness under the humble circumftances of his birth and fituation, the narrownefs of his fortune, and the lofs of his fight, with his confequent incapacity of relieving or fubfifting himself. Each of thefe affecting circumftances, however, we muit fuppofe him, to mention feelingly, although without repining, in different parts of his poems. But as the lofs of fight was the most affecting circumftance, and, indeed, in fome measure, characteristic of his fituation, to share Eternal blackness, without hope of dawn. In the fame melancholy piece (which appears to have been written when his fpirits were greatly depreffed, under the impreffion of the narrow escape which he had had from falling into a well) he feelingly expreffes his dread of coming to extreme want. But his good fenfe, aided by the confolatory views of religion, enabled him to rife fuperior to these apprehenfions; and, indeed, in this very poem, he feemed to have a gleam of light fail in upon his mind; and he recovered himself fufficiently to exprefs his confidence, that the care of Providence which had hitherto protected him, would diffipate every cloud. In the conclufion of the fame piece, he fhewed, not only that he was fatisfied with his condition, but that he could dif cover sover fome very great bleffings in it; and through the general courfe of his other poems, we may difcover fuch a juftnefs of thinking concerning the things of this world, and fuch an eafy and contented turn of mind, as every way became the Chriftian and the philofopher. Thefe particulars we have extracted from Mr. Space's account of Mr. Blacklock, already quoted. Having been firft feparately published in 1754, it was afterward prefixed to a quarto edition of his poems, publifhed by fubfcription, under the patronage of that gentleman. By this publication, a confiderable fum of money was obtained, and, foon after, our poet was fixed in an eligible fituation in the univerfity of Edinburgh. In his dedication of the fecond part of his Paraclefis' to Mr. Spence, he fays, It is to your kind patronage that I owe my introduction to the republic of letters, and to your benevolence, in fome measure, my prefent comfortable fituation.' In 1760, he contributed fome poems to a Scotch Collection, published at Edinburgh; and being there ftyled the Rev. Mr. Blacklock, it appeared that he had then entered into holy orders. In 1766, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and in 1767, he published, Paraclefis, or Confolations de 6 duced from natural and revealed Reli gion,' in two differtations, 8vo. In 1768, he printed Two Difcourfes on the Spirit and Evidences of Chriftianity, tranflated from the French of M. Armand. These were his principal productions. At length, after a long life, devoid indeed of variety or adventure, but conftantly devoted to the most laudable purfuits, this good and ingenious man terminated his mortal existence on the 14th of July 1791, being then 70 years of age. With regard to his poetical character, Mr. Spence has juftly obferved, that there is great perfpicuity, neat 6 nefs, and elegance of ftyle in feveral How fweet with her through lonely Her charms the lovelieft landscape shall adorn, And add new glories to the rifing day. With her all nature fhines in brightest bloom; The filver ftream in fweeter mufic flows: Odours more rich the fanning gale perfume; And deeper tinctures paint the spreading rofe. With her the fhades of night their horror lofe; Its deepest filence charms, if she be by; Her voice the mufic of the dawn renews; Its lambent radiance sparkles in her eye. This feems to be speaking of beauty with as tender and delicate emotions as if he could fee the human face, which, Mr. Spence obferves, is a common fubject with him. But it is difficult to conceive what his precife ideas of it could refemble. Indeed, with refpect to defcribing visible objects, it would be a curious employment to endeavour to inveftigate, by what conjoint, though diverfe ideas, he formed his conceptions of them : for he conftantly mentioned them with fuch propriety and emotion, that the moft curious and penetrating reader, who was confined to fuch of his poems as do not relate to his blindness, would fcarcely ever fuppofe this to be the cafe of the truly poetical author. THE 1 |