a mutual communication of lights among vast political communities, all of them fit to contribute their respective shares to the common stock of knowledge and refinement;— and sheltered science and civilization, till they had time to strike their roots so deep, and to scatter their seeds so wide, that their final progress over the whole globe can now be checked only by some calamity fatal to the species.

SECTION III.

Continuation of the same Subject.—History of America.

AFTER an interval of eight years from the publication of Charles the Fifth, Dr Robertson produced the History of America ;—a work which, by the variety of research and of speculation that it exhibits, enables us to form a sufficient idea of the manner in which he had employed the intervening period.

In undertaking this task, the Author's original intention was only to complete his account of the great events connected with the reign of Charles V.; but perceiving, as he advanced, that a History of America, confined solely to the operations and concerns of the Spaniards, would not be likely to excite a very general interest, he resolved to include in his plan the transactions of all the European nations in the New World. The origin and progress of the British Empire there, he destined for the subject of one entire volume; but afterwards abandoned, or rather suspended the execution of this part of his design, for reasons mentioned in his preface.

In the view which I have hitherto given of Dr Robertson's literary pursuits, I have endeavoured not only to glean all the scanty information which his papers supply, concerning the progress of his studies, but to collect whatever memorials they afford of his intercourse with those, to whom he appears to have been more peculiarly attached by sentiments of esteem or of friendship. In following this plan, while I have attempted (in conformity to the precept of an eloquent Critic *,) to add to the interest of my narrative" by surrounding the subject of it with his contemporaries," I have aimed also to select such passages from the letters of his correspondents, as were at once calculated to illustrate the characters of the writers, and to reflect some light on that of the person to whom they are addressed. It appeared to me to be possible to convey in this manner a livelier and juster idea of the more delicate features of their minds, than by any description however circumstantial; and at the same time, to avoid, by a proper discrimination in the selection of materials, those frivolous or degrading details, which, in the present times, are so frequently presented to the public by the indiscretion of editors. The epistolary fragments, accordingly, interwoven with my own composition, have all a reference to the peculiar object of this Memoir; and I cannot help indulging a hope, that they will amply compensate,

* Abbé Maury.

by the value they possess as authentic relics of the individuals whose friendships they record, for the trespasses they have occasioned against that unity of style which the rules of criticism enjoin.

In the farther prosecution of this subject, I shall adhere to the same general plan; without, however, affecting that minuteness of illustration which I was anxious to bestow on the first steps of Dr Robertson's literary progress. The circle of his acquaintance, besides, was now so extended, and the congratulations which his works drew to him so multiplied, that my choice must necessarily be limited to the letters of those whose names render their judgments of men and books objects of public curiosity. The Society will regret with me, that among these correspondents the name of Mr Hume is not to be found. He died in the year 1776; the year immediately preceding that in which the History of America was published *.

Mr Gibbon made his first appearance as an Historian a few months before Mr Hume's death, and began a correspondence with Dr Robertson the year following. A letter, dated from Paris, 14th July 1777, in acknowledgment of a present of Dr Robertson's book, appears plainly from the

* Appendix, Note (E).

contents, to have been one of the first that passed between

them.

"When I ventured to assume the character of Historian, "the first, the most natural, but at the same time the most "ambitious wish which I entertained, was to deserve the approbation of Dr Robertson and Mr Hume, two names "which friendship united, and which posterity will never separate. I shall not therefore attempt to dissemble, though "I cannot easily express, the honest pleasure which I re"ceived from your obliging letter, as well as from the intel

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ligence of your most valuable present. The satisfaction "which I should otherwise have enjoyed in common with "the public, will now be heightened by a sentiment of a

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more personal and flattering nature; and I shall often whisper to myself that I have in some degree obtained the "esteem of the Writer whom I admire.

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"A short excursion which I have made to this place during the summer months, has occasioned some delay in my receiving your letter, and will prevent me from possessing, "till my return, the copy of your History, which you so politely desired Mr Strahan to send me. But I have already gratified the eagerness of my curiosity and impa"tience; and though I was obliged to return the book much sooner than I could have wished, I have seen enough

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