Falfe, or middling genius, is almoft always arrogant and vain. The true may be provoked to do itself justice; but is feldom apt to overvalue itself. Superficial people are always the most oftentatious. I fuppose you may remember that you used to be the fondeft and moft vain of the thing you were but just beginning to learn. < Some people have juft parts enough to do their country a great deal of mifchief: for if their understanding was the fmallest degree lower, it would be too glaringly ridiculous to ⚫ employ them. • Tho' there are ftrange inconfiftent mixtures in human nature, there never yet was a very fine understanding where the heart was bad. There is a parcel of crazy worthless people who fet up for Wits, and bring the name of Poet under a kind of difgrace with those who do not know that there can be no true genius ' without a found understanding and an honest beart. Oddities and fingularities of behaviour may attend genius; when they do, they are its misfortunes, and its blemishes. The man of true genius will be ashamed of them: at leaft he never will affect to diftinguish himself by whimsical parti ❝cularities. In fhort, good fenfe is the folid foundation of all genius, and of every thing that is truly ornamental. It is neceflary, in fome degree, even to a good Fidler: ftill more fo to one who compofes mufic. A Blockhead, drunk with mortal Port, might have drawled out fuch a pitiful strain as God fave our noble King,-or To Arms, and Britons flrike bome; but he muft have had tafte and genius who compofed Joy to great Cafar, or even The early Horn. An Author, who affects to be fine in every thing he fays, and to write above his subject, is just as ridiculous a Coxcomb as him who performs the most indifferent actions with a • ftudied grace. And this affectation is one principal caufe of the awkward, unnatural language which prevails in most of • our modern tragedies.' We now take our leave of an Author who, notwithstanding the few imperfections we have obferved in his sketches, has afforded us more pleasure than we have been able to extract from five hundred other modern pamphlets. But we cannot honeftly quit this lively Writer without taking notice of one defect in him, which we have not yet mentioned, viz. his affectation a foible he mortally hates in others: and we doubt not his freeing himself from it the moment he is convinced that he is himself juftly chargeable with it. Let him examine himself then, and be fatisfied, whether the affectation of faying poignant, elegant, and fpirited things, and of expreffing himself with the eafy dignity and air of a Sovereign in Literature, accustomed to dictate to the Mobility,-whether it is not this which hath drawn upon his Readers that profufion of fine phrafes which are fo plentifully fprinkled over his pages? Whether it is not to this mifufe of his talents, that we are indebted for all those whimsical oaths and exclamations we have already noticed? and that when he would be humourous, he is fo ftiffly awkward and uncouth; falling fhort of his aim, and defcending down to--what shall we call it-buffoonry, or ribaldry? In fine, let Mr. Temple's impartial Readers determine, whether it is not with good reason that we recommend to this Gentleman, the cool confideration of what himself has fo well written against this vice of the pen, in pages 68 and 69 of the very pamphlet in which he has fo unaccountably offended against himself. • Affectation labours with a diligence that fatigues every fpectator, but with infallible fuccefs, to defeat its own purpose; for inftead of creating love or admiration, it provokes our • averfion and contempt. The most amiable people are always the least affected. Let us make the best of what Nature has done for us: fhe may be improved, but all attempts to alter her from her original fhape will only expofe us to ridicule. That awkward beaft the Dromedary, as long as he has any fense, will never pretend to be a Bajazet or an Othello. • Affectation is the bane of every thing. An honeft, plain, downright Blockhead, fuppofing him at the fame time goodnatured, may not only be an ufeful but an agreeable creature. For instance, T'other bottle won't do-No, nor the other hogfhead neither-You great pale-eyed Loggerhead, you must have patience you must wait a good while before you roufe Mr. True⚫ wit's mettle-a long time, indeed!You must wait till you're own wit begins to fparkle-I am afraid you must wait till you're gone. There is a fecret power in your prefence enough to check every thing that's genialYou are worfe than a fog or the caft wind the candles burn dim while you're here-and the Burgundy drinks as flat as Port. Good night. Here's to your good repofe. May you fleep like any Porpus!But hark'ye, good Mr. Van Numb, before you go-You can't live without Wit it feems blefs your fat head! are you fure that you know Wit ⚫ when you hear it?Let me be curit if you do, even when you 1 pore over it in print at the rate of an octavo page in an hour.' • But • But when a Blockhead is feized with the whim of being a fine • Gentleman or a Wit, the Lord have mercy upon him⚫ and us.' G All the Works of Epictetus, which are now extant; confifting of his Difcourfes, preferved by Arrian, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments. Tranflated from the original Greek, by Elizabeth Carter. With an Introduction, and Notes, by the Tranflator. 4to. 11. 1s. Millar, &c. TH HE Work before us, will be no fmall mortification to the vanity of those men, who prefume that the fair sex are unequal to the laborious purfuit of philofophic fpeculations. Those affumers have been ready to acknowlege the Ladies preheminence with respect to light and ornamental talents; but, the more folid and noble faculties, they have reserved as their own prerogative. They have arrogated this fuperior excellence, as a diftinction they derive from Nature, for which they are folely indebted to the advantages of education. If women had the benefit of liberal inftructions, if they were inured to ftudy, and accuftomed to learned converfation-in fhort, if they had the fame opportunity of improvement with the men, there can be no doubt but that they would be equally capable of reaching any intellectual attainment. Many Ladies have been very witty; fome few have been very learned; but we have never, till now, feen these accomplishments united with an acute understanding and folid judg. ment, fufficient to unravel the intricacies of Philofophy. France now can no longer boaft of her Dacier, but must be compelled to own that our women excel theirs in Sense and Genius, as far as they surpass them in Modesty and Beauty. It has been faid, that " Few, but fuch as cannot write, tran"flate." This, however, is not the cafe with our Author. As a fpecimen of her abilities for the tafk fhe has undertaken, fhe has prefixed an excellent INTRODUCTION, in which the explains the principles of the Heathen Philofophy, and shews how deficient they are when compared to thofe of the Chriftian fyftem. In this Introduction fhe difplays extenfive learning, deep reflection, and found judgment; but, above all, her zeal for Religion, which animates the whole, deferves the highest applaufe. In fhort, it will not be faying too much, to pronounce that this work does honour to her fex, and to her country. But, whether whether we are partial to the fair, let the Reader judge from the following specimens. • The Stoic Sect was founded by Zeno, about three hundred years before the Chriftian Era: and flourished in great reputation, till the declenfion of the Roman Empire. A compleat hiftory of this philofophy would be the work of a large volume: and nothing further is intended here, than such a fummary view of it, as may be of ufe to give a clearer notion of those paffages in Epictetus, a ftrict profeffor of it, ⚫ which allude to fome of its peculiar doctrines. • That the end of man is to live comformably to Nature, was univerfally agreed on amongst all the Philofophers: but, in what that conformity to Nature confifts, was the point in difpute. The Epicureans maintained, that it confifted in C Pleasure; of which they conftituted Senfe the Judge*. The Stoics, on the contrary, placed it in an abfolute perfection of the Soul. Neither of them feem to have understood man in his mixed capacity; but while the first debased him to a mere animal, the laft exalted him to a pure Intelligence; and both ⚫ confidered him as independent, uncorrupted, and fufficient, either by height of virtue, or by well-regulated indulgence, to his own happiness. The Stoical excefs was more useful to the public, as it often produced great and noble efforts to❝wards that perfection, to which it was fuppofed poffible for • human nature to arrive. Yet, at the fame time, by flattering • man with falfe and prefumptuous ideas of his own power and • excellence, it tempted even the beft to Pride: a vice not only dreadfully mischievous in human fociety, but, perhaps, of all others, the most infuperable bar to real inward improve'ment.' It may be allowed, that in the foregoing extract, there is great acuteness of thought, and propriety of fentiment, expreffed with becoming elegance and perfpicuity. Having premifed thefe general reflections, this learned Lady proceeds to explain the technical terms which occur in the Stoic Philofophy; and in the next place gives us a fhort abstract of the Stoic Theology, which leads us to the following fenfible and beautiful obfervations. Senfibus ipfis judicari voluptates. Cic. de Fin. L. II. By Plea fure the Epicureans fometimes explained themfelves to mean, only freedom from Uneafinefs: but the Philofophers of other fects in general, as well as Cicero, infift, producing their own expreffions for it, that they meant fenfual delights. This, indeed, was more explicitly the doctrine of Ariftippus, the father of the Cyrenaics: a fett, however, which funk into the Epicurcans; whofe notions plainly led 'to the diffolutenefs fo remarkable in the lives of most of them." A very flight examination of their writings is fufficient to convince any impartial Reader, how little the doctrines of this ⚫fect were fitted to influence the generality of mankind. But, indeed, about the generality of mankind, the Stoics do not appear to have given themselves any kind of trouble. They feemed to confider all (except the few, who were Students in the intricacies of a philofophic system) as very little fuperior to beafts: and, with great tranquility, left them to follow the devices of their own ungoverned appetites and paffions. How unlike was this to the diffufive benevolence of the di vine Author of the Chriftian Religion, who adapted his dif⚫ courfes to the comprehenfion, and extended the means of happinefs to the attainment, of all mankind! There feem to be only two methods by which the present appearance of things are capable of being reconciled to our • ideas of the juftice, wifdom, and goodness of God: the one is the doctrine of a future ftate; the other, the position, that • virtue alone is fufficient to human happiness in this*. The first, which was the method chofen by Socrates, folves every difficulty, without contradicting either fenfe or reason: the latter, which was unfortunately maintained by the Stoics, is repugnant to both. That there is an intrinfic beauty and excellency in moral Goodnefs; that it is the ornament and perfection of all rational Beings; and that, till confcience is flifled by repeated guilt, we feel an obligation to prefer and follow, fo far as we perceive it, in all cafes; and find an inward fatisfaction, and generally receive outward advantages from fo doing, are pofitions which no thinking perfon can contradict: but it doth ⚫ not follow from hence, that in fuch a mixture, as mankind, it is its own fufficient reward. God alone, infinitely perfect, is happy in, and from himfelf. The virtue of finite Beings must be defective: and the happiness of created Beings mult be dependent. It is undeniable fact, that the natural confequences of Virtue in fome, may be interrupted by the Vices Condonanda tamen fententia, Stoice, veftra eft. J. HAWKINS BROWNE. I have a fingular pleafure in quoting thefe lines, from a poem, ⚫ which does honour to our country.". • of |