From the usual tenor of his style, it was not to be expected that our great moralist would excel as an Epistolary Writer. The letters of Johnson, however, though sometimes not entirely free from his customary elaboration, are, in general, graceful, easy, and perspicuous. They fully develop the character of the man; some are gloomy,' some pathetic and beautifully moral; others lively, domestic, and interesting. If they cannot be said to rival the letters of Cowper, yet will they still take their station among the best epistolary collections in our language.

Among the essays of Bishop Horne, is an admirable apology for the character of Dr. Johnson; which, as possessing so much truth, being so eloquently written, and, at the same time, being the best defence hitherto published of this great man, will be read with interest :

"Johnson, it is said, was superstitious; but who shall exactly ascertain to us what superstition is? The Romanist is charged with it by the Church-ofEngland man; the Churchman by the Presbyterian; the Presbyterian by the Independent; all by the Deist; and the Deist by the Atheist. With some, it is superstition to pray; with others, to receive the sacrament; with others, to believe in God. In some minds it springs from the most amiable disposition in the world: a pious awe, and fear to have offended;' a wish rather to do too much than too little. Such a disposition one loves, and wishes always to find in a friend; and it cannot be disagreeable in the sight of Him who made us, It argues a sensibility of heart, a tenderness of conscience, and the fear of God. Let him who finds it not in himself beware, lest, in flying from superstition, he fall into irreligion and profaneness.

man.

"That persons of eminent talents and attainments in literature have been often complained of as dogmatical, boisterous, and inattentive to the rules of good breeding, is well known. But let us not expect everything from every There was no occasion that Johnson should teach us to dance, to make bows, or turn compliments. He could teach us better things. To reject wisdom, because the person of him who communicates it is uncouth, and his manners are inelegant, what is it but to throw away a pineapple, and assign for a reason the roughness of its coat?

"That Johnson was generous and charitable, none can deny. But he was not always judicious in the selection of his objects: distress was a sufficient recommendation, and he did not scrutinize into the failings of the distressed. May it be always my lot to have such a benefactor! Some are so nice in a scrutiny of this kind that they can never find any proper objects of their benevolence, and are necessitated to save their money. It should, doubtless, be distributed in the best manner we are able to distribute it; but what would become of us all if He, on whose bounty all depend, should be extreme to mark that which is done amiss?

"It is hard to judge any man, without a due consideration of all circumstances. Here were stupendous abilities, and suitable attainments; but then here were hereditary disorders of body and mind reciprocally aggravating each other-a scrofulous frame, and a melancholy temper; here was a life, the greater part of which passed in making provision for the day, under the pressure of poverty and sickness, sorrow and anguish. So far to gain the ascendant over these as to do what Johnson did, required very great strength of mind indeed. Who can say that, in a like situation, he should long have possessed, or been able to exert it?

"From the mixture of power and weakness in the composition of this wonderful man, the scholar should learn humility. It was designed to correct that pride which great parts and great learning are apt to produce in their possessor. In him it had the desired effect. For, though consciousness of superi ority might sometimes induce him to carry it high with man (and even this

The opinions and principles of the Doctor as a Theologian are chiefly to be gathered from his conversation, as preserved by Mr. Boswell, and from his prayers. He appears from these to have been a zealous High-churchman, with a strong bias towards some of the Roman Catholic tenets. His piety and devotion were warm and sincere; and his prayers, the language of which is altogether plain, simple, and unadorned, teach us that his faith, his humility, and gratitude, were great. From an ardent desire

of further evidence with regard to the state of the departed, he was solicitous to ascertain the possibility of the reappearance of the dead. His anxiety on this subject rendered him superstitious, though not credulous; for he was, in a very extraordinary degree, minute and cautious in examining the supposed proofs, and was,

was much abated in the latter part of life), his devotions have shown to the whole world how humbly he walked at all times with his God.

"His example may likewise encourage those of timid and gloomy dispositions not to despond when they reflect, that the vigor of such an intellect could not preserve its possessor from the depredations of melancholy. They will cease to be surprised and alarmed at the degree of their own sufferings; they will resolve to bear, with patience and resignation, the malady to which they find a Johnson subject, as well as themselves: and if they want words, in which to ask relief from him who can alone give it, the God of mercy, and father of all comfort, language affords no finer than those in which his prayers are conceived. Child of sorrow, whoever thou art, use them-and be thankful that the man existed by whose means thou hast them to use!

"His eminence and his fame must of course have excited envy and malice; but let envy and malice look at his infirmities and his charities, and they will melt into pity and love.

"That he should not be conscious of the abilities with which Providence had blessed him, was impossible. He felt his own powers; he felt what he was capable of having performed; and he saw how little, comparatively speaking, he had performed. Hence his apprehensions on the near prospect of the account to be made, viewed through the medium of constitutional and morbid melancholy, which often excluded from his sight the bright beams of divine mercy. May those beams ever shine upon us! But let them not cause us to forget that talents have been bestowed, of which an account must be rendered; and that the fate of the unprofitable servant' may justly beget apprehensions in the stoutest mind. The indolent man, who is without such apprehensions, has never yet considered the subject as he ought. For one person who fears death too much, there are a thousand who do not fear it enough, nor have thought in earnest about it. Let us only put in practice the duty of self-exami nation; let us inquire into the success we have experienced in our war against the passions, or even against undue indulgence of the common appetites, eating, drinking, and sleeping; we shall soon perceive how much more easy it is to form resolutions than to execute them; and shall no longer find occasion, perhaps, to wonder at the weakness of Johnson.

"The little stories of his oddities and his infirmities in common life will, after a while, be overlooked and forgotten; but his writings will live for ever, still more and more studied and admired, while Britons shall continue to be characterized by a love of elegance and sublimity, of good sense and virtue. The sincerity of his repentance, the steadfastness of his faith, and the fervor of his charity, forbid us to doubt that his sun set in clouds, to rise without them and of this let us always be mindful, that every one who is made bet ter by his books will add a wreath to his crown."

more than once, instrumental in detecting their fallacy, and exposing the arts of imposture. To many of his Sermons much praise is due for their perspicuity of style, their felicity of illustration, and their sound practical morality.

We may, indeed, close this summary with the affirmation that, if Addison be excepted, no writer of the eighteenth century can be said to have contributed so highly, so copiously, and so permanently, to the improvement of our literature and language as Johnson. Whether considered as a Biographer, an Essayist, a Lexicographer, or a Critic, he is alike entitled to the gratitude of his country and of mankind.

SIR EGERTON BRYDGES, 1762-1837.

SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES, the distinguished antiquarian in English Literature, was the son of Edward Brydges, Esq., of Wootton Court, in Kent, and was born at that place on the 30th of November, 1762. After the usual preparatory studies, he entered Queen's College, Cambridge, in October, 1780, with the character of a good classical scholar, who excelled in the composition of Latin as well as English poetry. But he attended very little to the regular studies of the university, abandoning himself to the luxurious enjoyment of English poetry and belles-lettres. He therefore left Cambridge without a degree, and in the summer of 1782 entered the Middle Temple. In November, 1787, he was called to the bar; but, according to his own acknowledgment, he never had sufficient perseverance to apply himself to the study of the law.

Soon after his marriage in 1786, he took a house in London, where he resided for four years, when he purchased Denton, an estate near his native place in Kent, and removed thither. This was the beginning of great and protracted pecuniary embarrassments, which attended him through life. He had no knowledge whatever of business or of managing an estate; expended many thousand pounds in repairs and improvements which brought him no return; and was cheated by those to whom he intrusted the management of his affairs. So early did those embarrassments commence which embittered his latter days.'

In his "Autobiography," he says, "my thoughts were always on my books, and among visions. I have an aversion to accounts, and nothing but the most pressing necessity could induce me to examine them. An agent soon finds out this, and step by step goes on from robbing to robbing, till nothing will satisfy his rapacity or his appetite. The difficulty of the task accumulates from day to day, and who that shrinks from examining a month's accounts will undertake to examine those of a year? I could not sift bills, cast up ac

In 1790, after the death of the last Duke of Chandos, he preferred a claim to the Barony of Chandos, alleging his descent from a younger son of the first Brydges, who bore that title. The consideration of this claim was long procrastinated, but at length, in June, 1803, the House of Peers pronounced its decision "that the Petitioner had not made out his claim to the title and dignity of Baron Chandos." This decision had a very unhappy influence upon him through life, and his disappointment, chagrin, and querulousness appeared, in some form or other, in most of his subsequent publications. In 1810, he removed from Denton to his son's house at Lee Priory, near Canterbury, and in 1812 obtained a seat in Parliament, where he distinguished himself by procuring some important improvement in the law of copyright. Upon the dissolution of that Parliament in 1818, he withdrew to the Continent, in consequence of his pecuniary embarrassments, and resided in Paris and Italy, but mostly at or near Geneva. Here he was constantly engaged in writing and editing books, until the time of his death, which took place at Campagne Gross Jean, on the 8th of September, 1837, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. Sir Egerton was twice married; by the first wife he had two sons and three daughters; by the second, five sons and five daughters.

T'o no author of the present century is English literature more deeply indebted than to Sir Egerton Brydges, and in no one can be found finer passages of just thought, genial and tasteful criticism, pure and ennobling sentiment, and beautiful and eloquent writing. The branches of literature to which he chiefly devoted himself were poetry, romance, the republica. tion of old English poetry and genealogy. It would be hardly possible to enumerate all his works; but the following are the principal:

His first publication was a volume of Sonnets, in 1785: some of these possess great merit, particularly one on Echo and Silence, which has been warmly praised by Wordsworth. In 1792, appeared "Mary de Clifford," a novel; in 1798 another, entitled "Arthur Fitz Albini;" and in 1800, "Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum," being a new edition, with additions, of a work under the same title by Edward Philips, nephew of Milton.

counts, examine prices, and make bargains. There was, therefore, every kind of mismanagement, and I soon became involved. * * I lived at a vast expense, without the smallest management; my house was numerous, though not for show; my butcher's weekly bill amounted to a sum that would appear incredible; and my horses ate up the produce of all my meadows and out-fields. I know not what my income was, but no doubt my expenditure exceeded it by many thousands. I kept very imperfect accounts, and every one cheated me."

Of the latter period of his life he thus writes in his "Autobiography:" "Solitude is no terror to me, and so far therefore I am independent of the world's injuries. I keep my own hours; the little sleep I take is by day; and I toil through the long nights at the lamp. Thus I work without interruption in the repose of profound silence. Imagination supplies the want of those material objects which are vested in the mantle of darkness. Thus existence is even delightful to me in feeble old age, and in the midst of sorrows, privations, indignities, and dangers. These solemn times of night, which others lose in sleep, are not lost to me; and thus I add to the duration of life beyond others of the same number of years."

In 1805, he commenced that curious and most valuable bibliographical and critical work, the "Censura Literaria," which was continued to the year 1809, and forms ten volumes octavo.' In 1814, he published "Occasional Poems;" in 1818, "Excerpta Tudoriana, or Extracts from Elizabethan Literature;" in 1821, "Letters from the Continent;" in 1832, "Lake of Geneva," in two volumes; and in 1834, "Imaginary Biography," a work in which the literary characters of many English scholars are drawn with great fidelity, taste, and discrimination. In the same year he also published “The Autobiography, Times, Opinions, and Contemporaries of Sir Egerton Brydges." These are but a part of his works. He was also a large contributor to periodical publications, particularly to "The Gentleman's Magazine," on genealogy and antiquity. He also published an edition of "Milton's Poetical Works," enriched with his own tasteful and discriminating remarks, and with a selection of notes from the best commentators, prefixed with a life of the great poet. This I consider, on the whole, the best edition of Milton.

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It has been most truthfully remarked that the student of English literature is deeply indebted to Sir Egerton Brydges "for valuable accessions to our knowledge of our earliest writers-for fine and just trains of poetical criticism-for some touching and elegant poetry, and for a few ingenious tales of fiction." Indeed I know of no one who has written so much himself, and

Of this work, there were but one hundred copies printed. I have the good fortune to have one of them, in elegant binding, and consider it one of the most interesting and valuable books in my library, replete with sound criticisms and curious information, especially in old English literature.

Of this remarkable book, a writer in the number of the "Gentleman's Magazine" for March, 1835, thus speaks: "In this singular work there are lofty conceptions enough to form a poet, and moral wisdom enough to make a sage. It is a book that to be estimated must be read with an honest and true heart; much must be forgiven, and much overlooked; but after all that is offensive, and all that is eccentric is removed from the service, there will remain a knowledge, a power, a feeling, and a perseverance that must inspire respect and admiration. We hesitate not to say that in these volumes are some of the most beautiful passages that are to be found in English prose."

"Were we (which Heaven forbid!) to educate a poet; were we to feed him with the choicest honey-bread, which is royal food; to inspire him with the noblest sentiments, expressed in the most masterly and harmonious language, we should send him into the woods, and by the sounding waters, with those very books which Sir Egerton so wisely edited." Again, the same charming critic remarks upon the studious habits of our best poets-"Look at all our great poets, and see the means which they took to obtain immortality. How laborious their studies, how large their materials, how extensive their erudition, how vigorous their efforts, and how deep and majestic their repose! The example of Milton is in every one's mouth; he wrote grammars, and compiled dictionaries, and taught obstinate little urchins, and constructed treatises of faith, and worried Hall, and abused Usher, and pelted Salmasius into Sweden, and pelted him out again; and then took wing, and soared away into Paradise. Pope, Butler, Akenside, Gray were all men of great reading and study, independent of their poetry. So it is down to Scott and Southey, and so must ever be. Beautiful as is the poetry of Goldsmith, it would be still more gratifying to the reader, if his knowledge had been more perfect, and his reasoning more orderly and accurate."