seemed to render him more reasonable. What was the cause of his reconciliation with mankind would have been for others a motive for renouncing all connexion with them. But he learns that the most powerful nation of the world has suddenly changed its government, and is desirous of giv. ing itself new laws. Here is a fine opportunity for a visionary reformer of constitutions, in whose eyes all are bad or imperfect! S. Della Rocca suffers it not to escape, and behold him anew in the capital of this regenerated people. He mingles among schem ers, he examines, he approves, he comments, he adopts. But the work, in which he has been assisting, is soon replaced by some other. His labour commences anew and this project has the fate of the first; that is to say, it is adopted, overthrown, and replaced. Whilst he mingled in what did not concern him, those things which ought to have occupied him were disposed of without his knowledge. To be brief, his large fortune is annihilated. The blow had been felt as far as his native country, and his estates no longer belonged to him in consequence of a measure,about which it had been forgotten to ask his advice. The result of this event was very happy,because it obliged him to call into exercise his resources and his talents to gain a subsist ence. He soon contracted the habit of employment, and this habit dissipated the ennui, which till then had overwhelmed him. Every inoment being occupied, there remained no time for him to blame, or, like too many other idlers, to regulate the state. Having followed all the periods of the revolution of the country that he inhabited, he had remarked that he had in no one of them discovered a single being contented with himself or with those around him. At first loud exclamations were uttered; then,frozen by terror, all where hushed to silence, and driven to concealment ; was there a change, they inveighed against it; was it followed by another, they complained. At length order appeared on firm foundations, property was secured and respected, the adversary was deprived of the means of injuring, the inclination only remained to him. The fugitives were recalled, and the honest man retired to his evening's rest, without being tormented by the recollection of the past, or fear of the future. Very happily for S. Della Rocca, and without doubt for the people in the bosom of whom he lived, this new order of things coincided with his ideas. But what was his astonishment at the sight of these men, who had ardently desired the reestablishment of order, and of those, to whom it restored tranquillity! Some shook their heads, others shrugged their. shoulders, a third appeared to sup press something even while he approved, a fourth spoke mysteriously, and without explanation. Impatient of these ifs and these ands, S. Della Rocca, having become a man of gallantry since he had inhabited a country famed for the reign of the fair sex, culti vated the society of the la dies. It was quite another thing! The old found not the French of the present day sufficiently gallant; the young complained of the reforms that were wished to be in troduced among some very agreea ble customs, that had come into, vogue within the last seven or eight years, S. Della Rocca finished by con. cluding, both from his experience and observations, that man was an animal very difficult to please; who, in the midst of real bless ings, was always occupied about some imaginary good. Giacomo, judging by the spectacle be fore him how ridiculous he must himself have appeared at the time he was so continually censuring every thing around him, corrected himself of his follies; and thus the discontent of others has effectually cured his own. J. D. MUSSET-PATHAY. CHARACTER OF ROUSSEAU. ROUSSEAU has been too often extolled as a philanthropist. Mr. Burke said of him, that he loved his kind and hated his kindred. The exposure of his children, by whatever sophistry it may be excused, is an indelible blot on his humanity; and invalidates all his pretensions to philanthropy. For, can that philanthropy be genuine, which is founded on the extinction of the parental affections; and which, with more than savage brutality, forsakes the poor innocents it brings into the world? Every page of Rousseau glows with the captivations of that sentimental luxury, of which he is so great a master; and which he arrays in all the blandishments of eloquence. Hence the source of that admiration, which his writings have so universally excited Though his judgment, as a philosopher, was not profound; yet his tase was so exquisite, that he strews flowers in the most rugged way, and interests the passions and the fancy, in the investigation of the most abstract propositions. This is his great excellence. In his new Eloise, the interest consists, not so much in the diversity or the combination of the incidents, as in the beauty of the sentiment, and the magick of the diction. The picture of Julia is highly finished; but it leaves on the mind more impressions of re From Fellowes's Chriftian Philofophy. spect than of tenderness, of admiration than of love-At times she appears an heterogeneous mixture of apathy and passion, of prudence and of coquetry. In some situations she wants tenderness, in others firmness; and she is often less governed by the warm impulses of affection, than by the abstractions of philosophy. His Emilius, though marked by the illuminating touches and the original conceptions of genius, yet, considered as a system, is more conspicuous for its singularity than its truth. It pourtrays a system of education, which, if it were universally adopted, would keep the human species in a state of permanency between light and darkness, between savage barbarity and It would civilized refinement. counteract the moral and physical improvement of man, the progress of knowledge, and the productiveness of industry. Though Rousseau had little beneficence, yet his writings, breathing nothing but the reciprocal love and kindness and confidence of the Golden Age, contributed, by their wide diffusion and their enchanting eloquence,to render humanity fash ionable; and they have, at least, this merit, that no man can well rise from reading them, without feeling a higher respect for his species. That extreme and febrile sen» sibility, which was the characteris tick peculiarity of Rousseau, while it proved the origin of many of his miseries, was, perhaps, a principal source of his greatness. It imparted a singular delicacy, fresh ness, and animation to every page of his writings. His feelings, in whatever channel they flowed, rushed on with a resistless impetuosity; but, in the end, they made a wreck of his understanding. His judgment was lost in the unremitting turbulence of his sensations; and in some intervals of insanity, he exhibited the melancholy prospect of genius crumbling into ruins. The language of Rousseau was always a faithful mirror of what was passing in the heart; which now thrilled with rapture, and now raged with passion. Of his style, the peculiar characteristick is exuberance of imagery; profusion, without distinction of lustre. It often resembles a landscape, in which there is a great assemblage of beautiful forms, without any intermediate spots of barrenness; but without any objects of a strik ing and prominent grandeur; and, in the contemplation of which, the eye is, at last, satiated by the uniformity. Yet, highly coloured as is the eloquence of Rousseau,I believe that the generality of readers would peruse his works with less relish, if they were less adorned. And it must be confessed, that the ornaments, with which they are. embellished, are not the frippery and patchwork of a paltry artist, but the rich copiousness of an highly saturated imagination; and they often possess a charm, of which even the apathy of the coldest critick can hardly be insensible to the fascination. He who wishes to perfect himself in those delicacies of language or curious felicities of phraseology, which impress a palpable form, a living entity on the fleeting tints and sensations of the heart, should carefully analyse the genius of the style of Rousseau ;should search into the causes, from which result the beauty and splendour of his combinations; and endeavour to extract from an attentive perusal of the Eloise and the Emilius, a portion of that taste by which they were inspired. DR. PARR'S CHARACTER OF DR. JORTIN. He As to Jortin, whether I look back to his verse,to his prose,to his critical or to his theological works,there are few authors to whom I am so much indebted for rational entertainment or for solid instruction. Learned he was, without pedantry. was ingenious, without the affecta tion of singularity. He was a lover of truth, without hovering over the gloomy abyss of skepticism, and a friend to free-inquiry, with out roving into the dreary and pathless wilds of latitudinarianism. He had a heart which never dis graced the powers of his understanding. With a lively imagination, an elegant taste, and a judgment most masculine and most correct, he united the artless and amiable negligence of a schoolboy. Wit without ill nature, and' sense without effort, he could, at will, scatter upon every subject; and in every book, the writer presents us with a near and distinct view of the real man. His style, though inartificial, is sometimes elevated: though familiar, it is never mean; and tho employed upon various topicks of theology, ethicks, and criticism, it is not arrayed in any delusive reremblance, either of solemnity, from fanatical cant,...of profound ness, from scholastick jargon,...of precision, from the crabbed formalities of cloudy philologists,...or of refinement, from the technical babble of frivolous connoisseurs. At the shadowy and fleeting reputation, which is sometimes gained by the petty frolicks of literary vanity, or the mischievous struggles of controversial rage, Jortin never grasped. Truth,which some men are ambitious of seizing by surprize in the trackless and dark recess, he was content to overtake in the broad and beaten path: And in the pursuit of it, if he does not excite our astonishment by the rapidity of his strides, he, at least, secures our confidence by the firmness of his step. To the examination of positions advanced by other men, he always brought a mind, which neither prepossession had seduced, nor malevolence polluted. He imposed not his own conjec tures as infallible and irresistible truths, nor endeavoured to give an air of importance to trifles, by dogmatical vehemence. He could support his more serious opinions, without the versatility of a sophist, the fierceness of a disputant, or the impertinence of a buffoon.... more than this....he could relin quish or correct them with the calm and steady dignity of a writer,who, while he yielded something to the arguments of his antagonists, was conscious of retaining enough to command their respect. He had too much discernment to confound difference of opinion with malignity or dulness, and too much candour to insult, where he could not persuade. Though his sensibilities were neither coarse nor slug gish, he yet was exempt from those fickle humours, those rankling jealousies, and that restless waywardness, which men of the brightest talents are too prone to indulge. He carried with him, into every station in which he was placed, and every subject which he explored, a solid greatness of soul, which could spare an infe riour, though in the offensive form of an adversary, and endure an equal with, or without, the sacred name of friend. The importance of commendation, as well to him who bestows, as to him who claims it, he estimated not only with justice, but with delicacy, and therefore he neither wantonly lavished it, nor withheld it austerely. But invective he neither provoked nor feared; and, as to the severities of contempt, he reserved them for occasions where alone they could be employed with propriety, and where, by himself, they always were employed with effect....for the chastisement of arrogant dunces, of censorious sciolists, of intolerant bigots in every sect, and unprincipled impostors in every profession. Distinguished in va rious forms of literary composition, engaged in various duties of his ecclesiastical profession, and blessed with a long and honourable life, he nobly exemplified that rare and illustrious virtue of charity, which Leland, in his reply to the letter-writer, thus eloquently describes. "CHARITY never misrepresents; never ascribes obnoxious principles or mistaken opinions to an opponent, which he himself disavows; is not so earnest in refuting, as to fancy positions never asserted, and to extend its censure to opinions, which will perhaps be delivered. Charity is utterly averse to sneering, the most despicable species of ridicule, AGAIN the strength of Winter fails, Returning Spring with timid eye, Her virgin bosom cold with dew, Bids her attendant graces fly,, And nature's faded charms renew. Again, amid the darkening grove, Is heard the vernal voice of joy, Again the magick powers of love Their softly winning arts employ. With merry heart, and cheerful song To count what future harvests yield. Th' impatient sailor leaves the shore, Adventuring on the watery waste, Undaunted hears the surges' roar And fearless braves the howling blast. Yes, spring returns; but wanting now H******, April 11, 1806. Vol. III. No. 4. 2A DEATH AND DAPHNE. To an agreeable young lady, but extremely lean. By Swift. DEATH went upon a solemn day Old bachelors about his court; The interest of his realm had need A consult of coquettes below Was call'd, to rig him out a beau : From her own head Megara takes A periwig of twisted snakes; Which in the nicest fashion curl'd (Like toupets of this upper world), With flour of sulphur powder'd well, That graceful on his shoulders fell; An adder of the sable kind In line direct hung down behind; The owl, the raven, and the bat, Clubb'd for a feather to his hat; |