acquired: and, in fhort, that they fhould, during five years, which was the intended term of their commiffion, be the fole masters of all property within the empire, whether public or private. "On the day that the new Confuls entered on their office, when they returned in proceffion from the capitol, and gave the first meeting to the fenate, Rullus had the prefumption to propofe this law, and to move the Confcript Fathers, that they would be pleased to give it the fanction of their approbation and authority in being carried to the people. Upon this occafion, Cicero made his firft fpeech in the character of Conful. The former part of it is loft; the remainder may be reckoned among the higheft fpecimens of his eloquence. In this and the two fpeeches he delivered to the people on the fame fubject, he endeavoured to demonftrate (if we may venture to imitate his own expreffions) that, from the first clause of this law to the laft, there was nothing thought of, nothing propofed, nothing done but the erecting in ten perfons, under the pretence of an Agrarian law, an abfolute fovereignty over the treasury, the revenue, the provinces, the empire, the neighbouring kingdoms and ftates; and, in fhort, over all the world as far as it was known to the Romans. He painted in fuch lively colours the abufes which might be committed by Rullus, and by his affociates, in judging what was private and what public property, in making fales, in making purchases, in planting the colonies; and fo expofed the impudence of the cheat, by which it was propofed to furprise the people into the granting of fuch powers, the abfurdity and the ruinous tendency of the whole meafure, that it was inftantly rejected, and its author hiffed from the affembly, and treated as an object of ridicule and fcorn. "The Splendour of the Conful's eloquence, on this occafion, appeared 153 with great diftinction, and the fpirit of the times continued to furnish him with opportunities to difplay it*. Rofcius Amerinus, having been Trihad, by the authority of his office, fet bune of the people a few years before, the equeftrian order. This apart fome benches in the theatre for fence to the people, fo that Rofcius gave ofwas commonly hiffed when he appeared at any of the public affemblies. On fome one of thefe occafions the Conful interpofed; and, in a popular harangue, fecured the attachment of the Knights to himfelf, and reconciled the people to the diftinction which had been made in favour of that body. confulate a bufinefs of greater difficul"There happened under the fame ty, being a motion to reftore the fons of the profcribed to the privilege of being chofen into the offices of state, ordinance of Sylla. Their fate was of which they had been deprived by an undoubtedly calamitous and severe. Many of them, who had been too young to have incurred the guilt of their par ty, were now come of age, and found themselves ftripped of their birthright, honour. It was propofed, in their beand ftigmatized with this mark of difhalf, to take away this cruel exclufion. But Cicero, apprehending that this propofal tended to arm and to ftrengthen perfons, who, from long ufe, had contracted an habitual difaffection to the established government, powerfully oppofed the motion, and fucceeded in having it rejected+." this ingenious work in the next LiWe fhall conclude this account of terary Review, but cannot help saying on the prefent occafion, that though Dr. Fergufon has increased the numwho finds pleasure in thefe pursuits ber of Roman Hiftories, every reader will be highly gratified by the perufal of thefe volumes: in which philofophy and entertainment and inftruction are and history have united their powers, moft happily blended. * It is probable that Cicero did not write in order to fpeak, but wrote after he had spoken, for the use of his friends. Epift. ad Atticum, lib. ii. c. I. + Plin. lib. vii. c. 30. LOND. MAG. Aug. 1783, X ART. น ART. XV. An Inquiry into fome Paffages in Dr. Johnson's Lives of the Poets: Particularly his Obfervations on Lyric Poetry, and the Odes of Gray. By R. Potter. 4to. Dodiley. THE reputation which Mr. Potter acquired by his tranflation of Efchylus was not much increafed by his verfion of the tragedies of Euripides; the work before us, likewife, will not raife the author in our eftimation, although it may lower our idea of the man. Mr. Potter does not feem to have recollected, when he wrote these enquiries, that the author of the Lives of the Poets did not intend to prefent the public with the critical remarks of the tranflator of Efchylus, but with thofe of Dr. Johnfon; and if we are not very much mistaken, the literary world will pay at least as much refpect to the fentiments of the latter, as to the affertions of the former. To this pamphlet is prefixed a head of Mr. Gray, taken from an original drawing in the author's poffeflion, which exhibits a much more pleafing countenance than that which was drawn from memory, and publifhed fome years ago with his letters and poems. He allows that he cannot defend Milton's religious or political principles, yet he blames the Doctor for recording them. So that in all future biographical works we are to expect no relation of any man's tenets and opinions, if they be not strictly correspondent with thofe of the writer. At the fame time, he does not confider that Dr. Johnson's averfion from the" intolerant fpirit of that liberty, which worked its odious purposes, through injuftice, oppreffion, and cruelty," for fuch is the account Mr. Potter himself gives of it, is, perhaps, ftronger, and his zeal for religion, perhaps, greater than J. Philips's; whofe character, however, was very refpectable; and that it well became fo moral a writer to expofe fuch principles, and to inform mankind that not even the abilities of Milton could render them defenfible. Mr. Potter fays, he is "forry to fee the mafculine fpirit of Dr. Johnson defcending to what he perhaps in another might call "anile garrulity." We Mr. Potter plunges, at once, in medias res, without preface or dedication. He opens his book with fome well-apprehend that moft readers will difcodeferved compliments to Mr. Addifon; and, as the crocodile is fuppofed to fhed tears before it deftroys its prey, he tenderly admits Dr. Johnfon to fhare thefe commendations. The tears, however, are foon dried, and the praifes are foon forgotten. The juft obfervations, folid fenfe, and deep penetration, which Mr. Potter allows may be found in thefe lives, could not atone for the errors which are thinly fcattered through them. As a common dark glafs can difcover the spots in the fun, he fits down to point these blunders out, and to correct the tafte of mankind, which Dr. Johnfon has corrupted But though Gray's head is prefixed, the reader is not to fuppofe that thefe remarks are contined to the life of that poet. No-Mr. Potter takes a wider teld. Fiet Ariftarchus! He means to teach us the art of criticifm, and point out the various functions of the biographer. ver this anile garrulity in thefe remarks. The account of Pope's stockings, and his filver faucepan, would not have been miffed, perhaps, if they had been omitted, but we can never view the infertion of them as an infult to the reader's understanding. Mr. Potter fhould remember, that the anecdote about Dyer's being buried in woolen is only related as a ludicrous ftory, fo that it was unneceffary to ask whether it was held up for wit. 66 Our author's reflections on the account of Dyer are curious. Dyer is not a poet of bulk or dignity fufficient to require an elaborate criticifm.”— "Docs Dr. Johnson (fays he) estimate poetical merit, as Rubens did feminine beauty, by the ftone? Well then might he recommend Blackmore to us!" Could any reader fuppofe it poffible that the Doctor's words could have been fo diftorted? We really are rather furprized he was not fet down as a profeffed ad mirer miter of Viner's Abridgement. and the whole body of Dutch commentators. Mr. Potter does not feem to have read the life of Dyer with attention. The Doctor fays, in his account of the Fleece, that "When Dyer, whofe mind was not unpoetical, has done his utmoft, by interefting his reader, in our native commodity, rural imagery, and incidental digrellions, by clothing fmall images in great words, and by all the writer's arts of delufion, the meannefs naturally adhering, and the irreverence habitually annexed to trade and manufacture, fink him under infuperable oppreffion." Mr. Potter fays:" To fay that Dyer's mind was not unpoetical is parfimonious praife; he had a benevolent heart, a vigorous imagination, and a chalifed judgement; his ftyle is compact and nervous, his numbers have harmony, fpirit, and force." -Did our author expect, that any mention of his heart fhould be inferted in a criticifin on his poems? Dr. Johnfon himfelf tells us that fome paffages of this author are conceived with the mind of a poet. That fingle word furely conveys even more than Mr. Potter's expanded panegyric. As to the anecdotes of Addifon's avidity, which Mr. Potter cenfures with an afperity even indecent, we cannot pronounce who was Dr. Johnfon's authority, but we dare venture to affert that it was at leaft as good as Mr. Potter's; although he fays that he is "told on the beft authority, that it is an abfolute falfehood." We must confefs, that fo offenfive a contradiction, even if it had certainty for its bafis, would found in our ears rather more like the language of an old Goth, than of a writer who fets up for a judge of delicacy. Mr. Potter fays, that he is led, how generously led! by the purity and enlargement which Addifon's writings have introduced into converfation, "To refent the cruel manner, in which Dr. Johnfon fpeaks of the lady who is the fubject of Hammond's elegies: an old Goth would not have been guilty of fuch an indelicacy: but whatever character her lover, or his biographer, may have bequeathed her, thofe who were fo happy as to be acquainted with her, fpeak of her as a very excellent and amiable woman." Now, let us hear on what account the fatal confequences of this purity and enlargement are heaped upon the Doctor. Johnfon tells us, in one place, that "the was inexorably cruel." Of this circumstance, no man, whether Goth or Vandal, can doubt, who is acquainted with the poet's ill fuccefs in love, or with his writings. In another paffage, he fays, that the long outlived him, and in 1779 died unmarried;" and obferves, that "the character which her lover bequeathed her, was, indeed, not likely to attract courtship." Now, as Mr. Potter is for wathing but the truth, we were at firft a little furprized that be fhould cenfure these paffages, until we recollected that in Biography he does not require the whole truth. Mr. Potter, however, is furely right in his opinion of Hammond's poetry. The Doctor's cenfure is carried rather too far; and in the elegy, which is placed at the end of his life, there is undoubtedly paffion and nature. But of his miftrefs, when we read the following lines: Thou knowit thy ftrength, and thence infulting more, Will make me feel the weight of all thy power: and fome other paffages in thefe Elegies, we cannot but agree with Johnfon, that this character was not likely to attract courtship. And that is all he fays. He never afferts that The merited fuch a character. She might undoubtedly have been an amiable and excellent woman. Dr. Johnfon's account only relates to the reprefentation of the lover; and lovers feldom degrade the idol of their affections, in their defcriptions. With refpect to the propriety of writing elegies in the quatrain of ten fyllables, we cannot help it, if Mr. Potter fhould mark us down as utterly void of taile, when we declare that the opinions of Dryden and Johnfon weigh more with us than all that the tranflator of Efchylus can advance. He then fays that the critic fhelters himself behind the authority of Dryden, to enable him to aim his shaft at Gray, while he seems to direct his cenfure against Hammond. This, however, is an affertion too improbable, and an idea too futile to merit an anfwer from thofe who are acquainted with Dr. Johnfon's character. But we cannot help expreffing fome little furprife, that an author, who in one place is accufed of boldly paffing indifcriminate cenfures, in another should be defcribed as requiring a skreen when he fires his ar-` rows. Whatever Mr. Potter may urge, we do not believe that the charge of defacing and mutilating an example of virtue, in the account of Lord Littleton is juft. Many points of his character were truly praife-worthy, and eminently amiable. But we must have "affurance from the most honourable authority," indeed, ere we can difcredit the flory with refpect to Hagley and the Leafowes. Mr. Potter's Wicker Coloffus of the Druids is well imagined, but we are rather inclined to think that the opinions of Johnfon are condemned to this chamber of tribulation," than that the Doctor has paffed fuch a sentence on the English poets. Should this pamphlet reach a fecond edition, we recommend repeated perufals of thefe lives to its author. For his memory muft be, like that of many a wit, fhort indeed, if, after reading them with care and attention," he could declare that a fpirit of detraction is diffufed univerfally through thefe volumes." He goes on," As the poems of Pomfret, Yalden, and Watts, and the creation of Blackmore, were inferted in this collection, by the recommendation of the biographer, we may from thence form fome judgement of his tafte. He who does not diflike Pomfret, may approve Yalden; he who finds pleafure in Blackmore, may be enraptured with Watts." If Mir. Potter did not appear to defpife lexicographers, and their la bours, we would recommend to his attentive perufal the article thence, in Dr. Johnfon's Dictionary of the English Language. From thence is an unpardonable barbarifm, and no authority can give fanction to the ufe of fo evident an impropriety. As we behold the flow'r that glows Surely Mr. Potter would denominate him a Gothic philofopher, indeed, who could view with indifference "The brighteft charms that beauty fhows," when he ftyles the man an old Goth, who only affents to the character which a lover has given of his mistress. We are rather apprehenfive, likewife, that the unconcern expreffed at beholding the variegated productions of nature can only refer to the Gothic philofophy. It is ftrange, however, that fo wife a philofopher, whatever might have been his fect, could not discover that e'er and ere were words of which the meaning is totally different. But let us not diflurb the afhes of the dead, left we incur the cenfure of our critic, and be lampooned in an epigram in fome future inquiries. "But why?" For in a note, we find Dr. Johnfon lampooned in an epigram. "It feems, the Doctor found in Blackmore ease united with clofenefs, which he could not discover in Pope's Moral Effays. It feems the Doctor waked Yalden's embers, and perufed Pomfret, with pleasure. It feems the Doctor pointed out errors and obfcurities in Gray!” "Well-what then?"-"What then? Why to be fure he is like the afs who deferts the flowery lawn, to mumble thiftles!" To what then muft we compare the author of thefe inquiries, who aims at difplaying the errors of Johnfon, while he feems almoft wholly infenfible to his beauties. We are ourselves furprifed that Dr. Johnfon fhould commend Dryden's poem on Mrs. Killigrew fo very highly. We think it merits a better fate than Mr. Potter feems willing to affign affign it, though we cannot place it in the fame rank with Alexander's Feaft. The fentence which would crush Yalden unjuft. By the Doctor he is too much elevated; by Mr. Potter he is too much depreffed. We then find a criticifm on a paffage in the Rambler. But, furely, it is performed in a very unfcholar-like manner. Dr. Johnfon talks of the first lyric poets, and Mr. Potter talks of the firft lyric poets, whofe fine productions have efcaped the devaftations of time. Not but many of Pindar's Odes fall under the Doctor's defcription. We fometimes find in them fhort fentences, and ftriking thoughts, rather than regular argumentation, and can scarcely with difficulty inveftigate the intermediate ideas. What Mr. Potter fays of the origin of the Ode, and its employment on facred fubjects, is but little to the purpofe in the prefent inttance. Dr. Johnfon does not fpeak of the ufe of the Ode, but of its ftructure. What the author of the Rambler calls glaring ideas, and ftriking thoughts, our critic terms rapture; and thinks, because he has changed the name, he has given a new idea. At laft alfo, he concludes that fudden and bold tranfitions are not only allowed, but even demanded in thefe compofitions. While the Doctor fays, they loofed their genius to its own course, paffed from one fentiment to another without expreffing the intermediate ideas, and roved at large over the ideal world, with fuch lightnefs and agility, that their footsteps are fcarcely to be traced." So that the only point, in which, the opinions of the two critics are materially different, is the quantity of judgement and method which was neceffary to conftitute an ancient lyric poet. 66 Sometimes Mr. Potter agrees with the Doctor, without feeming to be confcious of it, and fometimes to differ from him, becaufe he has not thoroughly understood him. Collins is a favourite with us, and in poetical imagery he had not many equals. We think that Dr. Johnfon's character of him is written with an accurate knowledge of his powers, and of the extent of his genius, as well as with warmth and friendship. By the next paragraph, we fhould fuppofe that Mr. Potter had expofed himfelf to fome perfonal affront from Johnfon. For he writes thus: "The want of good tafte in a profeffed critic is a mental blindness, which totally incapacitates him from the difcharge of the high office (which) he has affumed; but the want of good manners is an offence against thofe laws of decorum, which, by guarding the charities of fociety, render our intercourfe with each other agreeable: yet there is in fome perfons a blunt and furly humour, which prides itself in defpifing thefe laws of civility; and often, with an awkward affectation of pleafantry, they play their rude gambols to make mirth, and Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, Now, we do not know Mr. Potter's figure, but if he had the perfon of a Veftris, or the graces of a Chesterfield, he could never perfuade us to think fuch language, the language of politenefs. Nor could the eloquence of a Chatham fo far influence our underftandings, as to make us allow that perfonal reflections can be inferted with propriety in critical inquiries. What follows in many paffages merits commendation. The critique on the Ode on Spring is very admirably written, and is in general juft. But what can we fay to the following paffage: "Had the language been lefs luxuriant, the Ode had been lefs beautiful, and lefs adapted to the fmiling feafon." Are we to conclude that an ode on winter, in order to please Mr. Potter, fhould be written in the plaineft language, as if it would be "When unadorn'd, adorn'd the moft!" Mr. Potter attempts to defend the word honied; but he must pardon us, as we are fure the world will, if he does not, when we condemn it on the principles and authority of Johnfon, whofe obfervation we think juft and acute; nor are we in the fmallest degree inclined to change our opinion, from Mr. Potter's obfervation. The |