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mentions him by his proper name. In the treatise, entitled, Advice to an Author, he defcants for two or three pages together upon Ariftotle, without once naming him in any other way, than the Mafter Critic, the Mighty Genius and Judge of Art, the Prince of Critics, the Grand Mafter of Art, and Confummate Philologift. In the fame way, the Grand Poetic Sire, the Philofophical Patriarch, and his Difciple of Noble Birth and lofty Genius, are the only names by which he condefcends to diftinguish Homer, Socrates, and Plato, in another paffage of the fame treatise. This method of diftinguishing perfons is extremely affected; but it is not fo contrary to precifion, as the frequent circumlocutions he employs for all moral ideas; attentive, on every occafion, more to the pomp of language, than to the clearness which he ought to have studied as a philofopher. The moral fenfe, for inftance, after he had once defined it, was a clear term; but, how vague becomes the idea, when, in the next page, He calls it, That natural affection, and anticipating fancy, which makes the fenfe of right and wrong?' Self examination, or reflection on our own conduct, is an idea conceived with cafe; but when it is wrought into all the forms of A man's dividing himfelf into two parties, becoming a felfdialogift, entering into partnerthip with himself, forming the dual number practically within himfelf;' we hardly know what to make of it. On fome occafions, he fo adorns, or rather loads with words, the plaineft and fimpleft propofitions, as, if not to obfcure, at leaft, to enfeeble them."

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The great fource of a loofe ftyle, in oppofition to precision, the author obferves, is the injudicious ufe of thofe words termed fynonimous. In our own language, he fays, very many intances might be given of a difference in meaning among words reputed fynonymous; and the fubject being of importance, he points out fome of them. We fhall lay before our readers a few of the inftances he produces; they will ferve to fhew the ncceffity of attending, with care and ftrictness, to

the exact import of words, if ever we would write with propriety or preci. fion.

"Aufterity, Severity, Rigour. Aufte rity relates to the manner of living; Severity, of thinking; Rigour, of punifhing. To aufterity, is oppofed effeminacy; to feverity, relaxation; to rigour, clemency. A hermit is austere in his life; a cafuift, fevere in his upplication of religion or law; a judge, rigorous in his fentences.

Cuftom, Habit. Cuftom refpects the action; Habit the actor. By cuftom we mean the frequent repetition of the fame act; by habit, the effect which that repetition produces on the mind or body. By the cuftom of walking often on the streets, one acquires a habit of idleness.

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Surprised, aftonighed, amazed, confounded. I am furprifed with what is new or unexpected; I am aftonished at what is vaft or great; I am amazed, with what is incomprehenfible; I am confounded, by what is fhocking or terrible.

"Defift, renounce, quit, leave off. Each of thefe words imply fome purfait or object relinquished; but from different motives. We defift, from the difficulty in accomplishing. We renounce, on account of the difagreeablenefs of the object, or purfait. We quit, for the fake of fome other thing which interefts us more; and we leave off, becaufe we are weary of the defign. A politician defifts from his defigns, when he finds they are impracticable; he renounces the court, because he has been affronted by it; he quits ambition for study or retirement; and leaves off his attendance on the great, as he becomes old and weary of it.

"Pride, Vanity. Pride, makes us efteem ourselves; Vanity, makes us defire the esteem of others. It was juft to fay, as Dean Swift has done, that a man is too proud to be vain.

"Haughtin f, Disdain. Haughtinefs, is founded on the high opinion we entertain of ourselves; Difdain, on the low opinion we have of others.

"To diftinguish, to separate. We diftinguif, what we want not to confound with another thing; we feparate

what

what we want to remove from it. Objects are diftinguished from one another, by their qualities. They are feparated, by the distance of time or place.

"To weary, to fatigne. The continuance of the fame thing wearies us; labour fatigues us. I am weary with ftanding; I am fatigued with walking. A fuitor wearies us by his perfeverance; fatigues us by his importunity.

"To abbor, to deteft. To abhor, imports fimply, ftrong diflike; to deteft, imports alfo ftrong difapprobation. One abhors being in debt, he detefts treachery.

"To invent, to discover. We invent things that are new; we difcover what was before hidden. Galileo invented the telescope; Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood.

"Only, alone. Only, imports that there is no other of the fame kind; alone, imports being accompanied by no other. An only child, is one who has neither brother nor fifter; a child alone, is one who is left by itself. There is a difference, therefore, in precife language, betwixt these two phrafes, Virtue only makes us happy; and, Virtue alone makes us happy. Virtue only makes us happy, imports, that nothing elfe can do it. Virtue alone makes us happy, imports, that virtue, by itself, or unaccompanied with other advantages, is fufficient to do it.

"Entire, complete. A thing is entire, by wanting none of its parts; complete, by wanting none of the appendages that belong to it. A man may have an entire houfe to himself; and yet not have one complete apart

ment.

"Tranquillity, Peace, Calm. Tranquillity, refpects a fituation free from trouble, confidered in itfelf; Peace, the fame fituation with refpect to any caufes that might interrupt it; Calm, with regard to a difturbed fituation going before, or following it. A good man enjoys tranquillity, in himself; peace, with others; and calm, after the ftorm.

"A Difficulty, an Obftacle. A diffi culty, embarraffes; an Obftacle, ftops us. We remove the one; we furmount the other. Generally, the first, expreffes fomewhat arifing from the nature and circumstances of the affair; the fecond, fomewhat arifing from a foreign caufe. Philip found difficulty in managing the Athenians from the nature of their difpofitions; but the eloquence of Demofthenes was the greateft obftacle to his defigns.

Wijdom, Prudence. Wifdom leads us to fpeak and act what is most proper. Prudence prevents our speaking or acting improperly. A wife man employs the moit proper means for fuccefs; a prudent man the fafeft means for not being brought into danger."

Our author, before he concludes his tenth Lecture, expreffes a with, in which, we are perfuaded, all his readers will join him, that fome fuch work as Abbé Gerard's Synonimes Francafes, were undertaken for our tongue, and executed with equal taste and judgement. From the fpecimen our author has given, he feems to be perfectly well qualified for fuch a work, and we heartily with he would under

take it.

(To be continued.)

ART. XXXIII. Hiftory of the political Life and public Services, as a Senator and a Stateman, of the Kight Honourable Charles James Fox, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. 8vo. Debrett.

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NO man can fay an enemy hath done this." Mr. Secretary Fox entered young into parliament, and his talents and eloquence, at an early period of life, caught the attention of the world. This narrative has merit, but it is perhaps fomewhat too partial for the hiftory of a fatefinan. Cefar can

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do no wrong" is an adage that has long been exploded.

As most of our readers must have obferved the conduct of Charles Fox, with fome attention in his progrefs as a flatefman, it is not neceffary for us to tranfcribe his ftory. The fubftance of his fpeeches in general has been re

corded

corded already in our mifcellany. The hiftory of the times has likewife been prefented to our readers through the Tame channel. We fhall, therefore, only give a few extracts from the work, that our readers may be able to form an idea of the author's abilities.

The following is the political character which he gives of the late Lord Holland, who was created a peer in 1763:

In the preceding reign, this celebrated ftatefian, whofe talents, for bufinefs of the most intricate natnre, were of the first diftinétion, was greatly careffed at court. His abilities and addrefs, especially in parliament, fo effectually recommended him to the royal favour, that, in the year one thousand feven hundred and fifty-four, we find him fecretary at war. In this arduous department, he acquitted himfelf fo much to the fatisfaction of his Majesty, that, in the following year, he was thought competent to fill one of the higheft offices under the crown. On the refignation of Sir Thomas Robinfon, he was, therefore, appointed fecretary of ftate for the fouthern department.

"One of our chief national characteristics is to be generally unfortunate on the commencement of a war.

That which broke out in one thousand feven hundred and fifty-fix exhibited, by a series of difafters in the beginning a moft melancholy afpect to this countrv. The people, as ufual, were alarmed; and, fretted by difappointment, became fo clamorous and turbulent, that nothing could affuage their fears, or redrefs their grievances, but a new miniftry. They denied not the competence of the crown to appoint its own fervants; but thought liberal, enterprizing, and difinterefted talents, connected with general confidence and proportionable weight in the landed and commercial intereft, intitled to a preference. The King, who wifely judged the most popular ufe of fuch an important prerogative a neceffary compliance with the humour of a loyal people, who had no other objection to its extent, with great and exemplary magnanimity relinquished his own in

clination for their's, and, by giving effect to their wishes, Mr. Pitt fucceeded to Mr. Fox.

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"But this arrangement proved of no long continuance. Another and more fubftantial administration originated in a coalition between the parties who then divided the national fenate. Moft of thofe with whom Mr. Fox had formerly acted being once more inftated in power, he was nominated to the lucrative poft of paymaster-general of his Majefty's forces. In this arduous department, which he certainly filled with confummate industry and addrefs, he remained while a veftige of the old whig ministry exifted. It was here he accumulated that immenfe wealth which devolved on his heirs, and which fubjected his character, efpecially in the decline of life, to fo much feverity and farcafm.

"The parts of this noble lord qua. lified him, in an eminent degree, for the feveral ftations he occupied in his Majefty's fervice. Equally active and laborious, his predilection for the gaities of fashion had no unfriendly influence on his habits of bufinefs. He added to a most retentive memory, the keeneft attention; and, though his talents were not rhetorical, he was famous for taking to pieces the moft finished and elaborate fpeeches. The all-powerful eloquence of a Pitt was even fometimes foiled of its effects, by his pointed statement of facts, by accommodating his replies with aftonifhing facility to the humour of the times, and by the uniform advantage of a masterly knowledge of the world, and an infinite fhrewdnefs of remark. Verfatility in his political principles and attachments was none of his foibles. He fet out, and continued to the end of his life, in the fteady fupport of. government. His emoluments, during a long and expenfive, but glorious, war, were undoubtedly enormous. This circumitance, fo obviously unavoidable from an increase of the public expenditure, was yet fuppofed big with fome very criminal peculation. But it is now certainly known, that his mode of difburfements was not only ftrictly conformable to the established practice of

the

the office, but that to which all his fucceffors, before the late reform, inviolably adhered. With what juftice, therefore, he has been calumniated, as the public defaulter of unaccounted millions, let the world, who are no longer incompetent, impartially decide."

This character of Lord Holland is followed by an account of the education of Charles Fox, and of his conduct previous to his admiffion into parliaWith thefe defcriptions we

ment.

fhall conclude this article:

"It is notorious, however, that all his political intrigues and official engagements, could not divert his attention from fuperintending the education of his children. Never did one, of fuch libertine habits in the earlier periods, become a fonder father in the declension of life. Every hour he could Spare from the public was religieufly dedicated to this great domestic duty. The Right Honourable Charles James Fox, whofe public conduct is the profeffed fubject of thefe memoirs, was always his favourite fon. He foon perceived marks of that aflonishing genius by which this political phenomenon would attract the moft fignal and univerfal admiration. On thefe he fpared no fpecies of culture which he deemed cfential to their maturity. It was his invariable maxim to follow and affift, but in no cafe whatever to circumfcribe or reftrain the exertions of nature. The various eccentricities of infancy and jucundity, which diftinguished a character whofe improvement he had fo much at heart, were uniformly treated by him with unbounded indulgence.

"This mode of tuition, like the fubject to which it was applied, though not of an ordinary kind, is abundantly justified by the event. Common rules can never be practifed with propriety but in common cafes. A capacity, thus ftrong and original, derived immediate and permanent utility from fuch an early and unlimited indulgence. The utmoft latitude of his pleafures, and even his projects and whims, never, in a fingle inftance, occafioned an exertion of paternal authority. His lordhip could advife, importune, and even

condefcend to ftipulate, but never ventured to command. This pride of his old age was accustomed, even while an infant, to fpeak freely on all subjects, and without ceremony in all compa nies. His firft indications of thought and ingenuity were fedulously cherished, and whatever could intereft his heart, charm his imagination, or occupy his understanding, happily selected, and occafionally thrown in his way, for that purpofe. This unavoidably gave him fuch a habit of thinking with freedom, and fpeaking with readiness at all times and in all places, as has contributed not a little to that liberal comprehenfion and prompt phrafeology to which his unparalleled powers of elocution owe much of their excellence.

"The celebrity which diftinguifhed his progrefs in the acquifition of claffical learning, at Eton-College, where he is faid to have mastered every task and fcience by a kind of intuition, procured him an immediate and decided fuperiority in every clafs he joined. In thefe priftine fcenes of puerile eagernefs and emulation, nothing went forward, among his numerous playmates, which indicated either enterprize or ingenuity, in which he was not a leader. That manlinefs, which the uniform treatment and demeanour of a tender but fagacious father fo happily impreffed on his manner, has never, to this day, forfaken him in any one period or circumftance of his life. It even gave him an afcendancy among his juvenile compeers, which, to thofe who examine the first emanations of tranfcendent abilities philofophically, was no improper or infignificant prelude of that irresistible influence which his character and qualities were deftined one day to maintain on a more important and interefting theatre. His public ftudies, at this celebrated fchool, were under the direction of Dr. Parnard, who never had occafion to cenfure, but often recommended him to the imitation of his fellow-ftudents, and particularly pointed out his manner of performing his ufual exercifes as fingularly original and exemplary. His private tutor was Dr. Newcombe, the prefent Bithop-of

Waterford,

Waterford, who derives more celebrity from fuch a fortunate circumftance than from any preferment the church can afford him. Under fuch masters, and with fuch powers, his accomplishment in every branch of polite litera ture, and all the elementary fciences, kept pace with the fondeft and most fanguine expectations of his friends. For, even without the formality of any regular preparation, he was never once deficient in a fingle task prefcribed him. And it was not eafy to determine whether literature or diffipation was uppermoft in his heart, as a preference of one to another never interfered with his purfuit of either.

Anecdotes of puerility are not likely to be wanting in the firft openings of fuch a character. Many of thefe have already been detailed in all the periodical publications of the day; and it would be no difficult matter to encrease the catalogue with others equally entertaining and authentic. But, though it were not impoffible, in every cafe, to diftinguish the true from the falfe, and the real exuberance of extreme fenfibility, operating on all occafions without controul, from the fondeft fabrications of partiality and attachment on the one hand, and the monstrous exaggerations of malignity on the other, as they exhibit, no reprefentation of virtue or vice, nor difcover any other principle than levity or petulance, neither could they amufe the fancy or gratify the tafte of fuch as are chiefly difpofed to contemplate the more rational and mature evolutions of a mind fo fraught with the ftrongest powers of industry and excellence.

"It was, however, even then obferved, that he was never fatisfied with mediocrity in the execution of any thing he undertook; that the ardour of his genius till rofe fuperior to whatever oppofed his progrefs; and that his very levities, unlike thofe of many, who, with no claim to his merits, have, notwithstanding, affected to defpife his manners, were always ingenious and fyftematic. Nor amidst thofe objects of feftivity and fplendour, which inceffantly pampered his paffions and dazzled his imagination, was it difficult to perceive fuch propenfities of LOND. MAG. Dec. 1783.

heart as have certainly given birth and colouring to his fubfequent character. How foon and fenfibly he demonftrated his fupreme attachment to all the ftrongest fenfibilities of humanity was exemplified by his uniformly efpouting the caufe of the weakeft and most friendlefs in the various altercations and contentions which, in the halcyon days of youth, occafionally embroiled this little fociety of innocence and peace. And here he is faid to have fupported, with equal addrefs and good-nature, a fort of municipal jurifdiction, where the aggreffors were regularly arranged and tried; where rules, or laws of conduct, were eftablifhed and maintained; and where his maiden eloquence was frequently and happily exerted in the behalf of justice, mercy, and benevolence. Such brilliant ebullitions of genius, in fo young amind, imprefed the contemporaries of his youth, and the companions of his ftudies, with the most favourable conceptions of his abilities. The prefent Earl of Carlifle, fo generally and highly celebrated for perfonal elegance and claffical tafte, though unfortunately deftined to differ, for fome time, in many fundamental principles in politics from Mr. Fox, felt and acknowledged his fuperiority at a very early period; and it is not eafy to determine whether the following beautiful copy of verfes does more juitice to the talents they celebrate, or the penetration, forefight, and generofity of his noble mind who pro

duced them.

How will my Fox, alone, by strength of parts,
Shake the loud fenate, animate the hearts
Of fearful itatefmen! while, around you, ftand
Both Peers and Commons liftening your command;
While Tully's fenfe its weight to you affords,
His nervous fweetnefs thall adorn your words.
What praife to Pitt, to Townshend, e'er was due,
In future times, my Fox, fhall wait on you.

"From Eton he went to Oxford, where the brilliancy of his parts, the urbanity of his manners, and the vivacity of his converfation, were foon equally confpicuous and popular. It is probable, however, that he was not very ambitious to diftinguish himself among the literati of this feminary; yet, with all his attachment to every fpecies of dilipation and extravagance, he neverthelefs neglected no part of 4 A

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