trembled under the zeal of Reverend Railers; who, in the holy blindness of their passion, have shewn us Job upon his dunghill, inoculated for the Small-Pox by the Devil for his surgeon.

"It has been represented as a wilful murder, a new and wicked presumption! an assault on the prerogative of Heaven, and a taking God's own work out of his hands, to be mended by man's arrogance.

"But the common arguments, however despicable, give me diversion and entertainment. When I hear a pious old woman wisely wondering, what this world would come to and concluding her remarks with the great maxim of resignation, that God's own time is best! I compare this force of female reasoning, to the representation which, a late writer tells us, the old Boyars, or Grandees of Russia, gravely made to the present Czar, when he attempted a communication, by digging a canal, between the Volga and the Tanais. The design, they said, was great ;-But they humbly conceived it impious a -For, since God had made the rivers to run one way, man ought not to turn them another.”

An opposition equally violent, though not founded upon reasoning quite so ludicrous, is, in the present day, formed against a still more salutary inoculation, that of the Cow-pox.

To every improvement, indeed, however great and important, there has usually been opposed a host of prejudices, the removal of which requires considerable address, and much patience and perseverance. So incontrovertible, however, is now the nature of the evidence in support of vaccination, that it becomes an imperious duty on the part of government and individuals, to promote, to the utmost of their power, its extension and utility. One important step to this effect, the establishment of the Royal Jennerian Society, has already, under the sanction of the highest authority in the kingdom, been carried into execution. More, however, remains to be done before we can congratulate our country on the probability of beholding the complete extinction of variolous contagion. A second, and most powerful mean, would be, the interdiction of the practice of inoculation for the Small-Pox throughout the British Empire; a practice which, if not speedily superseded by authority, must necessarily, from the lingering prejudices of individuals, for a long period keep alive the seeds of a most loathsome and destructive plague. A third, and scarcely less effectual plan, would be, an injunction of the Legislature on every clergyman, and on every sponsor at the font, to take care, both as a religious and moral duty that every infant be protected from danger by immediate vaccination.

These regulations, which with perfect ease and safety might be universally adopted, would speedily, and beyond the power of reversal, establish a preventive, which every fact and every experiment has proved to be as certain and salutary as the warmest wishes of humanity could either hope for or suggest.

'As to individuals, whether we consider them as christians, as men, as parents, or as members of society, they are called upon by every consideration due to themselves, their children, and their friends, to embrace and circulate a blessing, which, from the evidence widely REV. DEC. 1811.

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propagating in its favour, cannot now be neglected without a violation of piety, of sympathy, and affection.'

Having brought down his list to the "Rambler," (in 1750) our historian, biographer, and critic, pauses in his humbler labours, and attempts the difficult task of giving something like novelty to the literary life of Dr. Johnson. We question whe ther the nice point on which he rests his claims to such novelty, and which we have quoted in his preface, be not a distinction without a difference from other lives of the great moralist. Hawkins, Boswell, and Murphy, have all dwelt on the principal productions of their hero with sufficient fullness; and the mere circumstance of considering his peculiar powers in separate provinces of literature, when his first work in that province is recorded, instead of generally summing up his literary character at the close of his career, is a variation of no great consequence. As to the moral character of Johnson, we scarcely know any writer who has steered more judiciously between the extravagant praise of his friends and the severe censure of his enemies than Dr. Drake. We would recommend our readers, then, to become acquainted with this additional biography of Johnson; although we should be right in our opinion that it contains not those attractions of novelty to which it pretends. Two little compositions, indeed, it adds to the scanty list of the Doctor's poetical pieces; compositions which had escaped the notice of every editor of Johnson's works, which we had often heard repeated in conversation, but which we never saw in print until they were published in a work (noticed by us with due praise) intitled, "Translations from the Greek Anthology +." From this volume Dr. Drake copies them; and as they are now before the public in at least two different shapes, we shall decline to transcribe them. The lines from the Medea of Euripides, contrasted (as they are by Dr. D.) with an imitation of the same passage by Joseph Warton, exhibit the force of Johnson's language in an eminent degree. Warton, too, has been very successful, and displays as much sweetness as Johnson manifests strength in this short effusion. The other little piece is a Greek tetrastic, which the Doctor had formed and condensed from his own Latin epitaph on Goldsmith.'-We must not conclude this brief account of Dr. Drake's very ample Literary Life of Johnson,' without observing that his remarks on the style of the Rambler, as compared with that of other popular pro

A work of this name, of which only one number is extant, (in the British Museum,) appeared in 1712.

See Rev. Vol. 54. N. S. p. 370.

ductions,

ductions, are extremely amusing, and to the youthful reader
may be very instructive. We should also add that a great
mass of miscellaneous information is contained in this portion
of the Essays; and that the lover of domestic literature has
here a rich banquet provided for his entertainment.
At pre-
sent, we have not an opportunity of discussing at large some
of the points of criticism and taste in which we differ from the
Doctor: but we must not omit to state that his classification
of English poets (page 448, &c. vol. i.) is very unsatisfactory
to our minds, particularly where he says that the first class,
he thinks, will not require much revision,' when he places in
that class Dunbar and Cowper! The Doctor, in truth, does
not seem to be as much improved in his poetical taste as in
his prose-composition. For instance,-as far as the critic can
be judged from the author, let us examine a single stanza,
the birth and exultation of the moment,' (as the Doctor ex-
presses it,) on the Spanish Patriots:

Who is he, rising 'mid the thunder of the storm,
Rejoicing in the greatness of his might?
It is Liberty!-he, majestic in his form,
He, glorying in the plenitude of light:
Gigantic is his step, resistless is his course,

Yea, matchless are the workings of his hands!
Hark! thy people shout, Iberia, with tremendous force
Thy armed nations shout along the lands:
They bless thy presence, Liberty!'

The Literary Life of Dr. Hawkesworth' is a well digested and interesting little performance; in which the various qualities of that writer's mind (sufficiently if not thoroughly learned as he was) are distinguished by his biographer in a judicious and candid manner. The cloud that was cast over his latter days, by his unfortunate errors in the "Collection of Voyages," is faithfully represented, but with a degree of tenderness to established reputation which does credit to the heart of the author.-That Hawkesworth ever meant, by his doubts, queries, and descriptions, to shock belief, or inflame the passions, cannot be admitted:'-such is Dr. Drake's opinion; and we would not wish to see it invalidated, even if stronger grounds for the degrading supposition existed than really can be produced. On the whole, we know few biographical sketches which deserve a better character than the foregoing.

The occasional contributors to the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler, next demand the attention of this biographer and critic. The assistance which Dr. Johnson received in the composition of his Rambler amounted (with the exception of the four billets in No. 1o. written by Mrs. Chapone, and the

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second letter in No. 107.) only to four numbers; the productions, of Miss Talbot, Mr. Richardson, and Mrs. Carter Of these three contributors we have a sufficient account. No. 30. was the composition of Miss T.; No. 97. of Richardson, and we have heard also No. 102.*; and Numbers 44. and 100., of Mrs Carter. The biography of this last lady, and that of Richardson, are lively compilations from previous works on the same subjects. The Doctor, in fact, is a very first-rate compiler; and Mrs. Barbauld and Mr. Pennington lose nothing in his hands:

The associates of Hawkesworth and Johnson in the composition of the Adventurer were not numerous. Bathurst, Warton, Chapone, and Colman, form the list of those whose papers are acknowledged. On the authority of Dr. Johnson, however, we have to add, that the Honourable Hamilton Boyle was a contributor to the Adventurer; but among the small number of papers which have no signature, the property of this gentleman has never been ascertained. We may also mention, that to the Rev. Richard Jago we are indebted for the copy of verses in No thirty-seven.'

Bathurst contributed Numbers 3, 6, 9, 19, 23, 25, 35, 43-1 Warton, (Joseph) twenty-four papers; for the numbers, and subjects of which, (as well as of the preceding) we refer our readers to Dr. Drake. The four billets written by Mrs. Chapone in the Rambler are to be found in No. 10; and her contributions to the Adventurer consist of the story of Fidelia in Numbers 77, 8, and 9.- Much pleasant literary chit-chat is scattered through the lives of these respective writers. The biography of Colman is reserved for the account of the Connoisseur: but it is stated that the vision in No. 9o. is the only assistance which he lent to the Adventurer; and, though written at the early age of twenty, it may rank with the first papers in that elegant work.'

The coadjutors of Johnson in the Idler (whose names are known) were Thomas Warton, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Bennet Langton. Warton wrote Numbers 33, 93, and 96. Sir Joshua contributed an equal portion, Numbers 76, 79, and 82. Mr. Langton was the author of No. 67. Johnson however acknowleges the contribution of twelve: so that five numbers of the Idler are yet unappropriated.

During and between the publication of the Rambler, the Adventurer, and the Idler, not fewer than twenty papers, independently of the essays of Johnson, were candidates for public favour. Of these, by far the most distinguished are the World and the Connoisseur. Their authors, consequently, engross

It has been said likewise that the second letter in No. 15. was not the production of Johnson's pen.

the

the principal attention of Dr. Drake, while he is examining the period in question.

The number of contributors to the World was thirty-two: of these the principal, as to the bulk and perhaps the value of their papers, are the admirable author of the Gamester, Edward Moore; Lord Chesterfield; Richard Owen Cambridge; and Lord Orford: but of all the writers in this popular work Dr. D. gives us some account, and of several a very full and entertaining history. The biographical sketches, indeed, will be generally considered as the most valuable part of these volumes:

The most singular feature in the conduct and composition of the Connoisseur, which was published under the fictitious name of Mr. Town, Critic and Censor-General, is, that the two projectors, and almost entire writers of the work, Colman and Thornton, not content with the customary mode of contributing their respective numbers, united so intimately in the composition of each essay, and so assimilated their styles and manners that it is now impossible for the critis to discriminate their peculiar property. It has been said, indeed, that Mr. Colman, during the latter part of his life, was no more able than his readers to distinguish his own share in the joint production.

Of the small corps of volunteers,' observes the author, who enlisted under the banners of Colman and Thornton, only five have hitherto been revealed, namely the Earl of Corke, the Reverend John Duncombe, William Cowper, Esq. Mr. Robert Lloyd, and Orator Henley.'

Three Numbers have been attributed to Cowper, on his own authority, viz. 119, 134, and 138. It is highly probable,' adds the Doctor, that Numbers III, and 115. are also from his pen ; as able a pen, assuredly, when writing prose, as that of almost any essayist. That extraordinary genius, Robert Lloyd, can only be considered in the light of a poetical assistant to the Connoisseur,

Of the papers published between the close of the Idler and the present period, the most meritorious are decidedly the Mirror, the Lounger, and the Observer; these are indeed so eminent above the rest (facilè principes) that we shall just mention their several writers, and close our review of Dr. Drake's various collection. The less popular works, which have appeared during the same space of time, are as yet sufficiently known to excite no curiosity as matters of bibliographical information; and we have not room to appreciate their shades of merit, according to the Doctor's generally faithful scale.

The regular members of the society, to whom the Mirror owes its birth, were (besides Mr. Mackenzie) Mr. George Home, Mr. W. Craig, Mr. Alexander Abercromby, Mr, Macleod Bannatyne, and Mr. R. Cullen. To these gentlemen

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are