We learn, from the most respectable and authentic sources*, that No. 237, on Divine Providence, though printed as Addison's in the 4to. edition of his works, 1720. and signed C in all the later editions of the Spectator, was the production of Hughes, author of the Siege of Damascus. Nos. 261 and 262, marked also C in the original folio edition, and inserted, like many others, without any good authority, in Tickell's edition of Addison's works, have no signature in either of the editions of 1712, and, consequently, were not written by Addison. That they were supplied by him, however, appears to admit of no doubt; for it is scarcely possible that his signature should have been affixed to two numbers successively, unless they had been transmitted to the editor or printer through his hands. It is not at all improbable, therefore, that these, as well as other papers which have been attributed to Addison, were written by some of his friends, and given to him for insertion in the Spectator. The difficulty of supplying any stated number of papers alternately with Steele, as Addison frequently did, must have created a kind of rivalship between them, and rendered the occasional assistance of their friends very desirable; and if, as we have already seen, they availed themselves of this aid at one time without acknowledgment, the probability is, that they would not scruple to do so at another, whenever the kindness of their friends put it into their power. Steele, it is well known, did not scruple to appropriate the communications of his friends, and apply them as he thought fit Many papers, to which he affixed the editorial marks R and T, consist entirely of letters or essays from correspondents, to which he only supplied the motio, and a few introductory remarks; and some contain whole papers, communicated by his friends, and inserted without the slightest acknowledgment. Of the latter class are No. 91, which contains The History of Flaviu and Honoria, the rival mother and daughter, and No. 210 †, On the Desire of Immortality; both communicated by Mr. Hughes. This information we owe to the scrupulous accuracy of that gentleman's surviving relatives, who have furnished a list of his communications to the Spectator in a posthumous work, containing his correspondence with some of the most emninent literary characters of the age. As the remainder of that list may prove acceptable to some of your readers, I shall beg your insertion of it, as no improper conclusion to the present article, and shall take the liberty of adding a few explanatory observations of my own. A letter in No. 33, On the Art of improving Beauty, signed R. B., is claimed as Mr. Hughes's. A second letter in No. 53, on the same subject, signed also R. B. * See Letters by John Hughes, &c. 12mo. vol. iii. p. 7, 8; and Poems by J. Hughes, Esq. 2 vo s. 12mo. preface. Steelinquished bis claim to this paper in a note attached to No. 537, which will be inserted hereafter, and the T was accordingly changed into a Z in the 8vo. edition of 1712; but the signature R, originally affixed to No.91, stands uncorrected to this day. ↑ Letters by John Hughes, &c. 3 vols. 12mo. p. 7, 8. as distinguished from good breeding; the former signed Celimene, the latter with no signature. A letter in No. 104*, On Ladies' Riding-habits, without any signature. A letter in No. 141, containing soine remarks on a play entitled. The Lancashire Witches, without any signature. A humorous letter, without any signature, in No. 220, On mechanical Expedients for Wit. No. 230, On Humanity. A letter, however, is added, On Private Education, which does not appear positively to be Mr. Hughes's. The whole paper has Steele's editorial mark, T. A letter in No. 231, On the Dread of appearing before public Assemblies, which, as it immediately follows No. 230, renders it not at all improbable that the letter with which the paper is concluded, was likewise the production of Mr. Hughes. A letter in No. 252, without any signature, describing the effects of pretended distress on credulous weakness or misguided sensibility. No. 302, The Character of Emily, a model of female excellence, communicated in the form of a letter, with a short introductory sentence. The whole paper is signed T, as being transmitted to the printer through the hands of Steele. A letter in No. 311, On Fortune-hunting, signed Tim Watch well. No. 375, On Virtue in Distress.† Anonymous. No. 525, On Conjugal Love. Anonymous. No 531, On the Dignity of Human Nature. Communicated in the form of a letter, though without any signature or editorial mark. At the close of this number the following passage was subjoined by Steele, in the original folio edition: "I question not but my reader will be very much pleased to hear that the gentleman who obliged the world with the foregoing letter, and who was the author of the 210th speculation, On the Immortality of the Soul, the 525th, On Conjugal Love, and two or three other very fine ones among those which are not lettered at the end, will soon publish a noble poem, intitled, An Ode to the Creator of the World, occasioned by the fragments of Orpheus." No. 541, containing Rules for Pronunciation and Action. Anonymous, though referred by Steele to its proper author at the beginning of No. 55 1. No. 554, On the Improvement of Genius. If these remarks should be deemed worthy of a place in your valuable and improving Miscellany, the subject may perhaps be resumed, at no very distant period, by your occasional correspondent, FAUTOR. • This is acknowledged by Mr. Hughes in a letter to Mrs. Bridges. See 'etters, &c. vol. 1. p. 106. Mr. Bayne (Letters, &c. vol. i. p. 213,) speaks in very high terms of this paper, in a letter to Mr. Du combe. "I remember," says he, "when that Spectator came out, as the paper was generally read at breakfast, it mixed tears with a great deal of tea which was that morning drunk in London and Westminster." In the first edition in 8vo. 1712, "the 375th, On Virtue in Distress," was inserted here. THE wide-extended fame which the "Tales of my Landlord," and other previous novels, had gained for their author, raised the public curiosity and eagerness to the highest pitch, when it was reported that another work, founded on the extraordinary achievements of Rob Roy, the leader of the out-lawed Mac Gregor clan, was about to come forth from the same pen. Many of our readers have doubtless enjoyed the perusal of this interesting story; but it may not be unacceptable to those who have not been able as yet to command this indulgence, to peruse the brief account which we propose to lay before them. Of the story itself it will be easy to give an analysis; but of the nicer merits of this interesting performance-of the happy combination of circumstances, characters, and scenes, to keep up an almost unfailing interest-of that mysterious obscurity which you feel irresistibly anxious to penetrate, and which, when unravelled, turns upon events and facts as interesting as the obscurity in which they were necessarily involved of that striking opposition by which the dramatis persona are marked, without the slightest extravagance in any features, and with what is technically called the most perfect keeping throughout,—these and other excellencies require the band that formed them to delineate, they must be sought in the work itself. The first scene which is gradually to introduce us to the exploits of the unconquerable Highland free-booter opens, not among the ruder scenes of nature, suited to the wild and daring beings that inhabit them, but in the metropolis of the sister-kingdom. Here the supposed writer of the narrative places us in company with his father, Mr. William Osbaldistone, a respectable merchant, his confidential clerk Owen, and himself a young man, destined by his peremptory father to sustain the weighty concerns of this merchantile house, but unconquerably averse to such a destiny, whence his woe and all the evils he is successively destined to endure. His father, unable to bear the opposition of his son, wrote to his brother, the representative of the ancient family of the Osbaldistones, to send one of his sons to fill this station, and sends his own son Frank O., to reside with his uncle, himself resolving to have no further intercourse with him. This journey to his uncle's residence in Northumberland offered nothing remarkably worthy of record. The chance traveller, of whose company he had the greatest share, was a man of the name of Morris, who carried with him a portmanteau apparently very heavy, and who was ludicrously afraid of being robbed. At the little inn in the North, where Frank and his companion shared the Sunday ordinary which the landlord gave, the curate, the apothecary, the barber, and a Scotch gentleman were introduced to the traveller. As Mr. Osbaldistone had arrived near his journey's end, his fellow-traveller was anxious to substitute the Scotchman for his companion, who saw enough of his want of common interest not to be willing to join him. As Frank approached Osbaldistone Hall, he heard the cry of hounds. While he paused, not donbting that they were his uncle's, the fox passed near him; the hounds with unerring instinct followed, and several young men in full pursuit were close in with them, whom he concluded to be his cousins. While pondering his probable reception, he was agreeably surprised by a young lady, who was a party in the hunt, discovering from her enquiry that he was the cousin whom Mr. Osbaldistone's letter had made them for some days past expect. Exquisitely beautiful, lively, witty, and satirical, she of course interested the young stranger, and by her he was accompanied to the mansion, the young men having their dogs to couple and take home. He was left somewhat abruptly in the court by his lovely attendant, and it was some time before he could find a servant to introduce him to the apartment where he might see his uncle. This was the great dining-hall, adorned by hunting trophies, a few old family-pictures, and all the implements required in sporting feats. At length, when the dinner was served, and the folding-doors opened, in rushed curs and men, eight dogs, the domestic chaplain, the village-doctor, his six cousins, and his uncle. Of this family, in which this accomplished young man was to take up his permanent residence, the old gentleman had long been a retired resident upon his estate, roused to no honourable exertion, and given up to country-sports, rough in his general behaviour, but kind, and retaining something of that impression which his early years had received in the army, and in an occasional attendance at court ;-the sons tall and stout, good-natured, and stupid, totally destitute of all mental improvement, and accomplished only in the noble arts of hunting, fishing, and shooting. Rashleigh, the youngest son, in stature and in mind was the reverse to this description. He was short, with forbidding features, almost deformed in his person, and well aducated, being destined to the church. During the repast Miss Vernon who, as the only female of the party, adjusted such matters to her pleasure, seated herself by the visitor, and amused herself by drawing a severe description of all the guests. When she retired, Frank felt no disposition to share the orgies of his relations, and by a dextrous movement made good his escape into the garden; where au encounter with Andrew, the gardener, shewed him that he felt something more than common interest in his new friend, and his momentary terrors are dissipated by finding that the gardener's suspicious hints about her character amonnt to no more than that she is a jacobite and a papist. The next morning the whole party join the hunt. They are disappointed in expecting Frank to show a want of skill upon this occasion, but when Diana Vernon has contrived to dismiss Thorncliff, who had closely attended her, she advises her remaining companion to make a rapid retreat for his safety into Scotland. Surprised at this advice, which, like the whole of Miss Vernon's conversation, was mixed with a degree of sprightliness that made its sincerity half suspected, Frank is led to the discovery that his companion on his journey northwards, who was conveying money for the payment of the army, and important dispatches of government, has, since they parted, been robbed, and has laid an accusation against him to a neighbouring squire and justice of the peace. Thither he resolves to go; and thither, in spite of his remonstrance, Miss Vernon resolves to accom pany him. The ürst person they see, when arrived at Justice Inglewood's hous to their mutuai surprise, Rasuleigh Osbaldistone; and in the conversation that takes place at the Justice's dinner-table, when he is very uning to be disturbed by any legal business, his officious clerk, Jobson, hints (so as to be over-heard) the opinion of Mr. R. O. as a confire ation of the guilt of the accused. Before he left them, Miss Vernon extort diro a him an unwilling consent to interfere so as to clear up this business in favour of her cousin and while they are drawing the reluctant attention of the Justice, a stranger enters, at sight of whom Morris is unaccountably overwhelmed with terror; this is no other than the Mr. Campbell they had met at the iun; and by his testimony and the concurring sanction which Morris is compelled to give, Mr. F. O. is entirely cleared from this vexatious charge. Returning home, he and Miss Vernon, engaged in earnest conversation, advance considerably iu each other's esteem, while she gives him to understand that there is a degree of mystery in her conduct and of reserve in her communications with him, which on account of others she must not explain, and into which he must not attempt to pry. As it is late, and the party in the hall are at their usual revels, Miss Vernon introduces her companion to the library, deserted by the rest of the family, and used as her favorite retreat with formerly frequent visits from Rashleigh, who had been her instructor and friend, but whom she now represents significantly as her ally; and who, finding her unwilling to share this studious apartment with him any longer, had gradually ceded it to her sole occupation. Rashleigh is, however, invited by Miss Vernon to join his cousin after dinner; and, after suspecting that she may have confided more than he wished, from which suspicion Frank labours to free him, relates the manner in which he had accidentally found Campbell, and sent him to his cousin's release. There were, however, in Rashleigh's conduct some suspicious circumstances, which made an increasingly unfavourable impression upon Frank's mind. The Sunday-a day of pious meditation and calm delight to the benevolent and devotional-was, at OshaldistoneHall, to all but Miss Vernon and Rashleigh, a most burdensome portion of the week. While each inhabitant after the family-service was trying to kill the long interval which would bring the diuner-hour, Frank and Rashleigh joined in conversation each with views to the object nearest their heart. Rashleigh tries to discover the character of his uncle, whom he is going to serve, perhaps to manage, and in return for his information is obliged to speak of Miss Vernon as one whose charms render the continuance of the intercourse he had formerly with her dangerous and improper, considering his prospects and her obligation of giving her heart to a cloister or to a betrothed husband. In the remaining part of this conversation he insinuates the commencement of an affection in Diana Vernon for himself, which he had had wisdom to discourage, and sends Frank in no very pleasant humour to ruminate the unpalatable information he had gained. This ill-humour he brings with him to dinner, and displays so clearly to the only lady of the party, that, after a smart remonstrance, she sooner than usual leaves him to digest his spleen. Vexed with himself, he applied as |