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long word must have a long meaning, they have caricatured, but not copied, have exhibited the original, indeed, but with distortion in every feature.

Whoever examines the style of Johnson, will find it extremely artificial. Though to him it might be said to be perfectly natural; for it is not to be doubted that, in thinking, he had accustomed himself to a choice and arrangement of words, which in course of time had become so famíliar, as to be employed without effort, whether in speech or in writing. It is the result of much labour, and that the labour of no ordinary mind. To use it without awkwardness, a writer must not only have something of Johnson's diligence, but what no diligence can confer, something of Johnson's intellect. The armour of Achilles, from the forge of Vulcan, none but the hero himself could wear; Patroclus wore it for a day, but to Patroclus that day was fatal.

While Johnson lived, his arrogance procured him enemies, and his merit, as an improver of the language, though universally known, was by many admitted with reluctance. But now that his arrogance is dead, and candour may be permitted to speak of him, it cannot be denied, that, more than any other man, he has contributed to give to English prose what, from the days of Addison, it chiefly wanted,— dignity and force. From an early period of his life, the language of his country was his leading study; well did he know what it wanted, and to supply that

want he laboured with a patriotic care.

Of the result

of his labour, his own opinion is stated in the last number of his Rambler, and none I think will deny that it is stated with equal modesty and truth: “I have laboured," says he, "to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations. Something, perhaps, I have added to the elegance of its construction, and something to the harmony of its cadence.”

Since time, which puts an end to all human pleasures and sorrows, concluded the labours of Johnson, a considerable period has elapsed, and during that interval, some by their example, some by their critical remarks, and some by their example and their critical remarks united, have pointed out the beauties of good writing, and contributed to the refinement of the public taste. But whether the public taste be more refined now than it was at the distance of half a century, or whether, in the hands of the writers of the present day, the language be acquiring either grace or vigour, may reasonably be doubted.

Several circumstances might be enumerated that tend to confirm such an opinion, but I shall only notice the following; the first is the high degree of improvement to which the language of our island has already been carried. The writers who appeared while the language wanted improvement might have to struggle with some peculiar difficulties, but they

had likewise advantages which later writers do not possess. Later writers are, no doubt, assisted by the labours of their predecessors, but it may well be questioned whether that assistance tends more to raise or depress the exertions of native genius. "Who can tell," says Sir William Temple, " whether learning may not even weaken invention, in a man that has great advantages from nature."

Another circumstance unfavourable to polite literature, is the rage for authorship so widely spread among all classes of the people. There was a time, when the instruction of the public was considered as the peculiar province of men who had studied the art of writing, as well as the subjects on which they chose to write. The name of an author was then understood to imply qualifications which every body does not possess. In our times the case altered.

seems to be

"Now every desperate blockhead dares to write, Both those who cannot write, and those who can ; All rhyme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man."

The tendency of this indiscriminate authorship needs scarcely be pointed out. What is done by every one, no one is careful to do well. To a competition so ignoble, men of sense and learning can hardly be expected to bring the talents which, with due encouragement, they could easily command.

Connected with the rage for authorship is the end

less variety of magazines, memoirs, memorandumbooks, and other morsels of periodical writing, which almost every printing-press in the kingdom is daily sending forth.

Periodical writing, it must be confessed, indeed, has been of service to literature. It began with the revival of learning in Europe, and tended not a little to accelerate the memorable revolution which was then effected. It was in the shape of periodical papers, too, that the Spectators, the Guardians, the Ramblers, the brightest monuments of British taste and genius, first came into the world. But many good things have been perverted. A periodical work is now, in many instances, a speculation in trade. A bookseller, desirous of extending his business, finds a person, perhaps of some education, who is glad to be put into any office for a livelihood. A bargain is struck; a magazine is projected; a few essays are written with tolerable care, and from this time the editor's labour is generally the least part of it. The work once begun, continues itself. It sets up, like a free port of trade, inviting merchants from every clime to unload their freight. It affords, to every one who chooses, the sweet delectation of reading, and seeing others read the products of his genius, without letting any body know except a few of his private friends. Hence essays and poems, tales in verse and in prose, come flying from every quarter, soliciting admission.

"Is there a parson much bemused in beer,
A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer;

A clerk foredoom'd his father's soul to cross,
Who pens a stanza when he should engross;
Is there who, locked from ink and paper, scrawls,
With desperate charcoal, round his darkened walls?"-

all repair to the magazine, and in its pages find, for their crude productions, a ready conveyance to the public eye.

It is needless to say what influence such publications must have on the uneducated part of the community. The variety so pleasing to the lovers of novelty, the brief discussion so suitable to the busy, and, perhaps one might add, the want of meaning so well adapted to the indolent, recommend them to general notice, under the name of easy reading, and thus enable them to spoil many minds, which, with better instruction, might have been taught to relish sense and good writing.

OF STYLE.

By studying the principles of fine writing, so as to be able to appreciate its beauties, a source of entertainment of the highest kind is provided, independently of the power that is acquired of imitating what we admire. In order to attain this, we must know

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