in caricature, and scarcely any of the beauties of the original. Of this charge we have sufficient proof from an appeal to their contemporaries; one of whom, in an Essay on the Present State of Wit, written in 1711, has remarked, that "they seemed at first to think that what was only the garnish of the former Tatlers, was that which recommended them, and not those substantial entertainments which they every where abound in. "Accordingly, they were continually talking of their maid, night-cap, spectacles, and Charles Lillie. However, there were, now and then, some faint endeavours at humour, and sparks of wit, which the town, for want of better entertainment, was content to hunt after, through a heap of impertinencies: but even those are at present become wholly invisible, and quite swallowed up in the blaze of the Spectator. 66 They found the new Spectator come on like a torrent, and sweep away all before him; they despaired ever to equal him ;-and, therefore, rather chose to fall on the author, and to call out for help to all good christians, by assuring them again and again, that they were the first original, true, and undisputed Isaac Bickerstaff." * To imitate the Tatler in its exterior, in its form *Swift's Works by Nichols, 8vo ed. vol. 18, p. 40 and 41. and subdivisions, as it originally commenced, was a task which might be executed by the most inferior writers; and consequently, Tatlers, addressed rather to the eye than to the understanding, inundated the press; to catch, however, the spirit which so abundantly animated the greater, and especially the latter, portion of this work, was an achievement beyond their strength, and, of course, the public soon justly consigned such imitators to oblivion. PART I. ESSAY II. OBSERVATIONS ON THE PERIODICAL PAPERS WHICH WERE WRITTEN BETWEEN THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME OF THE SPECTATOR, AND THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE RAMBLER; WITH SOME GENERAL REMARKS ON THEIR TENDENCY AND COMPLECTION. IF F so arduous proved the attempt to transplant the graces of the Tatler, the difficulty appeared tenfold enhanced when the Spectator became the. object of rivalry; and though its imitators have been infinitely more numerous and respectable than were those of the Tatler, it may justly be said, that, if a few have made a near approach to its merits and construction, not one has altogether equalled its great and varied excellence. From the close of the eighth volume of the Spectator on December 20th, 1714, to the appearance of the Rambler in 1750, we possess a long and unbroken catalogue of periodical papers. Of these some are respectable, and written on topics embracing general literature and manners; several are political, and many trifling and jejune. The first, in order of time, was an attempt to continue the Spectator, both in title and form; it was therefore termed 1. SPECTATOR, VOLUME NINTH AND LAST. This work, which we formerly had occasion to mention and condemn, was published twice a week, commencing on January 3d, 1715, and terminating with the sixty-first number on August 3d of the same year. It was conducted by a Mr. William Bond, whose signature is affixed to a dedication to the Viscountess Falconberg; in which, whilst acknowledging the contributions of his friends, he remarks," two excellent ones (essays) were presented me by a friend, celebrated for his vast genius, and who furnished (I won't say the former Spectators, but) the Tatlers with a better fame than they would, perhaps, have obtained, if he had not lent his hand, and scattered life and lustre through these loose pages.-I fear that these may be the only witty pieces in the whole set." I apprehend that this boast, which appears intended to insinuate that Dr. Swift had afforded his assistance, must be considered as a mere vor et præterea nihil; for, after a thorough investigation, I have been utterly disappointed in discovering a single paper in the smallest degree entitled to the appellation of witty. Bond wrote a poem in ridicule of Mr. Pope, and was rewarded, for his temerity, with a niche in the Dunciad. 2. THE CENSOR. To the laborious Mr. Lewis Theobald are we to ascribe the pages of the Censor. This gentleman was born at Sittingbourn in Kent, and, having received a grammatical education at Isleworth in Middlesex, applied himself to his father's profession, which was that of the Law. This, however, he soon relinquished to become a poet, an essayist, and an editor; in the first of these departments he early published a pamphlet called the Cave of Poverty, and which Bond, in Nos. 23 and 25 of his Spectator, has loaded with ridiculous and hyperbolical praise. To this succeeded, in the same year, the first volume of the Censor, the numbers of which originally appeared in Mist's Weekly Journal, a mode of publication to which Pope alludes in the following lines from the quarto edition of the Dunciad in 1728. But what can I? my Flaccus cast aside, Take up the Attorney's (once my better) guide? Yes, from this moment, mighty Mist! am thine. |