Though Mr. Ironside, as Guardian to the Lizard family, held an office more contracted in its sphere than that which his immediate predecessor enjoyed, the same variety of subject, fertility of invention, and comic powers, which so strongly captivated the readers of the Spectator, were equally discoverable in the lucubrations of the venerable Nestor. Morality, piety, and monitory lessons of prudence and experience, necessary attendants on his age and situation, occupy, as might be expected, no small portion of the Guardian's attention. "My design," says he, " upon the whole, is no less than to make the pulpit, the bar, and the stage, all act in concert in the care of piety, justice, and virtue; for I am past all the regards of this life, and have nothing to manage with any person or party, but to deliver myself, as becomes an old man with one foot in the grave, and one who thinks he is passing to eternity."

Had SIR RICHARD STEELE rigorously adhered to the resolution distinguished by Italics, it had been fortunate for himself, and for the republic of letters; but the ardour of his politics was too powerful for his philosophy, and he had completed but forty numbers when he violated his plan of neu

trality, and entered into all the turbulence of contending parties. Independent of this blemish, for such it assuredly is in a work devoted to literature and ethics, the design is supported with consistency and spirit; and the various characters of the Lizard family, their cares, passions, interests, and diversions, afford scope for much raillery, instruction, and entertainment. It would appear that STEELE undertook this work without any previous concert with his illustrious colleague, and that he pursued it for many weeks with vigour and assiduity, and with very little aid from his friends, or from the letter-box; but the assistance which our author had so amply received during the publication of his former papers, was with little diminution eventually continued in the present. The first volume contains many capital essays by Berkeley, Pope, and Tickell, and the second is greatly indebted to Addison.

The Guardian was in effect a continuation of the Spectator, under another name. It was conducted on the same plan, and with the same laudable intentions. It was published daily until October 1, 1713, N° 175, when it was abruptly closed, in consequence of a quarrel between STEELE and TONSON, the bookseller.

A few days after the decease of the Guardian, STEELE commenced the ENGLISHMAN, the first paper of which work appeared on the 6th of October, 1713. Whatever circumstances attended the conclusion, which certainly was very abrupt, it appears that STEELE came prepared for the commencement of the Guardian, with more industry and richer stores than usual. He wrote a great many papers in succession with very little assistance from his contemporaries. ADDISON, for what reason is not very obvious, except that he might now be looking to higher employment, does not make his appearance until N° 67, nor after that, except once, until N° 97, when he proceeds without interruption for twenty-seven numbers, during which time STEELE's affairs are said to have been embarrassed. STEELE's share amounts to seventy-one papers, in point of merit equal, if not superior, to his Spectators. ADDISON wrote fifty-one papers, and generally with his accustomed excellence, but it may perhaps be thought that there is a greater proportion of serious matter, and more frequent use made of the letter-box than was usual with this writer.

The contributors to this paper were not many, and of these few some have been already noticed

as contributors to the Spectator. The first for quantity and value was the celebrated Bishop of Cloyne, DR. GEORGE BERKELEY, a most amiable man, but a writer sometimes so absurd that it has been doubted whether it was possible he could be serious in the principles he advanced.

This eminent writer was a native of Ireland, and the son of William Berkeley of Thomastown, in the county of Kilkenny, whose father having suffered greatly for his loyalty for Charles the First, went to Ireland after the restoration, and there obtained the collectorship of Belfast. Dr. Berkeley was born March 12, 1684, at Kilcrin, near Thomas-town; received his early education at Kilkenny school, under Dr. Hinton; was admitted a pensioner at Trinity college, Dublin, at the age of fifteen, and fellow of the same college on the 9th of June, 1707. His first publication was, "Arithmetica absque algebra aut Euclide demonstrata," which was written before he was twenty years of age, though not published till 1707. It shews his early disposition for mathematical knowledge, and the commencement of his application to those acute metaphysical inquiries, by which he was afterwards so eminently distinguished.

His next work was "The Theory of Vision,' which was published in 1709, and is the first attempt to distinguish the immediate operations of the senses from the conclusions we habitually deduce from our sensations. The author clearly shews that the connexion between the sight and touch is the effect of habit; insomuch that a person born blind, and suddenly made to see, would at first be utterly unable to foretel how the objects of sight would affect the sense of touch; or, indeed, whether they were tangible or not; and that until experience had repeatedly taught him what events were concomitant with his sensations, he would be incapable of forming any notion of proximity or distance. These and other interesting positions have since been experimentally verified. In his next work, entitled "The Principles of Human Knowledge," he attempts to prove that the commonly-received notion of the existence of matter is false and inconsistent with itself; that those things which are called perceptible objects exist only, in the mind, and are mere impressions produced by the immediate act of the Deity, according to certain laws, from which in the ordinary course of nature he never deviates. The writer of his life seems to think that the perusal of the airy