ter-pieces to counteract a revival?" Is this the man, who, during twelve years has been receiving the adulations of a numerous retinue in the Church? Is it to be for ever recorded, that the great body of his converts are a disgrace to religion? Is his system to be for ever denominated Pelagianism, carried out into a burning fanaticism? And is he henceforth to take rank with Davenport, or perhaps with some other more fiery and destructive comet in the Church? Mr. Finney has in these volumes gone to the ultimate boundary of religious errour. The whole region beyond him is infidelity. Some of those who had arrived where he now is, stopped, wondered, and returned. Others, believing themselves to receive "ideas from God without the use of words," advanced till they rejected the written oracles of truth, and the ordinances of Christ. Can this system leave Mr. Finney where he now is? Or will it compel him to take one step more? Or will he yet, by grace, be enabled to abandon it? In these inquiries, some portions of our country have a weighty concern. Through the members of his Institute, these views will soon be claiming a general admission to the pulpits, and an extensive hearing by the Church. Like the evils of the fabled box, they are soon to break forth, and more widely to infest the heritage of the Lord. If they are not immediately checked, it is impossible to calculate the boldness to which they may attain, or the mischiefs which they may do; for Mr. Flavel says, "errours in the tender bud, and first spring of them, are comparatively shy and modest, to what they prove afterwards, when they have spread and rooted themselves into the minds of multitudes, and think it time to set up and justle for themselves in the world." ART. III. REVIEW OF DR. JOHNSON'S LIVES OF THE POETS. By DANIEL DANA, D. D., Newburyport, Mass. FEW men of any age, have held a more distinguished rank in the Republic of Letters, than Dr. Johnson. There was, indeed, a period when, in Great Britain, the literary republic seemed to be converted into a monarchy; and Johnson reigned with a kind of absolute and undisputed Sovereignty. The almost unparalleled ascendancy which he acquired, and for many years retained, is a phenomenon which has never yet received a perfect explanation. That he possessed a mind of great native strength, which he nourished with abundant and various reading, and invigorated by deep and discriminating thought, is universally admitted. That the superiority of such a mind over the great mass of mind, should be extensively felt and acknowledged, is nowise surprising. But the claims of Johnson did not stop here; nor did his success. He was an object of admiration with those who were themselves admired: and many who were capable of prescribing opinions to others were content to receive law from him. His literary decisions and criticisms commanded a general, if not a universal homage. The tribute might be sometimes extorted; but it was still paid. If, in the wide-spread chorus, a few discordant sounds were heard, they were too feeble to make impression, or were overpowered by the general voice. This singular pre-eminence of Johnson has been strong. ly, and not infelicitously described by a poet of our own. country.* "Just, yet despotic, deck'd with awful rays, O'er the vast realm of wit, proud Johnson sways. Nor dares the haughtiest slave his nod dispute. Old time at last, shall pluck thee from thy sphere, No throne can e'er be stable, built on fear." The suggestion that the throne of Johnson was built on • JONATHAN M. SEWALL, of Portsmouth, N. H. fear, has some foundation in truth; for he swayed an iron sceptre over most within his reach; and to question his supremacy, was generally to incur his wrath. Nor has the prediction of our poet been wholly unfulfilled. Time, which has brightened and extended the fame of a few distinguished writers, has performed, in the case of Johnson, a somewhat dissimilar operation. While to his writings has generally been conceded, even at the present day, the praise of erudition, power and depth of thought, vigour of expression, and good moral tendency, those writings find comparatively few readers. His Dictionary, indeed, is still highly and deservedly valued; and this chiefly, for the felicity and nice discrimination of its definitions. There is, however, one work of Johnson, which few general readers fail to peruse; and which, though according to their variety of tastes and prepossessions, variously estimated, all must acknowledge to hold a distinguished place in English literature. I refer to his Lives of the most eminent English Poets, accompanied with Critical Observations on their works. One of the remarkable circumstances attending this production is, that, though written about the age of seventy, it exhibits the author's mind in the full possession of all its powers. This work will be made the subject of a few remarks. A complete analysis of its contents, or an accurate estimate of its general character, is no part of my design. Such an attempt would, in the writer, be presumption, and could terminate only in failure. I shall offer some observations on the prominent excellencies and defects of this distinguished production. Adverting afterwards, to some of the principal poets introduced, I shall hazard some remarks on the degree of justice which has been done them. It is no small praise of the work to say, as may be said with justice, that its moral aspects and tendencies are generally good. Respecting the piety of Johnson, there has been some diversity of opinion. In the view of his unshaken faith in Divine Revelation, and the general regularity of his life, some have deemed his piety unquestionable. While others, discerning considerable obliquities, both in his temper and deportment, have at least doubted on this point. He certainly had enough of religious faith to make him very unhappy; for few have had such terrific apprehensions of death, as he seems habitually to have cherished. There is likewise considerable reason to believe that, in his last sickVOL. V. 10 ness, his religious views were greatly improved; and that he died in the peace and hope of the humble, confiding Christian. Nor is it less true, that whatever irregularities marked his life, he uniformly treated religion with reverence. He never trifled with its truths, nor with the great and sacred principles of morality. It is declared, indeed, by Boswell, that "from a spirit of contradiction, and a delight in showing his powers, he would often" (in conversation) "maintain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity; so that when there was an audience, his real opinions could seldom be gathered from his talk." The practice was utterly indefensible. Yet, as the biographer justly adds, "he was too conscientious to make errour permanent and pernicious, by deliberately writing it; and in all his numerous works, he earnestly inculcated what appeared to him to be the truth." The Lives of the Poets afford, in many parts, a specimen of truly philosophical biography. Facts are not nakedly detailed, but exhibited in their principles, their bearings, their character, and their issues. Incidents give rise to moral instruction. Virtues and vices in character, minister to the reader's counsel and warning. Beauties and defects in writing, elicit occasionally, a profound philosophical remark, or an instructive disquisition. The account introduced into the Life of Cowley, of the metaphysical poets, a class that appeared about the beginning of the seventeenth century, is a fine specimen of Johnson's philosophical accuracy and discrimination. While he does justice to their learning, their wit, and their occasional gleams of genius, he portrays with a masterly hand, their false conceits, their waste of intellect and labour, their heartlessness, and their extravagance. The In a work embracing critical observations on the most eminent English poets, the reader naturally expects to find the grand and leading principles of criticism elicited and illustrated. Nor is his expectation disappointed. author's extensive and accurate acquaintance with the ancient classics, and with the best writers of modern times, together with his own strong perceptions and discriminating judgement, furnish a vast amount of critical information. Indeed, the general knowledge of men and things, communicated in these volumes; and especially the knowledge of the English poets and literati, for nearly two centuries, is of great value. Johnson's own literary and public life was unusually protracted. His acquaintance with the learned men of his time was extensive. His curiosity was active and insatiable; his observation keen; his memory retentive. His researches into the literature and literary men of preceding times, were unwearied; and his access to the best sources of information easy. Under these advantages, the accumulations of fifty years must have been rich and various. And they are spread out in no stinted measure, in the volumes before us. Especially does the work contain a variety of those minor occurrences in life, and those nicer shades of temper, which, though prone to escape common observation, constitute, in fact, not only the chief instruction and entertainment of the reader, but the surest key to the characters delineated. It may be added, that in point of style, the work before us is one of the most excellent of all the author's productions. We have here few of those far-fetched and sonorous words, and little of that balancing of sentences, and rounding of periods, which characterize most of his other works. We have the man of sound common sense, who can tell us every day occurrences in a plain, yet accurate and elegant style. It can scarcely be denied that the style in which Johnson usually wrote, as it raised up a multitude of imitators, has done something to corrupt the simplicity of the language. Its stateliness and inflation are, at times, even disgusting. Many authors of considerable reputation, would doubtless have written better, if they had never perused a page of his writings. Among these must be reckoned the celebrated and excellent Mrs. Hannah More. How desirable is it, that as Johnson lived to see his errour, and in some measure to discard it, those who are ambitious to make him their model, should fasten, not on his faults, but his reformation. It is, however, the usual fate of imitators to copy rather the defects than the excellencies of their models. Having glanced at some of the leading excellencies of the work under consideration, we have before us the less pleasant task of noting some of its principal defects. There is scarcely a greater desideratum in a biographer, or a critic, than the entire absence of prejudice and prepossession. In other words, we wish the mind of such an one to be like the calm surface of the lake, which gives a perfect reflection of the over-canopying heavens, and surrounding |