and lies between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. He did so much to beautify this small estate, that in the last century it was regarded as a sort of earthly paradise, and people made long pilgrimages to see it. He did much to create a taste for landscape gardening; and so inspired, amongst others, a Frenchman, M. Girardin, that he set up in his grounds a monument to our author, with an inscription which will always be remembered in connection with Shenstone's name, for the interesting way in which reason in it triumphs over rhyme. Our poet in one of his Essays expresses gratitude that his name is incapable of a pun. Little did he suspect the rhyme that was predestined to it. This plain stone To William Shenstone. In his writings he display'd A mind natural; At Leasowes he laid Arcadian greens rural. The present volume contains the whole of Shen stone's stone's prose writings except his letters. These letters were published after his death; they are stilted in style; and for the matter contain nothing of importance. An author's letters, however they may be of use in biography, are not usually classed among his works; and certainly those of Shenstone have no claim to the honour of a reprint. ESSAYS ON MEN AND MANNERS. ON PUBLICATIONS. IS not unamusing to consider the several apologies that people make when they commence authors. It is taken for granted that, on every publication, there is at least a seeming violation of modesty; a presumption, on the writer's side, that he is able to instruct or to entertain the world; which implies a supposition that he can communicate, what they cannot draw from their own reflections. To remove any prejudice this might occasion, has been the general intent of prefaces. Some we find extremely solicitous to claim acquaintance with their reader; B |