[1796.] and perfectly well adapted for grave communication, there is an artificiality and want of raciness in it, which disappoints expectation, and ultimately tires: it seems defecated and refined, till it has lost all flavour-The preliminary Vol. forms a most useful dissertation of itself: it contains much matter not immediately connected with the subsequent History, which might well be read without it. DEC. the 20th. Read the preliminary Book to Robertson's History of America, comprising a history of navigation and cosmography, from the first migrations of mankind to the period of Columbus. R. seems to delight and luxuriate in these prefaratory openings; which, however, furnish a very tempting precedent for literary ostentation. The present is executed in a perspicuous, masterly, and pleasing manner. Finished the 2d Book of Macchiavel's Discourse on Livy. He shews a considerable insight into human nature, as acting on, and acted upon by, political institutions; and where he does not push the refinements of speculation too far, his remarks are generally just. What he observes on the impolicy of trusting emigrants compelled to fly their country, might have read a lesson to the present administration. It is not often that history furnishes instruction of such sure and obvious application. DEC. the 24th. Finished the first three Books of Robertson's America, collating it, as I went along, with Burke's "European Settlements;" a work which has never been. estimated by the public as it ought to be. Burke's is the hasty, but free and spirited, sketch of a master-artist; Robertson's the elaborate composition of a very eminent proficient: the one writer, we perceive, by a thousand careless strokes, is capable of more; the other has done the best he can. DEC. the 27th. Read the 4th Book of Robertson's America; containing an elaborate description of the country and its inhabitants, delivered in too much state and pomp, and upon which, much redundant thought and matter seems disgorged, for fear it should be lost to the world. Burke has treated the same subject, in the four short chapters which form the Second Part of his work, with infinite spirit; and, contrasted with [1796.] his lively strokes and glowing touches, the laboured perfection of Robertson is heavy. Compare their descriptions of the torture inflicted upon captives: Robertson, B. 4. c. 5; Burke, P. 2. c. 4. DEC. the 29th. Read the 9th Book of Livy and was most powerfully struck with the uncommon. public spirit displayed by the army and the state, in the affair of the Caudian defiles :--from such men we could expect nothing less than the conquest of the world, which they alone seem fit to govern. Livy's digression on the probable consequences of Alexander's having turned his conquests towards Rome, from an estimate of the respective resources of each party, is highly interesting; and, from Livy, quite unexpected. JANUARY the 1st, 1797. Read the 21st and 22nd Books of Livy. How fortunate is it, that the preceding chasm in this history (of ten Books) extended no farther! His description of Hannibal's passage over the Alps, is lively and picturesque; and our interest in the narrative kindles, as the Scourge of Italy advances yet we look, in vain, for that greatness of soul which should have distinguished the Roman people under such afflicting reverses; though Livy is disposed to say all he can for them. Dipped into Addison's Travels; of which the chief merit is the classical allusions. Our style has so much improved of late, that many of his expressions appear already uncouth and mean. JAN. the 6th. Read the 24th Book of Livy. An astonishing and unaccountable languor seems to have seized both the Roman and Carthaginian forces, after the battle of Cannæ; just when we should have expected the mightiest and most decisive achievements, on one side or the other. The spirit of the Romans we may suppose to have been broken; but what shall we say for Hannibal, in not following up that stupendous victory? [1797.] JAN. the 8th. Attended Church in the afternoon. Mr. S. confounded (as among all sects of Christians, it is remarkable, has ever been the case) the Christian Lord's Day with the Jewish Sabbath :-a strange blunder, surely, however respectably sanctioned. We might as well confound Easter with the Passover. JAN. the 9th. Finished the 27th Book of Livy. The forced march of the Consul Claudius Nero through the whole extent of Italy, to form a junction with his Colleague M. Livius; their total defeat of Asdrubal; and the eagerness, the transports, with which the rumour, the report, and, at last, the official statement, of this momentous victory, was received at Rome, are recounted with uncommon animation. Hannibal's inertia, all this time, is perfectly amazing: he seems to have possessed great talents to gain an advantage; but not to make the most of it, when won. JAN. the 15th. Looked over, by a cursory perusal, Beattie's Essay on Truth. I remember to have been much charmed with this work; but it has sunk lamentably in my estimation, on this maturer review. Its declamation, indeed, is lively and specious : but, as a disquisition, it is miserably deficient in acuteness of discrimination and solidity of judgment; and though we should allow that the author has, on many occasions, felt justly, we must confess that throughout he has reasoned very weakly. The great object of this Treatise, is, to prove, to the confusion of Des Cartes, Malbranche, Berkeley, and Hume, that there are principles intuitively certain or intuitively probable,—that common sense determines what these principles are,—that all reasoning rests upon these principles, and that to bring such principles themselves to the test of reason, is a measure preposterous in its nature, and highly injurious to the interests of truth and virtue. In answer to all this, it might well be observed, that reasoning consists in nothing but the production of some one or more propositions, from which it follows, as a necessary, or as a probable consequence, that the proposition to be proved or disproved, is true or false;-that the propositions thus adduced, are amenable to the judgment ;that if the dictates of common sense are consistent, they cannot overthrow each other; that all fair reasoning, consequently, must at least be harmless; and, [1797.] that to encourage men to adopt any opinion, and shut their ears to all discussion upon it, as a point previously settled by common sense, and beyond the juris liction of reason, would be to give the privilege of sanctuary to every species of prejudice. Read the 34th Book of Livy. The arguments on the Oppian Law, at the beginning of this Book, are highly curious. Valerius's, in favour of the ladies, though ingenious, passes over many topics which we should expect to be pressed with much spirit, on a similar occasion, at the present day. JAN. the 20th. Read Moore's History of the French Revolution; a very inferior production to what I had promised myself from such a writer on such a subject. The causes of that momentous change are loosely investigated; their progressive operation and developement, imperfectly displayed; in the reflections on the passing events, there is too frequent an affectation of smartness and näivetè of sentiment; and there runs through the whole narrative, the same debility and languor which pervades his Journal-a composition, which, for any intrinsic marks to the contrary, might, have been compiled in Grub-Street. The critique on Burke's Regicide Peace, in the last Monthly Review, is ably written the passage which warms, in defending our national horror at despotism, is uncommonly animated;-it breathes the eloquence of passion. FEBRUARY the 1st. Finished the 40th Book of Livy. The speeches of Persius and Demetrius, indeed most of those which Livy introduces, bear a strong resemblance to the rhetorical theses of the schools, and seem formed on that taste. They are, of course, the entire composition of Livy; and I suppose he thought them fine. Read the Castle of Otranto; which grievously disappointed my expectations. The tale is, in itself, insipid; and Mrs. Radcliffe, out of possible contingencies, evokes scenes of far more thrilling horror, than are attained by the supernatural and extravagant machinery, which, after all, alone imparts an interest to this Romance. -Let me, however, except from all censure, and honour with all praise, the scene in which Manfred receives the mute messengers of Challenge :-it is capitally supported.—The prefixed strictures on Voltaire, are just, but feeble. [1797.] FEB. the 5th. Read the 43d Book of Livy. The kind of apology which he makes (chap. 12) for recounting, as he regularly does, the portents of the year, marks the state of religious sentiment in his time; and paganism, about the beginning of our æra, seems to have been in much the same degree of credit, as christianity is now. FEB. the 7th. Finished the 45th and last Book extant, of Livy. Literature has never sustained a severer loss, than in the disappearance of the 105 Books, which are wanting to complete this comprehensive and elaborate History. How inestimable, from such a writer, would be the account of Roman affairs, from the passing of the Rubicon by Julius Cæsar, to the establishment of Augustus! As it is, we leave the Roman empire, perhaps in its most respectable condition: Spain, in part subdued, and throughout in awe; the Macedonian monarchy extinct, and its king a captive; Carthage, tributary and dependent and all surrounding monarchies and states, looking up, as to the lords of nature and arbiters of their fate, with gratitude, and fear, and reverence, to the senate and people of a single city-whose integrity and firmness (let me add), magnanimity and wisdom, seem worthy of holding that transcendant sway, which a long succession of these virtues had painfully won.Livy is a sound and satisfactory historian: he never soars; nor ever languishesbut with his subject to this he steadily adheres; and pursues the stream of time with the same even current that it flows. FEB. the 9th. Read the Dissertation prefixed to Dacier's Horace. The nature of Lyric Poetry is very vaguely defined; its origin and progress, confusedly traced; and the epithets "le grand," "la gracieuse," "le sublime," fortuitously applied to Horace, where we should expect to find his distinguishing excellencies appropriately marked. The defence of poetry in general, and of the antient poets, against the sophisms of Despreaux and others, is, I think, the soundest part: but, upon the whole, like many a French piece of goods, it is extremely shewy and tasty, but defective both in materials and workmanship. |