advantage may be reasonably doubted; for the representation of a series of crimes may give a mind, unseasoned by experience, an insight into vice, which the punishment to which it is liable may not prevent being put in practice.

"In narratives where historical veracity has no place," our great English moralist observes, "I cannot discover why there should not be exhibited the möst perfect idea of virtue; of virtue not angelical nor above probability, for what we cannot feel we shall never imitate, but the highest and purest that humanity can reach, which exercised in such trials as the various revolutions of things shall bring upon it, may, by conquering some calamities, and enduring others, teach us what we may hope, and what we can perform. Vice, for vice is necessary to he shewn, should always disgust; nor should the graces of gayety, or the dignity of courage, be sa united with it as to reconcile it to the mind. Wherever it appears, it should raise hatred by the malignity of its practice, and contempt by the meanness of its stratagems; for while it is supported by either parts, or spirit, it will be seldom heartily abhorred. The Roman tyrant was content to be hated, if he was but feared; and there are thousands of the readers of romances willing to be thought wicked, if they may be allowed to be wits. It is, therefore, to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness; and that vice is the natural consequence of narrow thoughts; that it begins in mistake, and ends in ignominy.”*

Rambler, No. 4.

In the story of Edward, the opinion of this excellent writer concerning the morality of fictitious narratives is exemplified in the representation of a more perfect character, in the principal personage, than is commonly to be met with in ordinary life, with the happiest effect. His great knowledge of life and character, the result of keen observation and just thought, enables him to make his work a great exhibition of the varieties of human nature, and of genuine English growth. The outline of the story has already been given. The introduction of the principal personage differs little from the contrivance of common novels. But he has rendered truly interesting, on account of her good sense and unbounded benevolence of heart, a lady, who had neither beauty nor accomplishments to recommend her, and excited our most lively interest in favour of his hero, who, in many trying situations, displays, invariably, an amiable and manly mind. The subordinate characters are faithful représentatives of those we meet with in daily society, but they are less striking from the familiarity with which we recognise their parallels in common life. Sir George Royston, Mr. Carnaby Shadow, Myrtle, and Shuffle, are encountered every day in the fashionable circles. Mr. Barnet, a perfectly original character, is an exception to the above remark. He is represented as an opulent country gentleman, whose first passion and propensity is that of epicurean indulgence, but who by the gen tle artifices of his good and amiable wife, is made to exhibit traits of latent good feeling, and to per form acts truly benevolent and meritorious. Mr. Wormwood also is distinguished by some features

of natural peculiarity. The ladies are pourtrayed with much ease and elegance; but they cannot be said to excite particular interest from any novelty of situation in which they are placed, or from any natural or acquired endowments by which they are distinguished. The liveliness of narration, at least, gives the effect of novelty to the winding up of the story, by the trite contrivance of recognising a lost child from a mark on the shoulder, a locket, and a miniature picture.

The story of Mordaunt is complicated with sketches of national character and manners, and descriptions of foreign customs and local scenery, not strictly relevant to the story, which give it more the appearance of a journal of travels than a dramatic narrative. It receives little additional interest or force from the epistolary form, which is seldom characteristically supported; but it is enriched by a large portion of popular information, and embellished by a variety of correct and lively portraits of domestic and familiar life. The characters indigenous to our own soil, are drawn with a vigorous and skilful hand, and the descriptions of the prevalent manners, fashions, and parties, are often rendered more lively and entertaining by being mixed with anecdote, and thrown into the dramatic form of dialogue. The author's familiarity with the manners of foreign countries, and his habits of intimacy with the superior classes of society, are everywhere distinctly recognisable. The portrait of his hero, drawn from life, is presented at full length, an accomplished man of fashion, the generosity of his principles and the brilliancy of his manners shaded by the hues of libertinism. In

this intermixture of the amiable and vicious qualities, there seems to be no small danger that by a too natural association of ideas, the one part of the character may be confounded with the other, and the whole be considered as a proper object of imitation. With the exception of the principal personage, modelled on the mixed character of the heroes of modern romances, the pictures of persons differing widely in principles, understanding, rank, and education, illustrate the motives of prudence, and recommend the observance of moral duty.

On a general view of his productions in the department of fiction, it will appear, that he has humorously delineated and ridiculed the common weaknesses and follies of the world, the affected apathy of the fashionable, the repulsive vanity of titled fools, and the cold insensibility of grandeur; steadily maintained the principles of public liberty; warmly vindicated the cause of suffering humanity; and invariably inculcated this maxim,-that uprightness, integrity, and somewhat of an independent spirit, lead with more certainty to prosperity, even in this life, than hypocrisy, fraud, and servility.

In an estimate of the various writings of Dr. Moore, some consideration is due to the style, which is characterized by more vigour than elegance, more vivacity than purity, more correctness than grace. It is sometimes marked with idiomatic phrases, but is generally clear, lively, and agreeable, well adapted to familiar description and simple narration, and is particularly calculated to express irony and shrewd simplicity, in dramatic dialogue, and story-telling.

The elegant and judicious author of the " Morality of Fiction," in his classical arrangement of

the writers of fictitious narratives, has estimated the qualifications of Dr. Moore with candour, impartiality, and precision.

Dr. Moore has given an admirable picture of the manners of young men of fashion, and of the various follies to which they are liable. The portraits of this writer appear to me juster, more free from exaggeration and caricature, than those of any other that has yet been mentioned.* This may probably be ascribed to his great knowledge of the world, and to that good sense, which, rather than any brilliancy of parts, seems to have formed the predominant feature of his character.

"Zeluco is a singular, and somewhat whimsical performance. Fiction affords an opportunity of representing, not better only, but also worse characters than are to be found in real life; and the representation may not be altogether without its

use.

The picture is strongly drawn; yet Zeluco does not appear to me to be the best of Dr. Moore's productions; nor that which affords most scope for the display of his peculiar excellencies. This place I would assign to Edward, a work abounding with knowledge of the world, and lively delineation of character. That of its hero, too, is such as entitles it to hold a respectable rank among the third order of fiction.†

"Mordaunt is exceptionable in the character of its hero, which is that of a dissolute man of fashion, entirely devoid of principle, and with almost no

* Richardson, Fielding, Smollett.

The class of novels, which, according to the author's arrangement, exhibits examples of conduct superior to those which are to be met with in ordinary life.