N° 130, On the Danger of Relapse after purposes of Amendment.

From the observations which we have now made upon the merits of Hawkesworth's Periodical Writings, it may justly be inferred that he holds a high rank among our CLASSICAL ESSAYHe takes his station, indeed, after Addison and Johnson; and the Adventurer, which rose under his fostering care, need not fear a comparison with the Rambler and Spectator.

ISTS.

One object which Hawkesworth had in view, in the composition of his Adventurers, was that of proving to the world how well adapted he was, in point of moral and religious principle, for the superintendence of the school which his wife had opened for the education of young ladies. This object was fully attained; for the seminary rapidly increased, and finally became a very lucrative undertaking.

From his customary attention to the Academy, however, he was for a short time diverted, by a very unexpected promotion. Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury, being highly pleased with the instructive tendency of his papers in the Adventurer, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Civil Law; a dignity which suggested a new road to emolument, by giving him a title to practise as a Civilian in the ecclesiastical

courts.

In the attempt, however, after some preparatory study, to carry this plan into execution, he completely failed, owing to the strenuous opposition which he had to encounter,

A still more unfortunate result of his elevation was the loss of Johnson's friendship, a deprivation which, we are sorry to remark, appears to have arisen from his own ill-timed ostentation, a weakness that few could suppose attached to a mind apparently so well regulated. "His success," says Sir John Hawkins, "wrought no good effects upon his mind and conduct; it elated him too much, and betrayed him into a forgetfulness of his origin, and a neglect of his early acquaintance; and on this I have heard Johnson remark, in terms that sufficiently expressed a knowledge of his character, and a resentment of his behaviour. It is probable that he might use the same language to Hawkesworth himself, and also reproach him with the acceptance of an academical honour to which he could have no pretensions, and which Johnson, conceiving to be irregular, as many yet do, held in great contempt: thus much is certain, that soon after the attainment of it, the intimacy between them ceased."*

That Hawkesworth's acceptance of this degree should cause such forgetfulness of himself, as to

Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 312.

lead to the neglect of those who had principally contributed to his literary advancement, is certainly an instance of deplorable folly; but that Johnson was justified, in reproaching him for his admission of the honour, and in ridiculing his pretensions to it, will hardly be affirmed. It was intended by Herring as the reward of exertions in support of morality and religion, not as the acknowledgment of abilities for the legal profession; and therefore the conduct of Johnson, on this occasion, might have justly roused resentment in a mind of much less irritability than Hawkesworth possessed.

The reputation which the Doctor had acquired by his Adventurer, held out strong inducements to the prosecution of his literary career; and in the year 1756, at the request of Garrick, he turned his attention towards the stage. His first production, in this province, was an alteration of Dryden's comedy of Amphytrion, accompanied by new music; and, in 1760, he brought forward his "Zimri, an Oratorio," which was performed at Covent-Garden, and set to music by Mr. Stanley. It was favourably received; and though the fable, from the peculiarity of its incidents, is by no means calculated for public representation, the poetry, which is much above mediocrity, ensured its success.

་

About the period of his production of “Zimri,” he altered Southern's Tragedy of "Oroonoko" for Drury-Lane Theatre; and in 1761 brought upon the same stage, an entertainment, under the title of " Edgar and Emmeline." This is a Fairy Tale, in the construction of which he has exhibited much elegance of imagination.

It is to be regretted, that the dramatic labours of our author closed with this performance; for, from his powers of language, his fertility of fancy, and his knowledge of the human heart, there is every reason to suppose that he might have attained to distinguished excellence as a disciple of Melpomene.

He had been, however, sometime employed on the composition of an Oriental Tale upon a scale much larger than that of his eastern narratives in the Adventurer. It was published in the same year with his " Edgar and Emmeline," and is entitled "Almoran and Hamet;" it occupies two volumes 12mo. and is dedicated to the King. In this fiction, which soon became popular, and passed through a second edition in a few months, will be found the united recommendations of a polished diction, an interesting fable, and an important moral.

In April, 1765, Dr. Hawkesworth undertook the office of Reviewer in the Gentleman's Maga

zine, a department which he filled with great ability until the year 1772. In 1765, also, he presented the public with a revised edition of Swift's Works, in 12 vols. 8vo. accompanied by explanatory notes, and a Life of Swift, of which life Johnson, when he became the biographer of the Dean, thus liberally speaks: "An account of Dr. Swift has been already collected with great diligence and acuteness by Dr. Hawkesworth, according to a scheme which I laid before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be expected to say much of a life, concerning which I had long since communicated my thoughts to a man capable of dignifying his narration with so much elegance of language, and force of sentiment."

Hawkesworth's Life of Swift is, indeed, a free and unprejudiced inquiry into the character of the Dean, written with his usual correctness and beauty of style, and highly useful from its seizing every opportunity of enforcing the purest morality. It offered, however, no new materials to the world, and, in point of information, has been superseded by the full and elaborate details of Sheridan and Nichols. To the merits of Hawkesworth, notwithstanding, every subsequent editor has been just; and, since the encomium of Johnson, the following sketches of his biographi