cal talents have been given to the public by. Sheridan and Berkeley,

"He was an author," remarks the first of these gentlemen," of no small eminence; a man of clear judgment and great candour. He quickly discerned the truth from the falsehood; wiped away many of the aspersions that had been thrown on Swift's character; and placed it, so far as he went, in its proper light."*

"For the task he undertook," observes Mr. Berkeley, "his talents were fully equal; and the period at which he wrote was friendly to impartiality. Swift had now been dead some years; and Hawkesworth was the first man from whom the publick could expect a totally unprejudiced account of his life. To Hawkesworth, except as a writer, Swift was wholly unknown, His mirth had never enlivened the hours, nor had his satire embittered the repose, of him who was now to be his biographer; circumstances, these, highly favourable to impartial investigation and candid decision. But, alas! Hawkesworth contented himself with such materials as the life by Orrery and the apologies of Dean Swift and Dr. Delany afforded, adding nothing to this stock of information but a few scattered remarks collected by Johnson. Of his performance, therefore, I shall

*Introduction to the Life of Dr, Swift.

only observe, that its information is sometimes useful and amusing, and that its misrepresentations are never intentional."*

In a life so tumultuous and varied as was Swift's, connected with so much political transaction, and associated with the most important events and characters of the time, novelty, extent, and diversity of information, might be reasonably required; whereas in the biography of a mere literary man, the incidents are few, and generally connected with publications that fix precisely the era of their occurrence; whilst what is expected from the biographer, either as matter of utility or amusement, is in a great degree drawn from his own intrinsic resources. In a detail of this latter description, where moral reflection, criticism, and arrangement, where elegance of composition, weight of sentiment, and literary disquisition, are merely demanded, Hawkesworth would have greatly excelled, and would have produced a work fully as valuable, perhaps, to the best interests of man, as the narrative of political struggle and ambitious intrigue, however connected with talent, wit, and humour. On the subject which he had chosen, however, as he failed in industry of research and originality

* Inquiry into the life of Dean Swift.

of document, he has been nearly consigned to oblivion.

Yet, as an Editor, the year following the publication of his Life of the Dean, enabled him to oblige the world with "Letters of Dr. Swift and several of his Friends, published from the Originals, with Notes Explanatory and Historical," in 3 vols. 8vo; a collection which had been presented by Swift himself to Dr. Lyon, and transferred by this gentleman to Mr. Thomas Wilkes, of Dublin, and who again disposed of it to the booksellers.

The preface which Dr. Hawkesworth has written for these volumes contains some very just observations on the instruction and amusement to be derived from familiar and confidential letters; the following passage, especially, most eloquently describes the value which should be attached to the publication of a correspondence such as he was then presenting to his readers.

"In a series of familiar letters between the same friends for thirty years, their whole life, as it were, passes in review before us; we live with them, we hear them talk, we mark the vigour of life, the ardour of expectation, the hurry of business, the jollity of their social meetings, and the sport of their fancy in the sweet intervals of leişure and retirement; we see the scene gradually

change; hope and expectation are at an end; they regret pleasures that are past, and friends that are dead; they complain of disappointment and infirmity; they are conscious that the sands of life which remain are few; and while we hear them regret the approach of the last, it falls, and we lose them in the grave. Such as they were, we feel ourselves to be; we are conscious to 'sentiments, connexions, and situations like theirs ; we find ourselves in the same path, urged forward by the same necessity; and the parallel in what has been, is carried on with such force to what shall be, that the future almost becomes present; and we wonder at the new power of those truths, of which we never doubted the reality and importance."

Soon after the appearance of Swift's Letters, our author commenced a Translation of Fenelon's Telemachus, which was published in 1768, in onc volume 4to. No person could have been selected better calculated to do justice to the epic romance of the amiable Archbishop of Cambray than Hawkesworth. The harmonious style, the glowing sentiment, the elegant and classical imagery of the original, were transfused without any diminution of their wonted lustre; and the version may be pronounced, not only far superior to any other which we possess of Telemachus, but one

of the most spirited and valuable in our language.

The celebrity which Dr. Hawkesworth had now attained, as a literary character, was aided by the friendship of Garrick, who recommended our author to Lord Sandwich; the mean of procuring for him one of the most honourable and lucrative engagements that has been recorded in the annals of literature.

The anxiety of the public to be acquainted with the events which had befallen the navigators of the Southern Hemisphere, at the commencement of the present reign, was greatly increased by the return of Lieutenant Cook from his first voyage round the globe, in May, 1771; and Government in the following year entrusted to Hawkesworth the task of gratifying the general curiosity.

A few attempts, in the mean time, had been made, though with little success, to anticipate the authenticated narrative, which came forth so carly as 1773 under the following title: "An Account of the Voyages undertaken by the Order of his present Majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, &c. Drawn up from the Journals which were kept by the several Commanders, and from the Papers of Joseph Banks, Esq. By John Hawkesworth, LL. D..