the prolixity of the work. When the reader has taken the trouble to go through the book, we shall leave him to determine whether the critic be insensible, or the author occasionally dull." This sneering critic (for he at length appears in the singular case, speaking grammatically) affects to be unwilling to accuse me of practising the art of book-making, and of inserting every piece of information which came in my way relative to the manners of London; but really "we would willingly have dispensed with many of his details, in which there is nothing either to edify or amuse."

The single critic, or congregated critics, which the reader pleases, next introduces the following quotation: "Then, says Mr. Malcolm, (meaning before the invasion of Cæsar) the hardy native stood erect in the full dignity and grace of nature, perfect from the hands of the Creator, and tinted with those pure colours which vary with the internal feelings. Cæsar, doubtless, found the males muscular and full of energy, the females graceful in their forms, and both wild and unrestrained in his estimation of manners; though probably they were such as we now admire in the Savage, sincerity unpolished and kindness roughly demonstrated."

I shall make no comments on this passage, which the reader of the Review is requested by the critic to take as a "specimen of that affected, stiff, and verbose style in which Mr. M. sometimes thinks proper to indulge, and on which the critic or critics would fail in their duty to the publick if they did not fix the seal of their utter reprobation."—"Perspicuity and ease are

among those constituent principles of good writing, which we should be unwilling to sacrifice for any of the starched refinements and elaborate perplexities of modern composition."—"When Mr. M. tells us that Cæsar found the Aborigines of Britain 'tinted with those pure colours which vary with the internal feelings,' he seems to have forgotten that Cæsar himself tells us (B. G. lib. v.) that he found these 'hardy natives' bedizened with a coat of paint. And we leave our modern fine ladies to inform Mr. M. whether this artificial discoloration were likely to serve as a mirror for the varying emotions of the breast."

It may be presumed that he who undertakes to criticise the language of another should himself be perfect in the arrangement of his ideas, and of words to express them, and capable of composing similies that shall bear some reference to the subject illustrated. Whether the author of the Review in question is qualified for the employment he has undertaken, will appear in the elegant extracts which follow: "agreeable dishes," "savoury ingredients," "confused medley," "nicely selected," "culled as much matter," "his own head and tail pieces," "traversing the pages," "bulky volume," "squeamishness of appetite," "to go through the book," "affected, stiff," "starched refinements," "elaborate perplexities," "bedizened," and "discoloration were likely to serve as a mirror." Surely, if he asserts my style to be affected, stiff, and starched, I may venture to pronounce his extremely vulgar, incorrect, and confused.

I had not forgotten that Cæsar found the natives of England stained with the juices of plants, and partially covered with coloured earths; still I maintain that Nature had perfected her work, and given the fluids that due circulation, improved by exercise and temperance, which renders the complexion florid and beautiful. Extraneous matter at times defaced her operations; but luxury, disease, and enervation, had not dried the channels of the blood of the Aborigines, as it has those of the fine lady I am referred to, whose discoloration is to serve as a mirror to show my own folly.

"In p. 4. Mr. M. tells us what we suppose he discovered after many nights of sleepless meditation, that, 'There are in every human circle persons whose patriotism may be lulled; [the words between lulled and and, "such may be taught by invaders to execrate their chiefs or governors" are shamefully omitted by the Reviewer as well as the beginning of the first sentence] and glittering ornaments of dress, and indolence, soon produce unfavourable comparison between the former and a naked limb, and the exertions of what is termed savage and the more refined conceptions of quiet life.' Without staying to make any remarks on the phraseology or the structure of this sentence, we shall proceed to shew Mr. M. as a collector of curious anecdotes and amusing details, in which he appears to much more advantage than as a philosopher or a rhetorician."

Is it possible that an author can feel himself injured by such absurd and ridiculous spleen as those four

lines and an half produced in the breast of this miserable Reviewer?

Contemptible and futile as my information is considered by the writer, he has deigned to compress nearly the whole matter of my Anecdotes of Charity for his own purposes; and, although he denies me any share of his charity, he is delighted with the instances of it I have introduced to his notice of that of others. For once he agrees with me in opinion as to the general improvement of manners; and occupies from the 3d to the 9th page in contradicting himself in almost all the positions he has endeavoured to establish as to my incompetency for the present undertaking.