young student to a relish for grammar, by developing the rational grounds of that study: his "Philosophical Arrangements" will give a young person a clear and excellent notion of the art of logic: and his "Philological Enquiries" will inform him very pleasantly of much classical erudition, seldom to be met with in other authors. His "Three Treatises" have not only great merit in themselves, but will give a double delight to the scholar, by his very happy imitations of the style of that great master of reasoning, Aristotle. Mr. Harris writes in the style both of a man of erudition and a polite gentleman, and a man of piety; and by the courtesy of his writings, he invites young students to pursue his track; for Study is like the heaven's glorious sun, That will not be deep search'd with sauey looks. Save base authority from others' books. Love's Labour Lost, act i. scene 1. Poetical Critics. When poets turn critics, they are liable to be influenced more by their imagination than their judgment; and to describe what the sculptor and painter, in their opinions, ought to have done, rather than to consider what their respective arts are capable of doing. Those who have examined soberly the group of the Laocoon will not see further than that the attitudes of the parent and children exhibit very finely indeed their various agonies in the embraces of the serpent. A Poet goes much further-- On the rapt eye th' imperious passions seize; Thompson's Liberty, part iv. 1. 195. Rules of Contraries. These seem the safest principles on which to form our knowledge of mankind according to their own assertions. If a man talks of his courage, you may put him down as a coward, when danger is near; should man or woman talk of their tenderness of heart, do not trouble yourself to solicit charity of either; if a woman talks much of her chastity, do not be surprised at a trial in Doctors' Commons on that lady's account; if a man should make honourable mention of his own integrity and love of right, it would be very prudent not to trust your affairs in the hands of this self-approving man. Avarice. It is much the vogue with moral writers to treat this passion (too common indeed in old age) as totally without motive or excuse. They seem to consider it as a mere magpie propensity to steal and hide money. Avarice may plead for its defence, amongst old persons, the potency of gold to ensure respect to aged persons, when no other motive will induce mankind to pay them observance or attention. Men learn by experience that their money is their friend, their only support in the decline of natural pleasures. Old men soon perceive that they owe to gold, and not to their virtues or wisdom, that degree of attention from their fellow creatures that we all wish for. The rich man is secure of it. This yellow slave Will knit and break religions; bless the accurs'd, And give them title, knee, and approbation With senators on the Bench, &c. Timon of Athens, scene 3. Friendship. "Idem velle et idem nolle ea demum fermè est amicitia," though a passage in a classic author of great eminence, is yet a very imperfect delineation of the friendship among the wise and honest. The sportsman and the sot may call their associates in their different amusements friends, but the illness of any such friends would dissolve the partnership. Romances. Though the heroes and heroines in these sublime narratives seem sometimes in their sentiments to soar above humanity, yet when real passions take place of pompous diction and high vaunts, these ladies and gentlemen are contented, like Falstaff, to talk and act like men of this world. When the giant was killed or confined, the lady became very grateful to her knight; and ceased to be a heroine, when her lover became more interesting, as both were now in safety. Our merry and satirical Bard has well described mock-heroic histories these There was an ancient sage philosopher, And swore the world, as he could prove, Hudibras, cant. 2. N.B. A commentator, the least inclined to allegorize, might consider the giant as a crabbed father or guardian to the ladies, and the castles and monsters as so many restraints contained in the Marriage Act. Poem on the Spleen. This most humorous and philosophic poem is not sufficiently known. With much of the knowledge, if not of the learning, of Butler, the author of these lines seems to have imbibed with the style of Hudibras a great deal of his wit and humour. As the following paragraphs touch on the subjects in vogue now, we will transcribe a few of them. Missionaries. When G―l P~s and others say, Certain Sectaries. Nor they, so pure and so precise, |