37 



specific difference, can neither be acquired orcommunicated. 

 Nearly the same may be said of the writers of comedy, 

 and what is called by * Dr. Beattie the comic Epopee ; in 

 these cases the characters, manners, and even in some de- 

 gree the language, are more immediately derived from ob- 

 servation and acquaintance with the world, and -f- the con- 

 stitution of society at present is particularly favourable for 

 these kinds of writing. For the archetypes of Squire Wes- 

 tern or Sir Anthony Absolute, of Tom Jones and Charles 

 Surface, of Blifil and Joseph Surface, of Dr. Primrose and 

 Parson Adams, of Partridge and Hugh Strap, we have 

 only to look among our acquaintances; and he must be very 

 secluded from the world, who could not point out real cha- 

 racters, such as might be fairly supposed to have sat for the 

 pictures. The chief uijc therefore that seems to be in the 

 preparatory exercise of the reason for such writing, is in ac- 

 customing the mind to determina the degree of abstraction 

 necessary for the formation of a genus, and also in enabling 

 it to make a judicious selection of such circumstances as 

 may be found in different individuals of the same character. 

 The character of Tom Pipes may be considered as a fair ge- 

 neral representative of British seamen, and yet there cer- 

 tainly was no one seaman that ever corresponded perfectly 

 to the archetype; it is a combination of all those peculiari- 

 ties incident to that mode of life, eacli of which may be 



• Essay on Poetry, and Music. 



t Beattie's Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, 



