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day is, tliat tlic nnmher of them is really cojisiderabiy less 

 now than formerly — for the term, " fictitious," caa scarcely, 

 with projsriety of speech, be applied to novds : " To catcli 

 the manners, living, as they rise," seems to be the principal 

 aim of the novelist : and — though they may be pi'Oiductive (if 

 I may use the expression) of fictitious consequences, by 

 teaching the young to assume characters not their own — yet 

 portraits of vice, or of virtue, merely, however highly co- 

 loured, can hardly be deemed fictitious, and such must the 

 characters drawn in novels be considered ; all of them — the 

 faultless, or the " monstrum non una virtute redemptum" ex- 

 cepted — having their archetypes in real life. In order then, 

 to estimate aright the consequences arising from the uni- 

 versal avidity with which the innumerable swarms of novels 

 are read, that have already issued, and are daily issuing from 

 all the presses of Europe, we should regard them, not in 

 the light of fictions, which, by giving false views of thino-s, 

 might unfit the inexperienced mind for the sober business of 

 life, or hurry it into the vagaries of romantic enthusiasm; 

 but of being too faiihful transcripts of all the tollies and vices 

 of a luxurious and corrupted age; and the medium for con- 

 veying to the unwary minds, the poison of infidelity, and of 

 contempt for whatever is truly estimable in religion or morals. 

 From tlie very extensive circulation which novels are known 

 to have, some persons of great talents and virtue have been 

 of opinion that they might be made of infinite use ; and some 

 have, even themselves condescended to become novel writers; 



