[ 5' ] 



commend the force and beauty, or from authority which we ad- 

 mire and refpedl, cannot fail of becoming our own, the principles 

 of our reafoning, and probably the rules of our condud. 



From thefe obftruclions which the ftrength of national cha- 

 racter, the peculiar fpecies of compofitioa, or the fondnefs for 

 imitation interpofe, it is evident that individual chara^fter can- 

 not in all cafes be difcovered to the fame degree of clearnefs 

 and certainty, or with the fame facility. But greater minds 

 (and thefe are befl: worth our attention) will overleap thefe 

 obftacles and fliew themfelves to the difcerning; and though 

 there may be many 'parts of every author's works which do 

 not tranfmit the peculiarities of his mind, it is always fuffi- 

 cient if there are fome which do. It happens much to our 

 advantage in fpeculations of this fort, that thefe parts of an 

 author's works are ufually more attradlive, and always the belt 

 executed^ 



Those parts of an author's works in which we are to look 

 for the clearefl indications of his habits and difpofitions of mind, 

 are the parts which are not abfolutely efTential to his nar- 

 rative, but which are introduced and ornamental ; and hence 

 in thofe works where fuch prevail his habits and difpofi- 

 tions are mofl apparent. Thofe parts which are brought 

 in to pleafe the reader are ufvially fuch as have pleafed the 

 writer. When a man quits the diredl path, it is always to go 

 by fbme way which he' likes better ; when he flops for any 

 time on his road, it is becaufe he has met with fomething in 



( G 2 ) which 



