BIOGRAPHY. 



507 



Style pro- 

 per for bio. 

 graphy. 



Biography, has extended itself through a much greater space 

 * y~ -' than it occupied in ancient literature. This was a 

 natural conseq ^nce of the invention of the art of 

 printing, by which the sources of information are 

 multiplied, and made more certain, as well as more 

 easy of access. To this advantage we are indebted 

 for Bayle's elaborate work, which even his great in- 

 dustry and acuteness of research could not have pro- 

 duced without it. The wide circulation of books, 

 and the prodigious increase of the number of readers, 

 to whom no literary productions are more generally 

 acceptable than well written biographies, have enga- 

 ged a good portion of talent in this department ; and 

 though it is true, that, in the long catalogue of bio- 

 graphies which the last century has supplied, many 

 will be found which have little to recommend them, 

 either in the subject or in the execution, a list might 

 easily be made out sufficiently honourable to modern 

 literature. In this number, the works of such men 

 as Middleton, Jortin, and Johnson, are entitled to 

 particular notice, as specimens of fine writing, and 

 as depositories of useful and ingenious remark ; and 

 from the eulogies of the French academicians, and 

 some periodical publications of our own country, a 

 selection might be made, affording a display of more 

 than ordinary elegance and ability. 



The rules which have been laid down by criticism 

 for historical composition, are generally applicable, 

 but with some qualification, to the style proper for 

 biography. If it wants simplicity, the work will ap- 

 pear to be rather the production of the rhetorician 

 than of the honest narrator ; if it wants dignity, or 

 that grace which is always nearly akin to dignity, it 

 will degenerate into the vapid garrulity of the story- 

 teller. A well-written biography, however, will 

 have an air of much greater familiarity than belongs 

 to the most approved historical style. We are best 

 entertained, and perhaps not least instructed, by me- 

 moirs which abound in anecdotes ; and to communi- 

 cate them in a style which mimics the majestic march 

 of the history of nations, must provoke ridicule, the 

 proper chastisement and best corrective of affectation. 

 In works of this sort, splendor of imagery, elaborate 

 description, and rhetorical ornament, in general, would 

 want propriety, and therefore beauty ; their charac- 

 ter should be that of elegant simplicity. 

 Its compa- By whatever rule the comparative value of literary 

 rative difri- productions ought to be estimated, biography will 

 be found to occupy no inferior place. Its object, 

 like that of poetry, is both to delight and to instruct, 

 and this it effects, in common with all authentic his- 

 tory, by the relation of facts. It invites the atten- 

 tion, even of the most indolent, by the ease and fa- 

 miliarity of its address ; it teaches, not by precept, 

 but example ; and is heard the more willingly, be- 

 cause it speaks rather as a companion than a monitor. 

 The biographer, sitting in the circle of his hearers, 

 and assuming no superiority of talent, or office, en- 

 forces the best lessons of morality in the best possible 

 way. But though his pretensions are not arrogant, 

 his task i<. not therefore easy, and within the com- 

 pass of every ordinary capacity. The art of narration, 

 indeed, seems at fust view to require no endowment 

 which rises above mediocrity. Diligence in the in- 

 vestigation of facts, fidelity, perspicuity, and ease 



in the relation, are the great requisites in histori- Biography, 

 cal composition. The poet, if he aspires to the first *"" v~~" ' 

 order, must soar to the highest heaven of invention ; 

 and if he would be enrolled in any order of his art, 

 his track must rise far above the ordinary level, and 

 lead through scenes of beauty and of interest. He 

 may want the truth, but not the fire of inspiration ; 

 and his conceptions must swell with an enthusiasm 

 that, like charity, will cover a multitude of faults. 

 But the historian has fulfilled his promise, when he 

 has made his reader acquainted with that portion of 

 the history of man which he proposed to delineate, 

 by a faithful narration of the facts in the order of 

 their succession, and by referring events to their 

 proper causes, or to such at least as will be thought 

 most probable by a judge of human character and 

 actions. What is so simple in the design will scarce- 

 ly be thought difficult in the execution, unless by 

 those who have learnt that simplicity is the last at- 

 tainment of art. The history of empires and na- 

 tions, however, embracing a multitude of agents, and 

 great variety of events, to which their true place and 

 operation must be assigned, is evidently a work far 

 above the execution of limited capacity. To reduce 

 the chaos of events to their proper order ; to exhibit 

 them in their actual connection ; to draw with a faith- 

 ful pencil the portraits of the principal agents ; to 

 describe the endless diversities of character, and the 

 doubtful lights and shades of virtue and of vice, in 

 each maintaining, at the same time, a strict regard to 

 testimony and to truth, is a design of such magni- 

 tude*, that it is no wonder if, of those who have made 

 the attempt, few have been very successful in the 

 execution. Here the theatre is wide, the drama ex- 

 tended, the characters various and numerous, the in- 

 cidents almost inexplicably interwoven, and the pas- 

 sions engaged in perpetual conflict. But biography 

 exhibits persons, not empires ; it traces the chain of 

 events, not through centuries, but during the short 

 period of the life of one man ; and in this period, of 

 those events only in which he ruid a principal concern. 

 It attends upon history as the artist upon the navi- 

 gator, who, with his pencil in his hand, is contented 

 to depict single and detached spots, where the view 

 is concentrated, and the outline commanded at a 

 single glance. Whilst history traces the actions and 

 progress of man, from the first twilight of tradition 

 to the present hour, presenting him in patriarchal 

 simplicity, and invested in all the culture of civiliza- 

 tion, shewing the same creature through all the va- 

 riety of political arrangement, biography chooses, 

 from the multitude of mankind, persons on some ac- 

 count distinguished from the rest, and subjecting 

 them to particular inspection, presents a chart of 

 their lives for the benefit of succeeding generations. 



Biography, in this view of it, may be properly Biography 

 considered as a supplement to history. Where the a supple- 

 historian could give only a sketch, the biographer meu V, E( " 

 presents us with a finished picture. He selects from ! "v '"" 

 historical groupes the most distinguished figures, ad- 

 vances them into the fore ground, and gratifies us 

 with the means of a nearer contemplation. History 

 proposes to introduce us to the knowledge of particular 

 persons, and their actions, so far only as is necessary 

 to carry on the chain, and mark the connection of 



