Romances and Novels. 169 



tions. The Voyage to the Houyhnhnms, in particu- 

 lar, is very objectionable. Its satire is that of a 

 misanthrope; its imagery and allusions those of a 

 mind which delighted in filth; and its fiction alto- 

 gether inconsistent and irrational. 



In 1759 was published the Rasselas of Dr. 

 Johnson, a philosophical tale, the design of which 

 was to convey, in the oriental manner, useful les- 

 sons respecting the vanity of the world, the insuf- 

 ficiency of temporal things to secure human happi- 

 ness, and the consequent importance of having a 

 due regard to things eternal. This work has been 

 translated into almost all the modern languages of 

 Europe, and was one of the first moral effusions of 

 that mind which afterwards laboured so much, 

 and so well, to " give ardour to virtue, and con- 

 fidence to truth. " About the same time appeared 

 the Candide of M. Voltaire, written to refute 

 the system of optimism, and probably with a wish, 

 also, to discredit the belief of a superintending 

 Providence. There is a considerable similarity in 

 the plan and conduct of Rasselas and Candide. 

 Bat the circumstances under which they were pub- 

 lished precluded the suspicion of either having 

 been indebted to the other." 



After the publication of the foregoing works, 

 Mr. Ridley, in his Tales of the Genii, endeavoured 

 to defend some of the peculiar doctrines of Chris- 

 tianity; while, on the other hand, these doctrines 

 have been covertly attacked, in the Life and Opi- 

 nions of John Bunckle, jun. in the Memoirs of se- 

 veral Ladies, in The Spiritual Quixote, in Dia- 

 logues of the Philosophers of Ulubne, and in several 



* " I have heard Johnson," says Mr. Boswell, " say of these two 

 works, that if they had not been published so closely one after the other, 

 it would have been in vain to deny that the scheme of that which came 

 latest was taken from the other." BoswEtt's Life of Jobns9n t vol. i. p. 

 z8a. 



VOL. II. Z 



