S68 Bfographi/. [Chap. XVIIL 



on wliicli tlicy are composed is^ on the whole, the 

 best plan of biography tliat has yet been adopted* 

 But these are only two specimens oat of a very 

 large list which, were the anthor sufficiently ac- 

 quainted with them, might with propriety be men- 

 tioned with nearly equal honour. The Life of 

 M. Turgot, by M. Condorcet, and the Life ofM. 

 de Voltaire, by the same author, have also been 

 Duich celehrated and adn:iired, among a certain 

 class of readers. 



At the close of the eighteenth century a species 

 ©f biographical writing came into vogue, of which, 

 it is believed, no example ever appeared in any 

 preceding age. This is the Accounts of distinguish-^ 

 ed Living Characters^ of which Europe, towards 

 the close of the century, produced many speci- 

 mens. It is not easy to say M'hether this species 

 of writing is more useful or injurious in its ten- 

 dency. Like almost every other kind of literary 

 work, however, its effect must depend on the mode 

 in which it is executed. If this be impartial, skil- 

 ful, and just, it will, doubtless, tend to satisfy cu- 

 riosity, to encourage rising genius, to correct the 

 foiblesof public men, and to extend general know- 

 ledge. But it must be acknowledged that almost 

 all the Accounts of distinguished Living Characters, 

 "with which the republic of letters has abounded 

 Avithin a few years past, have been w^orse than use- 

 less. With some exceptions, they have been writ- 

 ten in a continued strain of panegyric, which is 

 rather calculated to flatter its immediate objects, 

 and to mislead others, than to gratify curiosity, 

 or to convey instruction. If these works should! 

 be perused a century hence, they will give scarce- 



