6 



Who can doubt whether Shakspeare and 

 Fielding had not infinitely more amuse- 

 ment from society, in all its various views, 

 than common observers ? I believe it can 

 be as little doubted, that the having read 

 such authors must give any man, however 

 acute his penetration, more enlarged views 

 of human nature in general, as well as a 

 more intimate acquaintance with particu- 

 lar characters, than he woul4 have had 

 from the observation of nature only ; that 

 many combinations of characters and of 

 incidents, which might otherwise have es- 

 caped his notice, would forcibly strike him, 

 from the recollection of scenes and pas- 

 sages in such writers; that in all these 

 cases, the pleasure we receive from what 

 passes in real life is rendered infinitely 

 more poignant, by a resemblance to what 

 we have read, or have seen on the stage. 

 Such an observer will not divide what, 

 passes into scenes and chapters, and be 

 pleased with it in proportion as it will do 

 for a novel or a play, but he will be pleased 

 on the same principles as Shakspeare or 



