1796.) 
only united in his comprehenfive mind, 
the retpective excellencies of * Arittotle 
and Longinus, but to thefe powers 
added an important {cience, unknown, 
jt fhould feem, to either of the admired 
Ancients—(as will, no doubt, futicieatly 
appear to every competent judge of their 
critical performances, eipecially the 
Treatife of the former on Rhetoric)— 
a perfect ,infight into human nature ; 
and thus “ ennobling the exercife of li- 
“* terary by the jufteit moral cenfure, at 
*s length advanced criticiim to its) till 
‘< glory.” Were it not for this awful re- 
verence, which the R&R. biographer has 
at all times, wich cqual fincerity, no 
doubt, as warmth of aifection, exprefied 
line, every jentence in the multifarious 
works of his ali-fufficient mafter; an in- 
different reader, on perufing the curious 
paragraph we ale cxamining, might be 
fo far mulled by the ambiguity of the 
diction, as aimoit to doubt whether the 
RR. biographer were, in reality, much 
difpleafed with the opportunity, which 
the editor of Hume’s Life afforded him, 
of difclaiming the merit of fo fine a 
work ; which he could not, he fays, in 
feeming contradi€tion to what he had 
faid in the preceding page, without in- 
jury to its author, take co himtelf. The 
RR. biographer feems, indeed, to fulpeét, 
that he makes but an awkward figure in 
difclaiming this fo fine a work; as, in 
doing fo, he was obliged to open the fe- 
cret of their little ftratagem, in which 
the grace of it, he fays, mainly coniitts ; 
intimating, you will obferve, that this 
utle firatagem had other graces to recom- 
mend it. 
But we will attend the RR. biogra- 
pher, if you are dilpofed to accompany 
me, through the remainder of his nar- 
yative. He now tells us, that having 
tranfcribed the remarks with little alte- 
ration, he wrote a fhore mtroduétion and 
conclufion, merely to colour the pro- 
pofed hétion. Here, at firft, | was ra- 
ther ftartled at the bluntneis of the ex- 
preffion. The term dion, unqualined 
by any foftening adjunct, carries with it 
the idea of deceit, of fomething con- 
tradiétory to truth. In this fenfe it is, 
no doubt, very properly applied to the 
funject under confideration; but from 
the general ftrain of panegyric which 
runs through the whole account, I con- 

* See Dedication of Horace’s Epitiles to 
Auguftus, with an Englith Commentary and 
Alotes. : : 
Warturton, and Hurd. 
365 
fefs, 1 was not prepared juft in this place 
to expeét fuch plain-dealing. We have 
feen in what ligt a fiction of the fame 
fort has been confidered by the world; 
and in what manner the unkappy author 
of it has been treated. 
Thus prepared, the Remarks were 
fent to the prefs. ‘Then, to crown the 
whole, it is declared, with an air of tri- 
umph, that the contrivance was not feen 
through: chough the great contriver, 
with that modetty and dittidence fo cen- 
genial to his: difpofition, was rather ap- 
prehenfive it would have been. In this 
even be was miftaken.. The difguife, 
thin as it was, anf{wered its purpofe in 
keeping the real author out of fight. 
Poor Chatterton was not, it feems, equal- 
iy fortunate in the event of his con- 
trivance. - Here he was far out-done by 
thefe reverend mafters in the art of im- 
polition. 
How far fuccefs, in the one cafe, may 
ferve to ennoble, or the want of it, in 
the other, todebale an attempt, in moral 
eftimation -effentially the fame, I will 
leave with the profefiors of cafuiftry to 
decide. The fpeculative moralift, un- 
acquainted with the capricious tyranny 
of fafhion and cuftom, when meditating 
in the retirement of his clofet on the 
different nature of virtue and vice, would 
not furely eafily be brought to abide by 
fo precarious a criterion. Our friend 
H——-s, forinftance. Methinks I hear 
him now; in all the pride =nd con{cious 
dignity Of virtue, exclaiming, with the 
poet, 
« A knave’s a knave to me in ev’ry {tate ; 
“ Alike my fcorn, if he fucceed or fai/, 
“ Spours a. court, or Japhet in a jail.” 
Pope. 
That the moral quality of an action 1s 
in no degree affected by the relative fitu- 
ation of the agent, or by the fuccels, 
whether godd or bad, with which it may 
be attended, appears, indecd, tobe an 
axiom im cthics fo plain and cugent, as 
to force immediate affent. Yet a very 
little imtercourfe with the world will 
ferve to thow, that the general eflima, 
tion of mankind is regulated upon far 
other principles. Suecefs will always 
have a contiderable influence on the pub- 
lic opinion. The importance and rank 
of the agent operates itill more power- 
fully. thus, what ina poor unfriended 
boy was fraud and forgery, is recorded 
by, a KR. prelate, in terms of high 
commendation, as a little ftratagem, re- 
flecting no {mall fhare of honor on the 
sae original 
