THE 
MONTHLY 


No. xxxv. | 
For AUGUST, 1798. 
MAGAZINE. 

[Vou. VI. 

On the firft day of Auguft was publifbed, the SurPLEMENTARY NuMBER which completed the 
Fifth Volume of the MontTuty MaGazine, and contained the following uncommonly valuable 
articles: 1. Half-yearly Retrofpe& of British LITERATURE. 
3- Retrofpc of SraniswH LITERATURE in 1797. 
5- Mr. DyER on Coins. 
7. The Tite, PREFACE, and INDEXES, to Vol. V. 
TERATURE,. 
LITERATURE in 1797. 
Autumn of 1797. 
2. Ditto of GERMAN Li- 
4. Ditto of FRENCH 
6. Tour in the Vicinity of Dublin in the 
Thefe comprebenfive Retrofpec#s ‘of Dometic and Foreign Literature will be regularly continued in the 
futare Supplements, and be extended to the Literature of every civilized country, exbibiting therein 
a moft complete Epitome of the Progrefs of Human Knowledge. 


ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
MR. EDITOR, 
MONG thofe who have fuccefsfully 
contributed to in{pire the American 
people with the love of literature and 
liberty, who dire&ted their minds to found 
views of the nature of government, and 
refined their tafte by the twofold means 
of criticifm and poetry, the author of 
“‘M‘Fingal’’ deferves to be confidered as 
one of the firft. Indeed, before his time, 
however they might have been cultivated 
in the middle and fouthern portions of 
North America, letters were in a very 
crude and debafed condition in New 
England. Efforts, it is true, had been 
made to lead the general mind towards 
their more affiducus culture; but the 
flichteft comparifon of the writings of Mr. 
TRUMBULL, with thofe of his immediate 
predeceffors, will furprize the critic with a 
diffimilitude which inany European coun- 
try could {carcely have been expeSted fo 
have happened in lefs than a century. 
JOHN TRUMBULL waS born in the 
town of Waterbury, in Connecticut, inthe 
year 174.9 or 1750.. His father, a wealthy 
and refpectable clergyman of the place, 
early initructed him in the ufual elements 
of education; and, flattered by his docile 
and active genius, led him from Englifh 
to Latinand Greek. Nor were his cares 
unrewarded; for fuch was the uncom- 
men vigour of the intellect of his fon, 
and fo affiduoufly did he apply himéelt, 
that at the age of feven, atter a full 
amination, he was declared fuiiiciently 
advanced in his academic ftudies to de- 
ferve admifion into Yale college. His 
tender years difinclining his parents to 
piace him there fo younc, he i 
drawn, and did not join that in‘titutioa 
till he was thirteen, or had entered his 
thirteenth year. His collegiate life was 
one continued icene of fuccels. The fu- 
MOoNrHLY Mac, No. xxxv, 
+ 
was wifh- 
periority of his genius, attainments, and 
induftry, elevated .him, on every trial, 
over all his competitors; and fuch of his 
collegiate exercifes as have’ been made 
public, evidence a {pirit and correétne{s 
of thought and expreffion rarely difcern- 
ible in more advanced years, and after 
greater opportunities of inftruction. Mr. 
‘TRUMBULL graduated in 1767.. In 
what manner the interval between this 
period and 1771 was {pent, the writer of 
this article is not particularly informed, 
He has an indiftin&t recollextion, how- 
ever, that Mr. TRUMBULL was engaged 
in the bufinefs of inftru€tion, in fome part 
of Conneéticut.. In 1771, he accepted a 
tutorfhip in Yale college; and, as has 
been betore remarked in the account of 
Dr. DWIGHT, was concerned in various 
periodical publicatioas with that gentle- 
man; all of which contributed to his re- 
putation. Some of thefe performances 
were fatirical; and their. firprizing fuc- 
c2{s induced the author to turn his atten- 
tion more particularly to a fpecies of 
writing for which, till thep, he had him- 
feif modeftly queftionei his qualifications. 
Bit, whatever might, have been his own 
coxiceptions as to the peculiar bent of his 
talents, his companions were too often 
forced to {mart under the lafh of his fatire 
to eitertain any @oubts of his fuccefs. 
Nor does he appear to have been long 
held in doubt himieify for, in 1772, he 
publithed his poem, tntituled, ‘* The Pro- 
prefs 6f Dulinefs,” in three parts, fepa- 
rately printed. This poem had an amaz- 
ing fale; and, notwithfanding feveral 
editions, and one as late as 1794, 1s now 
feldom to be met with either in the fhops 
or in libraries. To judge properly of 
the merit. of this performance, the rea- 
dey fhould be accurately and even mi- 
nutely acquainted with the pecuitar-mane 
ners of the New England people, and par- 
sw ticularly 
} 

