SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER 
TO THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 

Smechnene Soeenyeneyaprant 

Wo. f2V'. 
a 

sor Ge 

JANUARY 20, 1800. 




hme ee a ee 
Vor. VII. 

HALF-YEARLY RETROSPECT OF DOMESTIC LITERATURE. 
N a former occafion we ftated the 
utter inadequacy of any refearch to 
deteét every publication which, in a Re- 
tro{peét of Literature, might fairly be 
centidered worthy of notice; we are 
aware that in our laft, fome few of lite- 
rary eminence eluded us; the only a- 
mends we can offer, is totake the prefent 
opportunity of arranging them under 
their proper heads. 
History. 
Mr. WRaAXALL, an hiftorian by no 
means unknown in the republic of let- 
ters, has publifhed in two o¢tavo volumes, 
«© Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dref- 
den, Warfaw, and Vienna, in the years 
1777, 1778. and 1779.” It is natural to 
afk the reafon why Mr. Wraxall has de- 
ferred the publication of thefe memoirs 
until many of them have loft their in- 
tereft? He was influenced it feems by 
motives of delicacy: his “ reluétance to 
difclofe anecdotes and faéts relative to fo 
many diftinguifhed living characters in- 
duced him to poftpone the publication 
for twenty years.” But our author has 
excited the curiofity of his readers, and 
offers a very infufficient reafon, a very 
inadmiffible apology for difappointing 
them: ‘ However remote the time may ap- 
pear, I have ftill chofen,’ fays he, ‘to be 
wholly filent on many points, equally cu- 
rious and interefting ; for the perfons to 
whom they relate are either dead or for- 
gotten. We fee, therefore, that in the 
firft inftance Mr. Wraxall delayed the 
publication of his memoirs during twenty 
years, becaufe many of the characters to 
whom they referred were yet living, and 
“now he entirely fuppreffes the publication 
of others, becaufe the charaéters to which 
thefe latter refer are dead or forgotten. 
Or forgotten! We have the afferrion of 
Mr. Wraxall, that the memoirs are cu- 
rious and interefting; high perfonages, 
furely, with whofe characters are con- 
nected hiftoric anecdotes of curiofity and 
intereft, ought not to be forgotten ; and 
Monturiy Mac. LIY. . 
Mr. Wraxall would have laid us under 
obligations to him, had he revived the 
memory of their former exploits, and 
their former fortunes. But it is umhand- 
fome to quarrel with an author for what 
he has not done, and omit thanking him 
for what he has: the prefent volumes 
unqueftionably contain variety of infor- 
mation and variety of amufement: the 
charaéters, introduced are, many of them, 
drawn with much fpirit and corregtnefs ;. 
and of the memoirs, if many are known, 
others are yet new to us, and ‘all are re- 
lated in a lively and interefting manner. 
Mr. R, HERON has completed in fix 
oftavo volumes, kis ‘* Hiftory of Scotland, 
from the earlieft times, to the era of the 
abolition of the hereditary jurifdiGtion of 
fubjeéts, in the year 1748.’’ Mr. Heron 
treats the hifteries of Hume and Robert- 
fon with fo much ignorant fuperciliouf- 
nefs, that he will probably receive with 
confiderable fatisfaétion and complacency 
the prophecy, that his own volumes will 
never be ftationed on the fame fhelf with 
theirs. It is a very miftaken policy in 
any man, even if his own genius were 
above the level of mediocrity, to depre- 
ciate the works of fuch wrirers with a 
view to enhance the merit of his own: 
he invites a comparifon which muft al- 
ways be hazardous to himfelf.,; and, in the 
prefent inftance, it has proved to have 
been peculiarly unfortunate. The graces 
of compofition, perhaps, Mr. Heron 
thought beneath his attention; for the 
ftyle of his confufed and tedious compilas 
tion is remarkable for its dullnefs and 
prolixity, and the reader is throughout 
difgutted by a degree of over-weening 
conceit and vanity, which have very 
feldom been equalled. But the writer, 
it feems, prides himfelf on the originality 
of his remarks: he has not, we are 
told, dike Mr. Hume and Dr. Robertfon $ 
—drawn merely facts, but reflections 
and general @iews from the ancient 
writers whom he quotes. Mr. Heron’s 
6éQ. original 
