48 - 
Original Literary Stridtures, &c. 
| [Juy, 
defeéts. A point of criticifm, which I feparation. At the clofe of the work, I 
will venture to prove at fome future day, 
sn iluftrating ir, by an examination of a 
Similar performance.” It will be here fuf- 
ficient to obferve, that every literary beau- 
ty is naturally accompanied by certain un- 
avoidable defects ; if charaéters are de- 
Hineated, the narrative muff be neglected, 
and if the narrative is rapid, the charaé€ters 
are }efs preminent; if a writer excels in 
the glow and elegance of fentiment, his de- 
fcriptive powers cannot exhibit -them- 
felves with the fame prevalence as if his 
fentiments were lefs frequent. It is fufh- 
cient if in every work of genius it be dif- 
tinguifhed by: fome peculiar impreflion ; 
and the colouring, and manner of thinking, 
form a literary charateriftic. 
Richardfon himfelf has given us the 
frinciple that guided him in compofing. 
He tells us, “ 1f I vive fpeeches and con- 
verfations, IT ought to give them jufily ; 
r the humour and characters of perfons 
cannot be known. unlefs I repeat what they 
Say, and their manuer of faying.” 
Of foreign critics, who have noticed 
Richardfon, J fhall allude te three very 
exalted geniufes; D’Alembert, Rouffeau, 
and Diderot. D’Alembert was a gireat 
mathematician ; his literary talte was ex- 
tremely cold : he was, therefore, not worthy 
of reading Richardfon; the velumes, if 
he ever read them, muft have fallen from 
his hands. ‘The human heart was a 
problem to this great mathematician, never 
to be folved ; at leaft not in its delicate and 
fubtile turnings; not in thofe folds which 
exact fo nice and fkilful a touch. There 
zs no other demontration in the human 
heart, but an appeal to the feelings; and 
the feelings of a machematician are only 
the feelings of a calculator, am arithmeti- 
<ian of lines and curves. He, therefore, 
faid of Richardfon, ** La Nature eft-Eonne. 
Gimiler, mais non pas sufqu a 0 ennui.” 
But it was not thus with Rouffeau and 
Diderat. What the former has fo elo- 
quently written, I fhall not here notice ; 
his works are generally known. Diderot, 
if poflible, exceeded in enthufiafm Rouf- 
feau himfelf. He has compofed an eulo- 
gium on Richardfon, from which I fhall 
extract fome interefting paflages. 
He fays of Clarifa:—-“ I yet remember 
with delight the firft time 1t came into my 
hands. J was inthe country. How de- 
Jicioufly was I affected! At every mo- 
ment, I faw my happinefs abridged by a 
page. I then experienced the fame fenta- 
tion thofe feel who had Jong lived with 
enue they loved, and were on the point of 
{eemed to remain deferted.” 
The ardour of Diderot’s charaéter is 
even more foreibly fhown in the following 
paflages :—* O Richardfon, Richardfon ! 
thou fingular genius to my eyes! theu 
fhalt form my reading in all times. If 
forced by fharp neceflity, my. friend falls 
into indigence, if the medivcrity of my 
fortune is not fufficient to beftow on my 
children the neceflary cares for their edu- 
cation, I wiil fell my books—but thou fhalz 
remain—yes, thou fhall reft in the fame 
clafs with Mofes, Homer, Euripides, and 
Sophocles, and £ will.read ye al! alter 
nately.” ; 
“ — O Richardfon! I dare pro-~ 
nounce that the moft veritable hiftory is 
fuil of fiGlions, and thy romances are full 
of truths. Hiitory patnts fome individuals 5 
thou painteft the human fpecies. Hiftory 
attributes to fome individuals, what they _ 
have neither faid mer done; all that thou 
attributeft to man, he has faid and done; 
_ Hittory embraces but a portion of duration, 
a point on the furface of the globe; thou 
haft embraced all places and all thmes. 
The human heart, which has ‘ever been 
and ever fhall be the fame, is the model 
thou copieft. If we were to apply to: the 
beft hiftorian a fevere criticifm, would he 
fuftain himfelf as thou! In this point of 
view, I venture to fay, that frequently 
hiftory 1s a miferable romance; and ro~ 
mance, as thou haft compofed at, is a good 

hiftory. O Painter of Narure, thou never * 
Beh!?:. 
és I have never yet met a perfon. 
who fhared my enthufiafm, that J was not 
tempted te embrace and to prefs him in 
2F 
my arms. . von 
“ Richardfon is no more? O Jofs to 
‘Humanity and to letters! A lofs that 
touches me, as if my brother was no 
more. I bore him in.my heart, without 
having feen him, and knowing him but 
by his works.” 
«© _____. He has not had all the repura- 
tion he mefited. What a pafsionis Envy? 
cruel Fury !. It follows the man of merit 
to the borders of his tomb3-there fhe di 
appears, and juftice is feated in her place.’”* 
v6 O Richardion ! if, living, thou 
haft not enjoyed all the reputation thou 
azdf merit, how great walt thou be to-our 
children’s children, when they fhall view 
thee at the diftance we now view Homer? 
Then, wlio will dare to fteal a line from 
thy iublime works? Thou haft had more 
admirers among us, than in thine own 
country; and at this I rejoice !” 
eteey 9S) ae See | JAMES 

