
797-] 
and their manners ? Should we think it 
wife to rejeét the advantages which might 
be derived from availing ourfelves of the 
experience of our predeceffors, and to 
rufh, at once, without knowledge or 
precaution, on untried fituations, and 
hazards, equally unexpected as explored. 
If the perfons to whom we applied for 
information, far from reprefenting cir- 
cumitances as they really exifted, fhould 
feek to beguile our imaginations, and 
amufe themfelves by fanciful and Utopian 
defcriptions of the country and its inha- 
bitants ; what opinions, when we difco- 
vered the deception, muft we form of 
their kindnefs and integrity, and what 
effe€ts would be likely to enfue to our- 
felves? This ftatement needs no appli- 
cation. 
The bufinefs of familiar narrative 
fhould be to defcribe life and manners in 
real or probable fituations, to delineate 
the human mind in its endlefs varieties, 
to develope the heart, to paint the paf- 
fions, to trace the fprings of aétion, to 
intereft the imagination, exercife the af- 
fetions, and awaken the powers of the 
mind. A good novel ought to be fubfer- 
vient to the purpofes of truth and philo- 
fophy: fuch are the novels of Fielding 
and Smollet. 
The beauty of romance confifts prin- 
cipally in the difplay of a yidturefque 
fancy, and the creative powers of a fer- 
tile and inventive genius. The excel- 
lence of a novel is of a diftinét nature, 
and muft be the refult of an attentive 
obfervance of mankind, acute difcern- 
ment, exquifite moral fenfibility, and an 
intimate acquaintance with human paf- 
fions and powers. A luxuriant and po- 
etic ftyle of compofition accords with the 
legends of romance. The language of 
the novelift fhould be fimple, unaffected, 
perfpicuous, yet energetic, touching, and 
impreflive. It is not neceflary that we 
fhould be able to deduce from a novel, a 
formal and didaétic moral; it is fuff- 
cient if it has a tendency to raife the 
mind by elevated fentimens, to warm 
the heart with generous affections, to 
enlarge our views, or to increafe our 
ftock of ufeful knowledge. A more ef- 
feétual leffon might perhaps be deduced 
from tracing the pernicious confequences 
_ ef am erroneous judgment, a wrong ftep, 
an imprudent aétion, an indulged and 
intemperate affection, a bad habit, ina 
charaéter in other refpeéts amiable and 
Virtuous, than in painting chimerical 
perfection and vifionary excellence, 
which rarely, if ever, exilted. How deep 
: al Mas. No. XXII. 
On Novel-Writing. - | 18 
is our regret, how touching our fympas 
thy, how generous our forrow, while we 
contemplate the noble mind blafted by 
the ravages of paffion, or withered by 
the canker of prejudice ! Such examples 
afford an affecting and humiliating leffon 
of human frailty, they teach usto foften 
the afperity of cenfure, to appreciate 
the motives and aétions of our fellow~ 
beings with candour, to diftruft ourfelves, 
and to watch with diffidence lefi we 
fhould, even by the excefs of our moft 
amiable and laudable qualities, be preci- 
pitated into folly, or betrayed into vice. 
It is fuch examples that are the moft cal- 
culated to be ufeful; they affect every 
heart, they are confiftent with truth, for 
they do not calumniate the {pecies. Our. 
fympathy is faint with beings whofe 
virtues, or whofe crimes, are out of the 
{phere of our aétivity. “A God, an 
animal, a plant (fays Lavater) are not 
companions for man; nor are the fault- 
lefs.”” Among novelifts of the prefent 
day, the author of Caleb Williams has 
afforded the beft illuftration of what I 
mean to inculcate. The developement 
and ftruggles of the paffions, in the cha- 
raéter of Ferdinando Faulkland, is per- 
haps the moft mafterly performance of 
its kind. By the predominance of one 
ftrong, habitual, and foftered prejudice, 
the fineft qualities are perverted, and the 
moft fatal calamities involved. ‘He im- 
bibed the poifon of chivalry with his 
earlieft youth—he was the fool of ho- 
nour and of fame: a man, whom, in the 
purfuit of reputation, nothing could di- 
vert ; who would have purchafed the cha- 
racter of atrue, a gallant, and undaunt= 
-ed hero, at the expence of worlds ; and 
who thought every calamity nominal, 
but a ftain upon his honour.” 
Fictitious hiftories, in the hands of per- 
fons of talents.and obfervation, might be 
made produétive of incalculable benefit ; 
by interefting curiofity, and addreffing 
the common fympathies of our nature, 
they pervade all ranks; and, judicioufly 
conducted, would become a powerful 
and effective engine of truth and reform. 
M. H. 
: ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
(THE following paper relative to the 
> eftablifhment of an Experimental 
Farm in the county of Durham. will 
intereft all our intelligent readers, who, 
doubtlefs, are defirous of learning the 
farther progrefs of fo important a defign.— 
THE Committee of the Durham Epneri- 
mental Society of Agriculture feize the fire 
Bb Opportunity 

