1797)] 
—Crebillon—and Sterne, may be philofo- 
Phical, but they certainly are not mora 
romances. - 
_ To clafs the works of real genius in 
this branch of literature, would require 
much critical difcrimination, and might 
be not only entertaining but inftructive ; 
but the defign of this communication is 
merely to turn the attention of the inge- 
nious upon the impropriety of ufing in- 
difcriminately the name of Novel, for 
books of fuch various and contradiétory 
defcriptions. Might not a voluntary 
union.of writers redtify this error, and 
thus give a néw {pring to the aétivity of 
thofe who with to convey inftruction 
with amufement, and who may infenfi- 
bly have more influence upon the public 
tafte, opinion, and morality, than any of 
thofe authors, who, as Voltaire fays, are 
permitted “ dennuyer en moralités dict 
Jufqu 2 Conftaniinople ?” 
The dialogues in Zeluco, paflages in 
the philofophical romances of Bage, 
Holeroft, and fome others, have proba- 
bly diffufed more liberal, and’ more jut 
moral ideas, than could, in the fame {pace 
of time, have been inculcated upen the 
public by a thoufand fermons, or by as 
many dry political difquifitions. Per- 
fons who would never undertake the 
perufal of a formidable folio, and who 
have, perhaps, modeftly deceived them- 
felves into the belief that they have not 
talents for abftraét fpeculation, ‘or clofe 
reafoning, are in works of this inftruc- 
tive and amufing defcription, made to 
feel and acknowledge their own powers. 
They infenfibly form a comparifon be- 
tween their own reafoning and that of the 
charaéters whofe converfations they read ; 
thus, without the appearance’of ftudy, 
they acquire clear ideas, they feel their 
curiofity awakened, and their appetite for 
moral and political knowledge infenfibly 
increafe. ‘Thofe who are afraid of phi- 
lofophy, when fhe fpeaks in the lan- 
guage of the {chools, are glad of her ac- 
quaintance, and proud of being able to 
‘converfe with her, when fhe talks plarz 
profe. 
With refpeét tothe choice of a title 
for thefe ufeful produétions, there is fill 
fome difficulty, The name of philofo- 
phical romance, though it be a ftep re- 
moved from the idea of a novel, is not, 
perhaps, fufficiently diftinét for our 
purpofe: the word romance will affeét 
the delicate affociations of , thofe who 
are affliéted with the xovellophobia. It 
were to be wifhed that fome perfe&tly new 
name could be devifed for their fatisfac- 
On the Titles of Modern Novels. 
tion.— Moral fiétion is the beft which, at 
prefent, occurs; but thofe who have the 
happy talent for coining new terms, and 
who have, at the fame time, that autho. 
rity in the literary world, which is ne- 
ceffary to make a word current by procla- 
mation, might exprefs the fame idea in one 
generalname. Some name which would 
quickly circulate in foeciety, and which 
would refcue us from that barbarifm in 
language, which is juftly confidered as a 
reproach by civilized nations—the barba- 
rifm of confounding diffimilar and incon- 
gruous ideas under one and the fame 
word. é 
The fayages whom Captain Cook vi- 
fited at a {mall ifland, called Wateeco, 
were afraid to come near his cows and 
horfes, nor did they form the leaft con- 
ception of their nature or ufe. But the 
fheep and goats, fays Captain Cook, did 
not furpafs the limits of their ideas, for 
they gave me to underftand that they 
knew them to be dirds-—he adds “ It will 
appear rather incredible, that human ig- 
norance could ever make fo ftrange a 
miftake ; there not being the moft diftant 
fimilitude between a fheep or goat, and 
any winged animal.—But thele people 
feemed to know nothing of the exiftence 
of any other land animal, except hogs, 
dogs, and birds. Our fheep and goats, 
they could fee, were different creatures 
from the two firft, and, therefore, they 
inferred that they muft belong to the lat- 
ter clafs, in which they knew that there 
is a confiderable variety of {pecies.”’ 
When thofe readers whofe ideas ex- 
tended no farther than to court-¢alendars, 
fermons, and novels, were firft fur- 
prifed by the appearance of fuch a book. 
as. Zeluco, they were in hafte to convince 
us that they knew what to calkit ; it was 
clearly neither a court-calendar ner a 
fermon, therefore it muft be a novel, of 
which f{pecies they knew, from experi- 
ence, that there were great varieties. 
And are not ¢b¢ Adventures of Sir Femmy 
Fefamy, or The Memoirs of tbe Hon. Mifs 
Auguftina St. Aubrey, almoft as much like 
Cecilia and Zeluco, as fheep and goats ar& 
like birds ? 
Nov. 1797. E. 
ees 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
A® a very important change has taken 
place in the -affairs of the feyen 
United Provinces, and as the great pof- 
fefons of the Dutch in the Eaft Indies 
have at all times excited the curiofity of 
foreign nations, efpecially as thefe jea- 
ye a lous 
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