The 
For the Moathly Magazine. 
THE ANTIQUARY. 
NO, I. 
“¢ The Time has got a veine of making 
him ridiculous, and men laugh at him by 
» tradition.”—-Brount’s Microco{magraphia. 
is difficulty of writing the firft fen- 
ai tence of ay periodical paper has been 
frequently complained of. Some writers 
have compared it to the portico of a build- 
ing; and fomé to a young gentleman’s 
making his introduétorv bow.in company. 
If the one wants a confunance of fymme- 
try with the edifice, it difgults ns : and if 
the other fails, though he may afterwards 
be looked upon as an excellent compa- 
nion, he will not eafily efface the firft im- 
preflion of his awkwardnefs. Should the 
ANTIQUARY prove unhappy at his en- 
trance, ict the ruft of his {tudies entitle 
him to fome abatement from the trict 
rigour of crijicifm: and fhould he fome- 
times be profound where otheis have been 
witty, the remotenefs of his topics muft 
be pleaded to excufe him. 
Periodical effays have been ufually con- 
fined to fubjects, which, like thole of 
Lord Verulam, come home to men’s bufi- 
nefs and bofoms; their chief end has 
been to promote the regularity of focial 
life; and, though criticifm and the arts 
of elegance have now and then received a 
momentary mark of their atteation, the 
writers of them have feldom even ven‘ ured 
fo trace the flownefs and mediocrity of 
the inventive genius of man, The com- 
parative ftate of public morals, or domel- 
tic hiftory, never formed, with them, a 
topic of inquiry ;\and while the caprices 
of modern Jife were taken as abftra&ted 
fubjects for temporary fatire, the progref- 
five improvement or retrogradation of our 
national manners was entirely forgotten.-— 
If, in the feries of papers here intended, 
this defeét fhould be occafional'y fup- 
plied (though interwoven with more folid 
difcoffions in the iJluftration of ancient 
manners, arts, and hiftory), the intention 
of the writer will be fully anfwered. 
Works upon antiquity, whether of a 
jocal or a miicellaneous nature, may fume- 
times feem the joint produce of induftry 
and awkwardnefs ; yet furely the eager- 
nefs with which they are purchafed, gives 
authority to the affertion, that, in proper 
hands, they may always be made vehicles 
both of enrertainment and importance. 
The fpeculative powers of the human 
mind are feldom exerted with greater 
pleafure than in retiacing the {pot where 
MONTHLY Mac, No. 126. 
Antiquary. 
109 
fome memorable deed has been performed, 
or in contemplating the recolle@ion of 
events and characters which are gone, 
never to return. And, perhaps, next to 
the actual exertion of our powers, there 
are few pleafures which in poignancy ex- 
ceed the perulal of works whole clearnefs 
and fulnefs of information fupply the moft 
accurate intelligence of former times.— 
Fhe inveftigation is interefting and in- 
ftruGive. The manners, the monuments, 
the cuftoms, the praétices, the opinions of 
antiquity, form a ftreng contraft with our 
own. Human nature is exhibited both in 
new and unexpeéted forms ; and the in. 
quiry is produétive at once both of enter- 
tainment and utility. In the perufal of 
fuch works, the reader muft frequently 
acquiefce in anecdotes of incenfiderable 
confequence ; yet in thefe, the molt cone 
fpicuous examples of antiquity are comme- 
morated ; the progrefs of art afcertained 5 
our early legiflative inititutions illuttrated 5 
the ancient peculiarities of domeftic cha- 
racter laid open ; ages of former a€tion in- 
quired into; the venerable memorials of 
other times, and the proud monuments of . 
feudal magnificence, explained ; monatftic 
hiftory and manners developed ; and an 
intereft given to fone objeéts that may at 
fir aopear but fimple bagatelles. In 
thefe he may trace the gradual progrefs of 
good tafte; and will have occafional op- 
portunities of viewing the progrefiive rife 
of civil inftitutions. He will be led to 
confider the objects of purfuit which the 
antiquary follows, as at once ufeful, inte- 
refting, and compreheafive; and will find, 
that what are called the greateft difcove- 
res in {cience, are but the refult of pro- 
greffive and accumulated knowledge. 
There are few nations fo attentive as 
our own to all that throws light on an- 
cient hiftory ; and the reafon, perhaps, is 
obvious. Our circumfcribed condition in 
an Ifland makes the field of inveftigation 
feem, at firft fight, not fo vatt, and, of 
courfe, better calculated to incite perfe- 
verance. Befide which, the great multi- 
plicity of remains, Celtic, Reman, Saxon, 
Danifh, and Norman, having all their fe- 
parate peculiarities, are not only intereft- 
ing to us in a national view, but lead us 
fo an extenfive and a fond acquaintance 
with the remoteft ages. 
Of the feries of papers here intended, 
though the fcheme is {o very cbvious, that 
the title alone feems fuffic.ent to explain it, 
yet it may not be wholly unneceflary to 
fay fomething of the intentions with which 
it is undertaken, and to exhibit a general 
idea of the effays that are likely t2com- 
Le  paig 
