1810.] 
each other: when the writer’s object is 
to satisfy the first inclination, you are to 
thank him for communicating to the 
world such valuable facts as whether he 
lost his way in the night, or sprained his 
ancle, or had no appetite to his dinner. 
If he is busied about describing the mi- 
neralogy, natural history, agriculture, 
trade, &c. of a country, you may men- 
tion a hundred books from whence the 
same information may be obtained ; 
deprecate the practice of emptying old 
musty folios into new quartos, to gratify 
that sickly taste for a smattering about 
every thing, which distinguishes the pre- 
sent ate, 
Ii works of science and recondite learn- 
ing, the task you have undertaken will 
not beso difheult as you may imagine. 
Tables of contents and indexes are blessed 
helps in the hands of a reviewer; but, 
more than all, the preface is the field 
from which his richest harvest is to be 
gathered. In the preface the author 
usually gives a summary of what has been 
written on the same subject before; he 
acknowledges the assistance he has re- 
ceived from different sources, and the 
reasons of his dissent from former writers ; 
he confesses that certain parts have been 
less attentively considered than others, 
and that information has come to his 
hands too late to be made use of; he 
points outmany things in the composition 
of his work which he thinks may provoke 
animadversion, and endeavours to defend 
or to palliate his own practice. Here 
then is a fund of wealth for the reviewer, 
lying upon the very surface; if he knows 
apv thing of his business, he will turn 
all these materials avainst the author; 
carefuily suppressing the scurce of his 
information, and as if drawing from the 
stores of his own ‘mind, long ago laid up 
for this very purpose. If the author’s 
references are correct, a great point is 
gained; for by consulting a few passages 
of the original works, it will be easy to 
discuss the subject with the air of having 
a previous knowledge of the whole. Your 
chief vantage- ground is, that you may 
fasten upon any position in the book you 
are reviewing, and) treat it as principal 
and essential, when perhaps it is of little 
weight in the main argument; but, by ' 
allotting a large share of your criticism to 
it, the reader will naturally be led to 
giveita proportionate importance, and to 
consider the merit of the treatise at issue 
upon that single question. If any body 
complains that the greater and more va- 
Joable parts remain . unnoticed, your 
Advice toa Young Reviewer. 
and’ 
ma 
answer is, that it is impossible to pay- 
attention to all; and that your duty 4s 
rather to prevent ‘the propagation of error, 
than to lavish praises upon that which, 
if really excellent, wil! work its way in 
the world without your help. Indeed, 
if the plan of your review admits of se~ 
lection, you had better not meddle with 
works of deep research and original 
speculation; such as have already attract- 
ed much notice, and cannot be treated 
superficially without fear of being found 
out. The time required for making your- 
self thoroughly master of the subject is so 
great, that you may depend upon it they 
will never pay for the reviewing. ‘They 
are gencrally the fruit of long study, and 
of talents concentrated in the steady 
pursuit of one object; it is not likely 
therefore that you can throw much new 
light on a question of this nature, or even 
plausibly combat the author’s positions im 
the course of a few hours, which is all 
you can well afford to devote to them. 
And, without accomplishing one or other 
of these points, your review will gain ne 
celebrity, and of course no good will be 
done. 
Enough has been said to give you some 
Insight into the facilities with which your 
new employment abounds: [ will only 
mention One more, because of its exten- 
sive and almost universal application to 
all branches of literature; the topic, [ 
mean, which by the old rhetoricians was 
called 22 évavriev: that is, when a work 
excels in one quality, you may blame it 
for not having the opposite. For ine 
stance: if the biographical sketch of a 
literary character is minute and full of 
anecdote, you may enlarge on the ad- 
vantages of philosophical reflection, and 
the superior mind required to give a jus 
dicious analysis of the opinions and works 
of deceased authors; on the contrary, if 
the latter method is pursued by the bio- 
grapher, you can wtth equal ease extol 
the lively colouring, and truth, and inter. 
est, of exact delineation and detail, This 
topic, you will perceive, enters into style 
as weil as matter: where many virtues 
might be named which are incompatible ; 
and whichever the author bas preferred, 
it will be the signal for you to launch forth 
on the praises of its Opposite, and con. 
tinually to hold up that to your reader as 
the model of excellence in this species of 
writing. 
You will perhaps wonder why all my 
instructions are pointed towards the cen- 
suie, and not the praise, of books; but 
luany reasons might be given why it should 
be 
