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metal. Hence it has happened, that doctrines which common fenfe and common prudence have repudiated, are no fooner recommended by writers of genius, than they are received without debate, and admired as the ultimate discoveries of improved philofophy. Let the fame opinions be advanced by a dull writer, and even the vain and the vicious, whom they tend to encourage, will refute and difavow them from principles of pride and of shame.

That Sterne poffeffed a fine particle of real genius, if our reafon were difpofed to deny it, our fenfations en perufing him will fully evince. It is, I think, an infallible proof of real genius, when a writer poffeffes the power of fhaking the nerves, or of affecting the mind in the most lively manner in a few words, and with the most perfect fimplicity of language. Such a power confpicuoufly marks both a Shakespeare and a Sterne; though Sterne is far below Shakespeare in the scale of genius.

I am ready to allow to Sterne another and a moft exalted merit befides, and above the praise of genius. There never was a Heathen philofopher of any age or nation, who has recommended, in fo affecting a manner, the benignant doctrines of a general philanthropy. He has corrected the acrimony of the heart, fmoothed the afperities of natural tempers, and taught the milk of human kindness to flow all-cheerily (it is his own expreffion) in gentle and uninterrupted channels.

To have effected fo amiable a purpofe is a great praife, a diftinguithed honour. I lament that the praise is leffened and the honour fullied by many faults and many follies, which render the writings of Sterne juftly and greatly reprehenfible.

If we confider them as compofitions, and are guided in our judgment by the dictates of found criticifm, and by thofe ftandards of excellence, the rectitude of which has been decided by the teftimony of the politeft ages, it will be neceffary to pronounce on them a fevere fentence. The great critic of antiquity required, as the neceffary constituents of a legitimate compofition, a beginning, a middle, and an end. I believe it will be difficult to find them in the chaotic confufion of Triftram Shandy. But, difregarding the tribunal of Ariftotle,

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to which the modern pretenders to genius do not confider themselves as amenable, it will ftill be true éven by the decifions of reafon and common sense, that his writings abound with faults.

Obfcurity has always been deemed one of the greatest errors of which a writer can be guilty; and there have been few readers, except those who thought that the acknowledgment would derogate from their reputation for wisdom, who have not complained that Triftram Shandy is in many places difguftfully obfcure.

The admirers of Sterne extol his wit. But I believe it will be found that his wit is of the lowest kind, and the eafieft of invention; for is it not for the most part allufive obfcenity? a fpecies of wit to be found in its fullest perfection in the vulgareft and vileft haunts of vice? It is indeed, easy to attract the notice and the admiration of the youthful and the wanton by exhibiting loofe images under a tranfparent veil. It is true indeed there is ufually a veil, and the decent are therefore tempted to read; but the veil, like the affected modefty of a courtezan, serves only as an artifice to facilitate corruption.

The praife of humour has been lavished on him with peculiar bounty. If quaintness is humour, the praise is all his own, and let Cervantes and Fielding bow their heads to Sterne. They who admire Uncle Toby, Doctor Slop, and Corporal Trim, as natural characters, or as exhibiting true humour in their manners and converfations, are little acquainted with nature, and have no just taste for genuine humour. It is evident enough that the author meant to be humorous and witty, and many of his readers, in the abundance of their good nature, have taken the will for the deed.

But till obfcurity, till obfcenity, till quaintnefs, till impudence, till oddity, and mere wantonnefs, wildness, and extravagance, are perfections in writing, Triftram Shandy cannot justly claim the rank to which it has been raised by folly and fashion, by caprice, libertinifin, and ignorance. I know that this cenfure will be confidered as blafphemy by the idolaters of Sterne; but I hope it will not four that milk of human kindness which they may have imbibed from his writings; and

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to an exceffive degree of which many foft and effeminate perfons affectedly pretend. Let their philanthropy reprefs awhile their refentment, and I will venture to predict, that time will infenfibly ftrip the writer of thofe honours which never belonged to him.

But will you allow his fermons no merit? I allow fome of them the merit of the pathetic; but the laborious attempts to be witty and humorous have fpoiled the greater part of them. The appearance of fincerity is one of the best beauties of a fermon. But Sterne feems as if he were laughing at his audience, as if he had afcended the pulpit in a frolick, and preached in mockery. Had he however written nothing but his fermons, he would not have been cenfured as the deftroyer of the morals and the happiness of private life.

There are, indeed, exquifite touches of the pathetic interfperfed throughout all his works. His pathetic ftories are greatly admired. The pathetic was the chief excellence of his writings; his admirers will be displeased if one were to add, that it is the only one which admits of unalloyed applaufe. It is certainly this which chiefly adorns the Sentimental Journey; a work which, whatever are its merits, has had a pernicious influence on the virtue, and confequently on the happinefs of public and private fociety.

That foftnefs, that affected and exceffive fympathy at firft fight, that fentimental affection, which is but luft, in difguife, and which is fo ftrongly infpired by the Sentimental Journey, and by Triftram Shandy have been the ruin of thousands of our countrymen and countrywomen, who fancied, that while they were breaking the laws of God and man, they were actuated by the fine feelings of fentimental affection. How much are divorces multiplied fince Sterne appeared!

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Sterne himself, with all his pretenfions, is faid to have difplayed, in private life, a bad and a hard heart'; and I fhall not hesitate to pronounce him, though many mire him as the firft of philofophers, the grand promoter of adultery, and every fpecies of illicit commerce.

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No. CXLVI. ON THE WEIGHT AND EFFICACY WHICH MORALITY MAY DERIVE FROM THE INFLUENCE AND EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO ARE CALLED THE GREAT.

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T is true, indeed, that the world abounds with moral inftruction, and that there is scarcely any good thing fo eafily obtained as good advice; but it is no less true, that moral inftruction and good advice are found to poffefs a very fmall degree of influence in the bufy walks of active life. In the church, we hear the fcriptures read and fermons preached; in the library, we ftudy and admire the morality of the philofophers; but how few, in the actual pursuits of ambition, of intereft, of pleasure, and even in the common occupations and intercourfe of ordinary life, fuffer their conduct to be regulated by the precept of a Solomon, of a Socrates, or of him who was greater than either!

No fentence is triter, than that all example is more powerful than precept; but when the example is fet by the rich and the great, its influence on the herd of mankind becomes irresistible. What can books effect? what avail the gentle admonitions of the retired moralift, against the examples of lords, dukes, and Eaft India Nabobs? Can the ftill fmall voice of confcience be heard by thofe who live in the noife and tumult of pleasurable purfuits? or can the mild doctrines of the humble Jefus be attended to, amid the agitations of the gaming-table, and the debaucheries of a brothel ? A vicious nobleman, or profligate man of fafhion, contributes more to extirpate morality, and diminish the little portion of happiness which is allowed to mankind, than all the malignant writings of the fceptics, from Mandeville and Bolingbroke, down to the feeble and cowardly, yet conceited writer, who infinuates his corrupt and infidel opinions under the fair femblance of an elegant hiftory. I cannot help obferving, when I think

think of that laft and recent attempt, that it resembles that of the evil fpirit, who, when he beguiled the mother of mankind, and ruined all her progeny, ufed the foft words of an affected eloquence. The ferpent was however curfed; but the wily hiftorian is invited to a court, rewarded with places of honour and advantage, and eagerly enrolled in the legislative body of a mighty and a chriftian nation.

It is certainly true, that when a government beflows peculiar honour on men who have written againft the religion of the country, and who have impioufly fought against the King of kings, it muft lofe the refpect and attachment of all good men. The religion of a country is unquestionably worthy of more folicitude in its prefervation than the political conftitution, however excellent and admirable. Kings, with all their minions and prerogatives, lawgivers and laws, are trifles compared to that fyftem of religion, on which depends the temporal and eternal welfare of every individual throughout the empire. What avails it, that under a fuccefsful adminiftration the French are beaten, and the Americans fcourged for the fin of rebellion, if the fame adminiftration ruins our beft, our sweetest hopes; thofe which rely on the protection of a kind Providence, and those which cheer us in this vale of mifery, by the bright gleams of a fun which fhall rife to fet no more?

But fuppofing the narrow-minded minifters of a government fo involved in gaming, fenfuality, and temporal concerns, as to view all religion as impofture, and all modes of faith as political contrivances; yet furely they act inconfiftently with the dictates of their own mean and low fpecies of wisdom, when they extirpate, by their example, that religion which they allow to be politically ufeful. What ideas can the multitude entertain of the truth or advantages of a religion, when they fee those who openly deride, and profefs to difbelieve it, poffeffing the greateft power of the ftate, appointing bifhops, and archbishops, and figning, while they fit at the table with a ftrumpet, prefentations to the cure of half the fouls in the three kingdoms? Who, unless he is corrupted by thefe inftances, but

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