ligion; and because he doubted the special interposition of Providence, when the Endeavour struck, and was got off, charges him, totidem verbis, with insolent and dark impiety. If Dr. HAWKESWORTH could not persuade himself that GOD was at that moment contriving the special rescue of the Endeavour, his want of conviction in such a questionable crisis, hardly merited so uncharitable an imputation. And if he died a deist,' as the St. James's Chronicle, apud CHALMERS, has asserted, it is not therefore for us Trinitarians to asperse his memory, nor to start conjectures upon his perdition. The Bishop of NORWICH, in his late answer to the Unitarians of Diss, applied very beautifully that fine exclamation of our Saviour's, in which he enjoins us to be tolerant in all matters of doctrine. Who art THOU that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.'

The writings of Dr. HAWKESWORTH teem with deep and original thinking, and he approached the most trivial subjects with a singular felicity of illustration. His resemblance to JOHNSON, both in style and sentiment, was greater than that of any contemporary writer, and perhaps was more the effect of a congeniality of taste and power, than any result of studied imitation. Mr. BosWELL was very angry with HAWKESWORTH, for arrogating to himself the merit of his own style, and taxes him with 'provoking effrontery,' for not confessing that he was a servum pecus. HAWKESWORTH, as well as JOHNSON, elaborately retouched all his papers*.

* Of all his papers, those have been most admired, which con

We now come to the author of the papers marked A., round whom it would seem that Mr. CHALMERS has thrown an unnecessary veil of obscurity. Dr. RICHARD BATHURST, the intimate friend of Dr. JOHNSON, and at that time one of the members of his Ivy-lane Club, was the early associate of Dr. HAWKESWORTH in the ADVENTURER, and the undoubted author of these papers. He was the son of a Colonel BATHURST of the West Indies, and from him Dr. JOHNSON received his black servant, FRANCIS BARBer. Dr. BATHURST was a physician, possessing more talent and ambition than practice, and on the sailing of the expedition against the Havannah, he accompanied it on a staff appointment, and fell a sacrifice to the climate. JOHNSON, who tenderly loved BATHURST, in communicating to his friend LANGTON the capture of the Havannah, with such a drawback, pathetically adds

Vix Priamus tanti, totaque Troja, fuit.

Mr. BosWELL, it must be allowed with CHAL

sist of eastern tales or domestic narratives; as the story of Melissa, Opsinous, &c. His Amurath is, perhaps, the most instructive tale of the kind in any language, and has been reprinted in a variety of forms in books adapted for the use of children. The stories of Opsinous, of Charlotte and Maria, of Eugenio, of Abulus, of Desdemona, and of Flavilla, are told with impressive elegance, and discover an accurate knowledge of the human heart, and an uncommon felicity in displaying the workings of the passions. That of Agamus cannot be read without exciting a powerful interest. It is to be feared, it turns upon an incident more common than is generally suspected among those who extend their licentious indulgences to a late period of life. Every where, indeed, his practical morality is to be preferred to his philosophy of ethics; for the latter is frequently perplexed, and leads to erroneous conclusions.-Preface to the ADVENTURER, by CHAL

MERS.

MERS, does give rather a confused account of the share which BATHURST had in the ADVENTURER; but there is too much corroborative external evidence, to throw the question into any perplexity. Sir JOHN HAWKINS affirms positively that Dr. BATHURST wrote the papers signed A., and HAWKESWORTH himself admits that BATHURST was his early coadjutor. If, then, any papers in the ADVENTURER were furnished by BATHURST, it must be those which were so signed, for all the rest have been accounted for. So far, is conceded even by Mr. CHALMERS; yet he takes upon himself to contravene the direct testimony of SIR JOHN HAWKINS, upon so impeachable an authority as the on dit of a Biographical Dictionary. If Mr. CHALMERS had spoken hesitatingly on the matter, we might leave him where he is; but when, in reference to the express affirmation of Sir JOHN HAWKINS, he tells us that it is certainly wrong, we are bound to examine upon what evidence he sets aside so competent and credible a witness. In the memoir, then, of BONNEL THORNTON, in the twenty-ninth volume of the Biographical Dictionary,' -an anonymous communication-we find this passage. Besides these publications, he (THORNTON) is said to have written the papers in the ADVENTURER, marked A.' What degree of credit, when contrasted with so much honourable and concurrent testimony, is due to this obscure and unavowed conjecture, it does not seem difficult to determine. Mr. CHALMERS, it will be seen, settles the question summarily. The papers marked A., amount to eight, all of the hu

morous cast. These formed the resource which Dr. HAWKESWORTH, in No. 140, says, 66 soon failed," probably by the author's going abroad, if indeed the author was BATHURST; but it must not be concealed that the writer of BONNEL THORNTON'S life in the Biographical Dictionary, has assigned these papers to him, and notwithstanding Sir JOHN HAWKINS's assertion, I have not the LEAST DOUBT that they were the production of THORNTON, who quitted the ADVENTURER to become a joint partner in the CONNOISSEUR.' It is hoped that Mr. CHALMERS will not be offended at this freedom of examination, for we greatly respect his editorial exertions, and general impartiality and candour. But an arbitrary assumption against the concurrent testimony of JOHNSON, BOSWELL, HAWKINS, HAWKESWORTH, and Mrs. WILLIAMS, demanded an investigation*.

JOHNSON'S papers in the ADVENTURER are twenty-nine. Their general complexion is lighter and livelier than his RAMBLERS, but they are distinguished by the same characteristics of style and thought, and by frequent revertings to the topics which most engrossed him; the concerns of a literary life, and the advancement of literature. He once, in No. 120, again descants on the bitterness of being,' and pursues a train of dark and saddening reflections. All the papers of JOHNSON in the AD

* Compare BOSWELL'S Life of JOHNSON, Vol. I., pages 182, 197, et seq. and in the notes, page 336. All the evidence in favour of THORNTON, contained in the biographical memoir of that gentleman, and which induced Mr. CHALMERS to impugn the veracity of Sir JOHN HAWKINS, and a host of conclusive circumstantial testimony, is comprehended in the extracted paragraph.

VENTURER are marked with a T., and he revised them for a new edition with the same labour and assiduity that he bestowed upon his lucubrations in the RAMBLER.

Dr. JOSEPH WARTON, who, in compliance with the request of JOHNSON, accepted the province of criticism and literature,' enriched the ADVENTURER with twenty-four contributions. He was born about the year 1722 at Basingstoke, of which place his father, the Rev. THOMAS WARTON, who then held the chair of poetry at Oxford, was the vicar. He received his early education at home, and at fourteen he was sent to Winchester. In 1740 he was entered of Oriel College, at Oxford, where he distinguished himself by the cultivation of polite literature and the classics, and became known as the author of some poetical pieces of great merit. After taking the degree of B. A. in 1744, he officiated for two years as his father's curate at Basingstoke; and in 1746, accepted the curacy of Chelsea. He published a small volume of Odes' in 1747; and in 1756, an Essay on the Writings. and Genius of POPE, without his name, Vol. I.; the second volume did not appear till the year 1782, from a tenderness for the feelings of Dr. WARBURTON, whom he did not mention very respectfully, as a critic, but who had been a good friend to his brother. In 1753 he published a poetical translation of the works of VIRGIL, Conjointly with the Rev. CHRISTOPHER PITT: the Eneid, by PITT, and the Eclogues and Georgics by WARTON. WARTON's translations are said to excel DRYDEN's in fidelity and perspicacity,