fertile mind teemed with ideas, which he delivered in so clear, and yet concise a manner, that no one could be at a loss perfectly to comprehend his meaning, or ever tired by hearing him speak; especially as his diction was so unaffectedly pure, and his language so simply elegant, that the learned and unlearned attended with equal pleasure to that unstudied flow of eloquence, which, without seeming to look for them, always adopted those words which were most suitable to the subject, as well as most pleasing to his hearers. It has been objected to him, that he suffered his passions to hold too strong a dominion over him; and it must be confessed, a too keen sensibility seemed to him, as indeed it ever is to all who possess it, a pleasing but unfortunate gift. Alive to every tender sentiment of friendship, his heart dilated with joy whenever heaven put it in his power to be beneficial to those he loved; but this feeling disposition was the means of leading him into such frequent, though transient gusts of passion, as were too much for his delicate constitution to obear, without feeling the effects of them. with all these quick sensations, he was incapable of lasting resentment, or revenge: and had he never found an enemy till he had done an injury, he would, we may venture to pronounce, have left the world without having known one*.”

Yet

Dr. HAWKESWORTH'S shares of the ADVENTURER amounts: exactly to a half, or seventy papers. Of these some are to be distinguished for depth of reflection, some for ingenuity of

* Annual Register, 1775.

narrative, and some for a kind of humour, rather placid, if not solemn. In his style, it is needless to say, he approached the nearest to Dr. JOHN¬ SON of any writer of his time. Mr. BOSWELL informs us, that he had "the provoking effrontery" to say he was not sensible of this: he probably meant that he was not sensible he affected or laboured to imitate Dr. JOHNSON. That the re

semblance is strong he could not be more ignorant than the rest of the world. Yet if his papers are examined carefully with an eye to this resemblance, it will be found that it is more close in the beginning of his essays, and in the concluding paragraphs than in the body.

Of all his papers, those have been most admired which consist 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. 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,

It is

In treating the most common topics, Dr. HAWKESWORTH'S illustrations are peculiarly striking. Few men could have deduced the necessity of subjecting the imagination to the dominion of reason, from two incidents so apparently trifling as those in No. 96; and it must surely be an evidence of great powers of thinking, and great knowledge of the human heart, when a writer can elicit general instruction from scenes that seem restricted to the individuals who bore a part in them, as in No. 106, 110, 112, &c.

The incidents of which his stories consist were probably some of them true, some borrowed, and some feigned. The masquerade scene in the history of Desdemona is evidently borrowed from Mrs. HEYWOOD'S FEMALE SPECTATOR, Vol. i. a book which must then have been in common use. No. 52," the Distresses of an Author invited to read his play," without losing much of its claim to originality, may yet be compared with "The Scholar's Complaint of his own bashfulness," in No. 157 of the RAMBLER. The falling of the screen in HAWKESWORTH'S story was no fiction. It happened to GAY when he was invited to read his tragedy, The Captives, before the PRINCESS of WALES. When the hour came, he saw the Prin cess and her ladies all in expectation and advanc ing with reverence, too great for any other atten tion, stumbled at a stool, and falling forwards, threw down a weighty japan screen. The Prin cess started, the ladies screamed, and poor GAY, after all the disturbance, was still to read his play*,

* JOHNSON's Life of GAY.

This was a favourite paper with Dr. HAWKES WORTH, who, however, did not think more highly of it than it deserves. When it came to be reprinted in 12mo. he made many additions, particularly the whole of the introductory paragraph. The original began with that every man is happy,' &c. Like Dr. JOHNSON, he revised all his papers with great care, and made alterations in the style and turn of the periods, although none of sufficient importance to be specified.

The stipulated price which all the authors of the ADVENTURER received, was two guineas each paper. This was advanced by the bookseller, who risked all expences, and was soon amply rewarded by a more quick sale than the RAMBLER had experienced. Besides this emolument, Dr. HAWKESWORTH, as we have seen, owed to this work his best fame and character, his degree from Archbishop HERRING, and a rank in the literary world which he had not hitherto reached.

The early coadjutor of Dr. HAWKESWORTH in the ADVENTURER, before either Dr. JOHNSON or Dr. WARTON had joined him, is said to have been Dr. RICHARD BATHURST, at that time one of the members of Dr. JOHNSON'S Ivy-lane Club, and highly esteemed by him. He was the son of a Colonel BATHURST, a West India planter, from whom Dr. JOHNSON received his black servant, Francis Barber. Dr. BATHURST was a physician of considerable skill, but without much practice, and embracing an opportunity of employment abroad, fell a sacrifice to the climate, in the expedition against the Havannah. His death was thus tenderly lamented by Dr. JOHNSON in a letter to

Mr. LANGTON :- "The Havannah is taken-a conquest too dearly obtained-for BATHURST died before it.

Vix Priamus tanti totaque Troja fuit.

One sentiment of Dr. BATHURST's is upon record, which, although expressed rather extravagantly, does honour to his humanity. He declared he was glad that his father had left his affairs in total ruin, because having no estate, he was not under the temptation of having slaves. Dr. JOHNSON used to repeat this with a warmth of approbation *.

66

Of his share in the ADVENTURER, Mr. BoşWELL has given an account rather confused. He first asserts that Dr. JOHNSON took an active part in the composition of the ADVENTURER, in which he began to write April 10, marking his essays with the signature T. by which most of his papers in that collection are distinguished;" and then adds, "those, however, which have that sig nature, and also that of Misargyrus, were not written by him, but, as I suppose by Dr. BA• THURST." Besides the contradictory assertions, that Dr. JOHNSON did write with the signature T. and immediately after that he did not, there are these two mistakes in this account. Dr. JOHNSON began to write in the ADVENTURER, not on April 10, but March 3, and not only most but all his papers are marked with the signature T. unless in very incorrect editions, one of which, as will

• LANGTON apud BOSWELL. Vol. iii. p. 275,