it may, without much greater improbability, be protracted to five weeks. A natural train of incidents can

fcarcely be expected from a story accommodated to the ftrict rules of the ftage: They must be dull, few, and uniform, because they are all in fome measure within view, and homprehended at first fight; and in place of incident, there must be spun out long harrangues of common-place morality. Few or none but those who are critically converfant with controverfies of this kind, obferve infringements of time and place, but are all offended with a want of probability in the management of the plot. I have made thefe obfervations, as Shakefpear is more remarkable for adhering to unity of action than to the other two; the one is the offspring of genius alone, the other of art.

To be continued.

On the Hiftory of Authors by Profeffion.

Ea eft hiftoria literarum, atque certe historia mundi, fi hac parte fuerit: deftituta, non abfimilis cenferi poffit ftatuæ Polyphemi evito oculos nam ea pars imaginis defit,quae ingenium et indolem perfonae maxine referat. Bac. de Ang. lib. II. cap.iv.

No. I.

CIVIL hiftory, the register of human calamities and crimes, has been amply, if not always happily treated; while the history of literature, which may be confidered as forming the annals of the human understanding, has been hitherto meagre and incomplete. The reafon why men of letters have thus treated the fource of their fame with fuch ungrateful neglect, it may perhaps be difficult to affign. The caufes which affect the progress of letters, are more remote from common apprehenfion than those which operate political changes. Perhaps this difficulty might have deterred, and perhaps hifto

rians, ambitious of popularity, have been invited to the narration of civil affairs, by the powers which they poffefs over the heart and fancy, and by their fuperior fufceptibility of all the decorations of courtly and popular compofition. Perhaps too, the pride of literature fhrunk from topics which would expofe the debafement and misfortunes of its profeffors, who have ever facrificed themselves for pofterity, and been the victims of their devotion to letters, and their paffion for glory. From that portion of literary history, which is the fubject of our present effay, they have probably been repelled by the latter confideration. But a philofopher, who is incapable of fuch irritable and faftidious vanity, muft perceive the hiftory of thofe to whom the world owes whatever it is, to be a topic of great curiofity and intereft.

I

I fhall preface my remarks, by defining an author by profeffion to be, a perfon, who, in whatever mode, derives his chief fubfiftence from literary productions. This definition is conceived with a latitude fuitable to the views which I am about to unfold. proceed to evince the existence of fuch a defcription of men in every ftate of fociety, and to examine the va rious forms under which they appear, in the various ftages of its progrefs. The bard and the genealogist, are the profeffed authors of fimple ages. The favage hero firft probably fings his own exploits; but the step of focial progrefs produces a divifion of labour. Accident, in the attempt of many, difcovers fome one to be capable of imparting fuperior luftre to the triumph of the warrior, or fuperior fplendor to the rites of the god. The poffeflor of powers thus capable of affording high gratification, is flattered by a difcovery to his vanity and his indolence. He is abfolved from the perils and toils of his fellow favages. He devotes himfelf to their amusement or delight; and he is rewarded by the grateful hofpitality with which every cabin welcomes him who is to applaud or entertain its poffeffors, to melt or gladden it with fong. This may be said to be

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Jan. 12, the firft fubfiftence earned by the exertion of literary talents. This is the firft form under which authors by profeffion appear in the history of fociety. The focial progrefs afterwards exhibits them under other forms, correfponding to the varying circumftances of nations. In refined nations, deftitute of the art of printing, they become lecturers, as the circulation of manuscripts is too limited either for the remuneration of money or fame. Such were the ancient philofophers, though the resemblance, almost exact between their character and that of the profeffed authors of modern times, has not hitherto been remarked. To attend the lectures of a philofopher, was in fact to read the fyftem of his doctrines. Hence Antonnius felt it no degradation to the imperial purple, to attend the course of a profeffor, because he did the fame thing as a modern prince, who fhould retire into his library, to read Montefquieu or Smith. The prefs had not then furnished that organ by which a philofopher may from his closet lecture to the immenfe audience of foreign nations and future ages. Hence the vast collection of pupils in the academy and the lyceum, who had no accefs to the volumes of philofophy, but from the mouth of their authors. It is obvious that their lectures were not like thofe of modern academical inftitutions,-they were not elementary inftructions-they were bold and liberal fpeculations. The Schoolmasters, the elementary inftructors, were, in the execrable ariftocracy of the ancient commonwealths, almost uniformly flaves. The variety of dogma, the contempt of received opinion, the hoftility to established institution, which characterifed fo many of the Grecian fects, clearly distinguish their schools from modern feminaries. The youth of Ionia, of Cyrene, of Sicily, of Magna Grecia, who repaired to Athens, came not to an univerfity, but to a library, not to receive the dogmatic inftruction of tutors, but to judge of the various fpeculations of philofophers. Indeed, the conception of an univerfity was

too grossly abfurd for the fimple and unfophifticated ideas of antiquity. The union of fecular and spiritual defpotifm, and the Gothic transfer of rank and title to literature, were neceflary to produce fuch monftrous establishments. The profeffed authors of our own times demand no elaborate description; and instead of retailing common-place fayings on that fubject, we shall proceed to the establishment of fome general maxims, relating to the history of this class of men.

On Animal Inftincts-The Mole and Worm. ALL animals are endowed by nature with an instinctive fear of danger, and powers, in most cafes, by which they are enabled to diftinguish their enemies, and in fome measure to evade the pursuit of those who seek to devour them. The oyfter, on any profpect of danger, fhuts its fhell; the fnail and the tortoife retreat within the hard coat that covers them; the hedgehog rolls itself into a ball; the chicken, on the first appearance of the kite, is agitated with the most violent alarm, and flies to its mother for protection; and the hare, on the first appearance of a dog, betakes itself to flight, and exerts it utmofl powers to elude its ravenous purfuer. This is a general law of nature; and it extends, as I have reafon to believe, to animals of a lower class than we are accustomed to imagine. The mole, it is well known, feeds upon the common earth worm; but I believe it is not generally known, that in the dark regions it inhabits, it is endowed with faculties for diftinguishing its prey at some distance, and far lefs, that the reptile it is in fearch of can diftinguish its approaching danger, and try to elude it. Yet, from fome facts that have fallen under my own obfervation, there feems to be no doubt of this circumstance, and that in confequence of it, the mole, in the VOL. I.

bowels of the earth, chaces its prey with the fame avidity as the lion, or the wolf, or the bear, upon its furface; and that the worm flies with the fame degree of eagerness from its greedy purfuer, as the stag in the foreft, or the hare among the ftubble.

One damp cloudy day, as I was standing in the garden, contemplating fome of the beautiful productions of the vegetable tribe, I faw the earth near me begin to be heaved up by the working of a mole, and immediately directed my attention to that object. I could foon perceive that the mole was working with an unufual degree of agility, which still more commanded my attention. It was not long before I perceived the head of an earth-worm penetrate the mould with a surprising degree of rapidity-nearly half its body came above the earth at the first push, and at the second, it freed itself from the mould entirely, and ran off along the furface with a degree of agility I never had seen this animal exert till then. The mole too pursued ftill; but on coming very near the surface, immediately defisted, and retired, as I fuppofed, disappointed, from the chace: my imagination at leaft made me conclude this was the cafe. I leave the reader to draw what conclufions he thinks natural from this fact.

Having had my attention thus awakened with regard to this phenomenon, I have been, fince that time, on the watch, in fimilar cafes, to fee if I could obferve the like, and had one opportunity of observing a fimilar mole-chace at a further period. I ftate these facts, of the exactitude of which I am certain, that your readers may take notice if any of them ever remarked any of the fame kind. Whether the inferrence I draw from it be just or not, I leave every one to judge for himself: But if it fhould be admitted that the mole can thus pursue its prey at a distance, we should be forced, I think, to conclude, that it distinguishes its tract by the fcent, like a spaniel or hound; but by