od thing
in every word, as well as every sentence. They, however, give a very
favourable idea of his moral character in all respects; and his letters to
Atterbury, in his disgrace and exile, do equal honour to both. If I had to
choose, there are one or two persons, and but one or two, that I should
like to have been better than Pope!

VII

ON THE PERIODICAL ESSAYISTS

"The proper study of mankind is man."

I now come to speak of that sort of writing which has been so successfully
cultivated in this country by our periodical Essayists, and which consists
in applying the talents and resources of the mind to all that mixed mass
of human affairs, which, though not included under the head of any regular
art, science, or profession, falls under the cognisance of the writer, and
"comes home to the business and bosoms of men." _Quicquid agunt homines
nostri farrago libelli_, is the general motto of this department of
literature. It does not treat of minerals or fossils, of the virtues of
plants, or the influence of planets; it does not meddle with forms of
belief or systems of philosophy, nor launch into the world of spiritual
existences; but it makes familiar with the world of men and women, records
their actions, assigns their motives, exhibits their whims, characterises
their pursuits in all their singular and endless variety, ridicules their
absurdities, exposes their inconsistencies, "holds the mirror up to
nature, and shews the very age and body of the time its form and
pressure;" takes minutes of our dress, air, looks, words, thoughts, and
actions; shews us what we are, and what we are not; plays the whole game
of human life over before us, and by making us enlightened spectators of
its many-coloured scenes, enables us (if possible) to become tolerably
reasonable agents in the one in which we have to perform a part. "The act
and practic part of life is thus made the mistress of our theorique." It
is the best and most natural course of study. It is in morals and manners
what the experimental is in natural philosophy, as opposed to the
dogmatical method. It does not deal in sweeping clauses of proscription
and anathema, but in nice distinction and liberal constructions. It makes
up its general accounts from details, its few theories from many facts. It
does not try to prove all black or all white as it wishes, but lays on the
intermediate colours, (and most of them not unpleasing ones,) as it finds
them blended