I derive the idea
of the present from the French source I cannot tell. I could point out
a passage in the great Lord BACON which might have afforded the hint.
But I am inclined to think that what induced me to select this topic
was the interest which JOHNSON has given to the literary quarrels
between _Dryden_ and _Settle_, _Dennis_ and _Addison_, &c.; and which
Sir WALTER SCOTT, who, amid the fresh creations of fancy, could delve
for the buried truths of research, has thrown into his narrative of
the quarrel of _Dryden_ and _Luke Milbourne_.

From the French work I could derive no aid; and my plan is my own. I
have fixed on each literary controversy to illustrate some principle,
to portray some character, and to investigate some topic. Almost every
controversy which occurred opened new views. With the subject, the
character of the author connected itself; and with the character were
associated those events of his life which reciprocally act on each
other. I have always considered an author as a human being, who
possesses at once two sorts of lives, the intellectual and the vulgar:
in his books we trace the history of his mind, and in his actions
those of human nature. It is this combination which interests the
philosopher and the man of feeling; which provides the richest
materials for reflection; and all those original details which spring
from the constituent principles of man. JOHNSON'S passion for literary
history, and his great knowledge of the human heart, inspired at once
the first and the finest model in this class of composition.

The Philosophy of Literary History was indeed the creation of BAYLE.
He was the first who, by attempting a _critical dictionary_, taught us
to think, and to be curious and vast in our researches. He ennobled a
collection of facts by his reasonings, and exhibited them with the
most miscellaneous illustrations; and thus conducting an apparently
humble pursuit with a higher spirit, he gave a new turn to our
studies. It was felt through Europe; and many celebrated authors
studied and repeated BAYLE. This father of a numerous race has an
English as well as a French progeny.

JOHNSON wrote under many disadvantages; but, with scanty means, he
has taught us a great end. Dr. BIRCH was the contemporary of
JOHNSON. He excelled his predecessors; and yet he forms a striking
contrast as a literary historian. BIRCH was no philosopher, and I
adduce him as an instance how a writer, possessing the