most ample
knowledge, and the most vigilant curiosity--one practised in all the
secret arts of literary research in public repositories and in
private collections, and eminently skilled in the whole science of
bibliography--may yet fail with the public. The diligence of BIRCH
has perpetuated his memory by a monument of MSS., but his, touch
was mortal to genius! He palsied the character which could never
die; heroes sunk pusillanimously under his hand; and in his torpid
silence, even MILTON seemed suddenly deprived of his genius.

I have freely enlarged in the _notes_ to this work; a practice which
is objectionable to many, but indispensable perhaps in this species of
literary history.

The late Mr. CUMBERLAND, in a conversation I once held with him on
this subject, triumphantly exclaimed, "You will not find a single note
through the whole volume of my 'Life.' I never wrote a note. The
ancients never wrote notes; but they introduced into their text all
which was proper for the reader to know."

I agreed with that elegant writer, that a fine piece of essay-writing,
such as his own "Life," required notes no more than his novels and his
comedies, among which it may be classed. I observed that the ancients
had no literary history; this was the result of the discovery of
printing, the institution of national libraries, the general literary
intercourse of Europe, and some other causes which are the growth
almost of our own times. The ancients have written history without
producing authorities.

Mr. CUMBERLAND was then occupied on a review of Fox's History; and of
CLARENDON, which lay open before him,--he had been complaining,
with all the irritable feelings of a dramatist, of the frequent
suspensions, and the tedious minuteness of his story.

I observed that _notes_ had not then been discovered. Had Lord
CLARENDON known their use, he had preserved the unity of design in his
text. His Lordship has unskilfully filled it with all that historical
furniture his diligence had collected, and with those minute
discussions which his anxiety for truth, and his lawyer-like mode of
scrutinising into facts and substantiating evidence, amassed. Had
these been cast into _notes_, and were it now possible to pass them
over in the present text, how would the story of the noble historian
clear up! The greatness of his genius will appear when disencumbered
of its unwieldy and misplaced accompaniments.

If this observation be just, it will