The  public  wOuld  have  perhaps  welcomed
Mr.  Godwin's  reappearance  as  an  author,
most  heartily,  if  he  nad  chosen  the  part  of  a
novelist.  In  that  character  his  name  is  high,
and  his  eminence  undisputed.  The  time  is
long  past  since  this  would  have  been  thought
a  slight,  or  even  secondary  praise.  No  ad-
dition of  more  unquestionable  value  has
been  made  by  the  modems,  to  the  treasures
of  literature  inherited  from  antiquity,  than
those  fictions  which  paint  the  manners  and
character  of  the  body  of  mankind,  and  affect
the  reader  by  the  relation  of  misfortunes
which  may  oefall  himself.  The  English
nation  would  have  more  t6  lose  than  any
other,  by  undervaluing  this  species  of  compo-
sition. Richardson  has  .perhaps  lost,  though
unJBStTy,  a  part  of  his  popularity  at  home ;
but  he  still  contributes  to  support  the  fame
of  his  country  abroad.  The  small  blemishes
of  his  diction  are  lost  in  translation ;  and  the
chanopes  of  English  manners,  and  the  occa-
sional homeliness  of  some  of  his  represen-
tation^, are  unfelt  by  foreigners.  Fielding
will  for  ever  remajn  the  delight  of  his  coun-
try^ and  xrill  always  retain  his  place  in  the
lioraiies  of  Europe,  notwithstanding  the  un-
fortunate grossness, — the  mark  of  an  un-
cultivated taste, — ^which  if  not  yet  entirely
excluded  from  conversation,  has  been  for


*  From  the  Edinb.  Rev.  vol.  xxv.  p.  48!S.»fiD,
32      •


some  time  banished  from  our  writings,  where,
during  the  best  age  of  our  national  genius,
it  prevailed  more  than  in  those  of  any  other
polished  nation.  -  It  is  impossible  in  a  Scot-
tish journal,  to  omit  Smollett,  even  if  there
had  not. been  much  belter  reasons  for  the
mention  of  his  name,  than  for  the  sake  of
observing,  that  he  and  Arbuthnot  are  suffi-
cient to  rescue  Scotland  from  the  imputation
of  wanting  talent  for  pleasantry:  though,  it
must  be  owned,  we  are  grave  people,  hap-
pily educated  under  an  austere  system  of
morals ;  possessing,  perhaps^  some  humour,
in  our  peculiar  dialect,  but  tearful  of  taking
the  liberty  of  jesting  in  a  foreign  language
like  the  E^glisn ;  prone  to  abstruse  specula-
tion, to  vehement  dispute,  to  eapemess  in
the  pursuit  of  business  ana  ambition,  and  to
all  tliose  intent  occupations  of  mina  which
mthy  mdispose  it  to  unbend  in  easy  play-
fulness.
