Art. III. A Series of Letters between Mrs. Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catherine Talbot, and Letters from Mrs. Elizabeth Garter to Mrs. Vesey; published from the original MSS. in the Possession of the Rev. M. Pennington, M.A. Vicar of Northbourn in Kent, her Nephew and Executor. 2 vols. 4to. pp. 1014. Price 37. 3s. Rivingtons. 1808. THE publication of private correspondence is a sort of raging

epidemic in our country. The versatile and fascinating style of Cowper in his epistolary writings, which, like what is said of the Arabic language, could impart agreeableness to the most trifling and familiar subject, and lead the mind with delight from grave to gay, from lively to severe, gave the first strong impulse to this custom. Such is the imitative spirit of our countrymen, that they no sooner behold a new experi ment, even in literature, tried with success, than they set about gratifying the public with numberless repetitions of it. It was easy for a person of but little foresight to predict, at the time when the letters of Cowper were entertaining the world, the vast number of domestic scenes which would be laid open, the effusions of friendship which would be soon poured into the bosom of the public, and the endless changes of sentiment which would be struck from manly heads and breathed from female hearts for the general good. There is, however, united with this imitative and accommodating disposition, a propensity to push things too far, and to pamper the public appetite even to repletion with what it has once professed to relish. We thought we discovered symptoms of loathing some time ago, after a very heavy epistolary repast; and we much question whether the tone of the stomach is sufficiently recovered to bear the one to which it is now invited.

There are some defects naturally to be expected in private letters not designed for publication. The reader is frequently in the situation of a man who hears a stranger give a long account of himself. If indeed the latter is lately come from exploring the source of the Nile, or penetrating into the Haram of a Turkish Sultan, the more he talks of himself the better his auditor is pleased. But if he only gives a history of commou feelings, and common opinions, and common plans, and common situations, and common incidents, he will wear out patience and lose attention. Private letters among friends must from their very nature dwell much on the affairs and feelings of the writer. Why do we chiefly wish to hear from our near and valued friends, but to be satisfied of their welfare, to be made acquainted with the various pleasures and pains they have experienced, and the pursuits in which they are engaged. We expect and require them to write of themselves. Egotism is the first, second, and third qualification of a letter. A tale of symptoms about a head ach often raises greater interest

than the probability of a national defeat; and the information of that head ach being relieved, communicates livelier emotions of joy than the report of a splendid victory over the enemy. The detail of a visit to a watering place with a party is read with greater eagerness, than the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks to the shores of the Euxine. The description of an evening ramble to the top of a hill is preferred before the daring excursion of Mutius Scævola to the camp of Porsenna. But talk of the symptoms, the relief, the watering-place, the evening ramble, to a person who has no intimate acquaintance or friendship with the hero or heroine of the story, and he must summon up all his good breeding to endure your misplaced loquacity.

Epistolary communications between friends are made also without niuch care or study. The thoughts are dropped upon pane at random and in profusion, and often clothed in very awkward and inconvenient language. Unawed by the dread of ilatured ridicule, or even the salutary fear of just condemnation, relying on the indulgent interpretations of friendship, and restricted perhaps within a short space of tibic, the correspondent pours forth the ideas which first present themselves, without the trouble of investigation, comparison, and selec tion; he ft. The rush into his mind, without disturbing his fluency for the sake of arrangement, studied imagery, or precision. Hasty conceptions and deliberate judgements, bright sparks of fancy and clouds of dulness, effusions of forced or morbid sensibility, and the spontaneous dictates of pure nature, breathing thoughts and burning words, mixed with insipidity and nonsense, are the common dissimilar ingredients of epistolary composition, even among men of genius and reflection. But when a writer presumes to challenge the attention of the whole world, he knows, for experienced authors have taught him, that he addresses not an indulgent friend, but an impartial, if not a severe judge. He is therefore anxious to separate the chaff of his notions from the wheat. He' arrays his thoughts in their full dress; he applies his cosmetics, lays on his colours, and adjusts his ornaments. The offspring of his lucubrations is presented before the majesty of the public with every advantage of appearance and solid excellence, which care and training can bestow. It is not in letters designed only for the eye of a friend that we must expect elaborate, correct, and well conducted discussions, or any considerable stock of useful information, but in formal addresses to the world at large. ̈

embodies them in the first forms of lang for ch

The present work has in a high degree the general defects which have been pointed out. The ladies, whose letters are now published, lived a considerable part of their time in the

retirement of the country, and occasionally mixed in the com pany of the metropolis. They were both afflicted with bad health, and anxious to receive intelligence of each other's welfare. Hence bulletins respecting the state of the animal spirits, or the clearness of the head, narrations of tea-parties, and of introductions to new acquaintance, descriptions of rural walks and city crowds, details of local and domestic occur rences, must of course be expected; and notwithstanding the talents and information of these accomplished women, we often meet with broken hints and unsubstantiated opinions on general subjects of discussion and interesting questions of literature, in the place of extended and well-connected observations, or sound and legitimate conclusions.

"The letters of Miss Talbot are by far the most valuable and entertaining part of this work. The short account which had appeared in Mrs. Carter's life, of this highly interesting female, as well as her essays and reflections which have been long in the possession of the public, raised in our minds great curiosity to know more of her character. The present publication has gratified our wishes; for whatever defects may belong to a private correspondence among friends, it has the recom-mendation of conveying an accurate notion of the dispositions," manners, and pursuits of the writer. Miss Talbot's mind was. of the first order of fine intellects. Possessing a judgement' which by a sort of intuition, and without any laboured application of critical rules, at once perceived the merits and faults of a literary performance, all subsequent investigation and discussion served only to confirm the decision which her just feelings had at first led her to pronounce. With this faculty was united a lively, ardent, active imagination, which, if it did not take a poetic turn and give to "airy nothing a local habitation and a name," invested the solid and weighty determi nations of her judgement with a grace, spirit, and motion, which doubly enhanced their value and force. If there is not originality in her compositions, there is independence. If she thought like other people, she at least thought for herself. And her writings have the ease, the freedom, and the native charms which can never belong to their productions, who wreathe togetherthe flowers of another's fancy. The amiable dispositions of her heart were superior even to the qualities of her mind. To enumerate her excellences will have the appearance of indiscriminate panegyric, though it be only the language of truth. So much disinterested benevolence, such a decided preference of moral and religions worth to the delusive glare of worldly accomplishments, such a constant and practical concern for the feelings, as well as the present and future interests of those around her, such a grateful sense of kind

nesses received, such patient submission in the midst of afflic tion, and such a rational improvement of the varying dispensations of providence, will not often be found among the frail inhabitants of this ruined worid. At the root of all these moral and intellectual qualities, invigorating their growth, determining their direction, and communicating exquisite beauty and intrinsic value, lay a sacred regard to the will and authority of the Governor of the world, and a fervid desire to dedicate to the service and glory of the bounteous Giver, the precious talents which he had entrusted to her care. There is a tradition that these varied excellences of mind and character were enshrined in a beautiful form.

One thing, however, we deplore. With her sincere and permanent desire to observe the duties of religion, there was a defect in her conduct which followed her through life. She countenanced by her presence, and approved by her avowal, the criminal modes of amusement which are prevalent among the affluent classes of society. This amiable and accomplished woman is sometimes seen joining in the promiscuous humours of a masquerade, and lending her delicate ear to the ribaldry and profaneness of an English theatre. We charge her not with any wilful aberration from the line of duty. She was prejudiced from early youth, and overruled in her maturer opinions, by the example and advice of those about her, to whom her own modest mind was induced to yield an undue deference. On one or two occasions, we were indignant at Mrs. Carter's phlegmatic and logical attempts to silence the doubts of her friend on this head, and were grieved at the success which her arguments obtained. We do not scruple to. impute to this defect in Miss Talbot's conduct the frequent hours of unhappiness of which she complains, and which to her appeared unaccountable. A heart like hers, so convinced of the vanity of worldly pursuits, and so disposed for the exercise of Christian faith, hope, and charity, might have enjoyed solid peace and permanent cheerfulness, if its emotions had not been checked or suppressed by the infusion of a worldly spirit. And probably some of the readers of these volumes, who will without doubt admire the worth of this estimable character, and lament the small share of earthly happiness she enjoyed, will be taught by her example to avoid the troubled sea which caused her disquiet.

The letters of Mrs. Carter are very inferior to Miss Talbot's, There is a philosophical heaviness and stoical coldness about them which are scarcely feminine, and a strain of common place observation extremely tedious. She has not the talent for awaking and keeping awake the attention and interest of the reader. What she says is true, nobody can deny it, but it required

Her

not a lady well versed in the dead languages to say so. letters contain many natural, but they are also obvious remarks. She seems rather qualified by nature to store up the thoughts of others, or having a set of premises given to her hands to deduce a just conclusion, than endued with a fertility of invention which creates materials and emits the light which gives them shape, and colour, and beauty. She had studied critical rules more than Miss Talbot; but the judgements of the latter are more correct than hers. The one came to pass a decision with a rule and compass in her hand; the other relied on the never failing steadiness and penetration of a master eye, taking in varieties and combinations which a rule and compass can never measure. It is not unpleasing to see the triumph of nature over the force of art, and observe the inferiority of laboured rhetoric to the native dictates of an independent understanding, in the facility with which Mrs. C. is brought over to the opinion of Miss Talbot, whenever they happen to differ on matters of taste. The style of Mrs. C. is devoid of that undefinable fascination and grace, without which simplicity is awkwardness, splendor but a cumbrous weight of ridiculous ornament, and even perspicuity itself uninviting and dull.

In reading the correspondence of these two ladies, we felt fatigued and relieved alternately. We experienced, like Pope's nun, "labour and rest which equal periods keep;" and the dulness of the one, and the occasional tenderness or spirit of the other, reminded us also of the remaining line of the couplet," obedient slumbers that can wake and weep." We are of opinion that the letters of Mrs. C. to Miss T. will be read, if they are read, as a key to those of the latter; and that her letters to Mrs. Vesey, which are not relieved by the answers, though these are said to be well worthy of publication, will not be read at all, except a few taken as a specimen of the rest.

We shall illustrate our observations by a few extracts.

Miss Talbot to Mrs. Carter.

I hope you are sensible, my dear Miss Carter, that I have taken due time to consider what consolatory advice I can give you, in case the calamity you seem so apprehensive of should happen, and your unfaithful friend forsake the society of us spinsters. I really know no better expedient than that you should be beforehand with her, since I have always observed that the people who set out upon a journey, are much less affected at parting, than those who stay on in the same situation without any variety of new objects to dispel their melancholy. By this means you will make sure of an inseparable friend, since I have read in a book (David Simple by name) that a real friend is only to be found in that state. If you do pot like this scheme, you must turn Roman catholic, and go into a convent