tory of this writer. What, however, my skill has discovered of him, I will faithfully give. The author of the thirteenth number has been endued from his birth with talents of such a cast, that no branch of study could have been the object of his attention without eminence. He might have been a Virgil or a Martial, a Pliny or a Cicero. He would have succeeded as a poet, a painter, a sculptor, a musician, an historian, or a philosopher:

The world was all before him, where to choose. Happily for this country, he has, (as I find by my art) consecrated his life to religious functions, and to moral and intellectual studies. The more you can induce him to write, the better it will be for mankind:-and I therefore blame you, excuse me, good Mr. DIRECTOR, for being content with a single production, when the interest of the community de manded many.

IN the Bibliographiana, the Postscript to the Fly-flap, the account of the British

Gallery, the Sketches of modern characters the Walk in London; the Mirror of Truth, and the Alarmist, I discover clear and distinct evidence of identity of character. The same talent of application, the same habit of research, and the same urbanity of manner, pervade every part of them. These, however, are marks, which float upon the surface, and may be apparent to your readers as well as to myself: I shall therefore proceed to notice, what, without personal and intimate knowledge of the party, they could not have discovered; and what I, without my own extraordinary art, could not have developed. I find that this gentleman is also of the clerical order; and that, though his affection and attention to literary pursuits are severe and unremitting, yet that he performs with religious and assiduous care all his professional duties. He may therefore exclaim with Cicero, "Who will have any right to blame me, if I devote to these delightful studies those

hours, which others sacrifice to public amusements, to social intercourse, to pleasure, to indolence, to repose* ? His attention to literature, to Bibliographical knowledge, and to the fine arts, united with suavity of manners and facility of conversation, have made him known and respected. But he has not yet reaped those fruits and advantages, which it requires no prophetic character to foretell he will assuredly reap, assuredly reap, whenever his merits and claims are fairly appreciated.

Before I conclude, it may be expected that I shall also notice the contents of your first and introductory number, the

* Quare quis tandem me reprehendat, aut quis mihi jure succenseat, si quantum cæteris ad suas res obeundas, quantum ad festos dies ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias voluptates, et ad ipsam requiem animi et corporis, conceditur temporum: quantum alii tribuunt tempestivis conviviis; quantum denique aleæ, quantum pilæ, tantum mihi egomet ad hæc studia recolenda sumpsero? Cic: PRO ARCHIA.

letter in No. 4 on the Fly-flap, (in which your correspondent has made an egregious mistake as to the right honourable author*), the three papers (No. 12, 15, and

*In your correspondent's conjectures as to the writer of this little Jeu d'Esprit, he is as much mistaken, as the author of the Fly flap, is about the editor of the Director. The initials apply not to any assumed, but to a real character,-not to a foreign adventurer, but to a gentleman descended from the very first class of our nobility; and the work was dictated, not by the desire of debasing, but of improving our own artists. As an additional proof of my art, if further evidence is wanting, I will give you as much of his history, as my skill can derive from so short a paper. The second son of an antient and noble family, he devoted himself, from early youth, to intellectual attainments. He spent an early part of his life, with some peculiar domestic advantages, in those parts of Europe, where the FINE ARTS have been most cultivated and honoured; and he there acquired that liberal and disinterested affection for them, that looks to their prevalence as the ornament and pleasure of mankind, independent of soil or country, or of associations of individuals. At the same time he saw that their first progress in modern Italy and in antient Rome, depended on importations of artists, and examples of art, from Greece; and analogy at least authorized the supposition, that the same mode might be successful in this country. I discover further by my

20) on the Drama; that upon Good Liv ing, and the Life of Mr. Thomas Proctor. As to these, though I know the author as well as I know myself, and am in ha→ bits of intimacy with him, yet I shall say nothing about him. My affection for him is warm and permanent, and I am in his confidence. I cannot therefore persuade myself to reveal all I know of him. To caricature the person of an author, and to advertise his foibles and imperfections,

art, that since his return to his native land, he has embraced many and many opportunities of assisting both English and foreign artists, and of being the friend and protector of talent and genius; and has opened for the learned and curious the most splendid mineralogical collection which this country possesses. With these circumstances before us, we must respect the opinions of such a man, even though we deny the authority; and while we consider the warping of prejudice, which has hitherto prevailed with many of our countrymen in favour of foreign artists, the indisposition to native talents, and the desire of exalting what is extraneous and remote, we shall never class with culprits like these (who deal in the refuse of all the polygraphic manufactures in Europe) an individual, whose clear and distinct object is to promote and improve the fine arts in his native country.