Archipelago. By John Galt, 8vo. 10s. 6d. bds.

in

The Cambrian Traveller's Guide, every Direction; containing Remarks made during many Excursions in the Principality of Wales, and bordering Districts, augmented by Extracts from the best Writers. 8vo. 18s. bds.

Observations made on a Tour from Hamburg, through Berlin, Gorlitz, and Breslau, to Silberberg; and thence to Gottenburg, passing through the late •Headquarters of the Allied Armies. By Robert Semple, Author of two Journeys in Spain, a Sketch of the Caracas, &c. 8ro. 7s bds.

Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia, in 1807, 1808. By Julius Von Klaproth, 4to.

In consequence of the unusual length to which several of the articles in this number have extended, those on Davy's Chemistry and Montgomery's World before the Flood, announced for publication last month, have been unavoidably postponed to the Number for February; which is also intended to contain critiques of Miss Hamilton's Essays, Stewart's History of Bengal, Bodleian Letters, Thomson's Travels in Sweden, &c. &c.

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

FOR FEBRUARY, 1814.

Art. I. An Essay, on the Study and Composition of Biography. By James Field Stanfield, 8vo. pp. 340. Price 10s. 6d. Gale, Curtis, and Fenner; Cradock and Joy. Constable and Co. and Robertsons, Edinburgh. 1813.

IT should seem that there is to man something amazingly bewitching in human nature; since an individual, while he knows that he comprizes in himself a full set of the essential constituents of that nature, and may examine and contemplate them, distinctly or in their combination, as often and as long as he pleases, yet cannot be content without having hundreds or thousands of other individuals brought within the reach of his speculation. He has a far more restless and capacious curiosity relative to this than to any other part of mundane existence. Is it that, from a sentiment of idolatrous homage to the nature of which he is a sharer, he wishes to have the object of his adoration presented to his view in the more imposing magnitude, by means of amassing, and thus forming into a sort of human pantheon, the greatest possible multiplicity of the particular and diversified forms comprehended in the grand substance of his complex divinity? Or is it, that in this extended contemplation he enjoys something like a conscious enlargement of his own individual being, by a certain sympathy which seems to make him in some degree live and act in the various human agents he thus contemplates? Or is it that, while he feels a profound interest in human nature, he finds nevertheless that he cannot apprehend and take hold of that nature, as an object of either sympathy or speculation, excepting by VOL. XI.

Q

means of its specific exhibition in individual characters? Or is it rather to be suspected, after all, that this insatiable inquisitiveness about the beings of his own species is little better than the prompting of pure self-love, incessantly seeking and hoping for some matter of flattering comparison be tween himself and the others of his race? Most certainly, at any rate, it is not, in general, excited by any wish to amend himself by means of what he may learn concerning other men.

But though this last object has so little share in exciting the passion for inquiring into so many other men's lives and characters, it is nevertheless very desirable that lives could be so written, as to convey some corrective instruction into the minds of the readers, almost whether they care about it or not. It is also very desirable that this department of writing could be brought a little within the economy of literary good order, could be subjected to some reasonable laws of selection, proportion, and good workmanship. From the way in which this class of works is very commonly executed, we might be tempted to conclude that all such laws are inapplicable, or suspended, or abrogated. For, almost any man, who has acquired a little skill in putting sentences together, accounts himself qualified to write a life. Almost any life, if the person has had any sort of public or even local distinction, is judged by one or other worker in ink to be a proper subject for formal record. Whatever subject is taken for a memoir, every thing relating to it is considered as worth telling, even down to the fate of a wig or a gold-headed cane. Materials constructed in any manner seem all equally legitimate, narrative, letters of the man and his friends, long register documents, extracts, (if he was an author) from his works. Any sort of method may, indifferently, be adopted, or better still if none at all; any bulk is allowable in recording the most insignificant subject; any matter that the writer is disposed, or fancies himself particularly qualified, to talk about, may be introduced without scruple, and especially he may take the opportunity of saying a great deal about himself.

Who would not be glad if this vicious state of an important literary province could be reformed, by the establishment of a system of principles and rules that should have the effect of reducing biography to the strictness of a science, or at least of an art. The recognized establishment of such an authoritative set of principles, would not secure us against all intrusion of impertinent operators and subjects, but it would go a considerable way in prevention of the mischief, by making readers better judges, by dictating decisively the

law to the writers, and by arming critics with an unquestioned rule and sanction for the punishment of offenders.

It appears to be Mr. Stanfield's object to facilitate, by some preparatory discussions, this rectification of an ill-ordered province of literature, while, with commendable modesty, he declines to assume the office of peremptory and final legislator. His intentions and method are explained in an introduction, which gave us the impression of so much good intention and so much thought, that we sincerely wished not to perceive the marks of indistinct conception, and of a diction correspondently inefficient for giving out the ideas with fulness and precision. With a feeling that half imputed the fault, to our own defective apprehension, we read this preface several times over in order to get into more satisfactory possession of the information it is intended to convey. A rather unfavourable omen appeared to meet us at the very beginning, in the statement of the end, the means, and the motive. These are formally put as distinct things, and yet the first and the last are explained either in terms of identical meaning, or in such a way that the former necessarily includes the latter.

The end proposed to be attained by this Essay is to take such a view of Biography as may assist in developing the priuciples of man's active and moral nature; and in applying that knowledge to his practical improvement.'

The motive which impelled both to the Essay, and to the resolution of laying it before the public, was, and is-a sincere desire to promote, in students as well as writers, through the medium of Biography, a more attentive examination of the principles of the human character; and a very ardent hope that the effects of such investigation may be actively applied to the improveable points of education and conduct.'

The sentence with which the Essay itself was found to commence, was not adapted to remove desponding anticipations.

Man's natural faculties, his education, the progressive intercourse and mutual impression between him and surrounding circumstances, with the habits, course, and conduct of life, resulting therefrom, offer the principal materials to the discerning biographer.'

But we must endeavour to give a slight sketch of the scheme and contents.-The work is thrown into three parts, I. Biography as it has been treated, and the disadvantages it has laboured under. II. Materials of Biography, with improvements suggested. III. Composition.-No reader can fail to perceive how little this division is adapted to bring