terrible, and he supports his opinion by an appeal to experience; for in utter darkness, it is impossible to know in what degree of safety we stand; we are ignorant of the objects that surround us; we may every moment strike against some dangerous obstructions; we may fall down a precipice, the first step we take; and if an enemy approach, we know not in what quarter to defend ourselves; in such a case, strength is no sure protection; wisdom can only act by guess; the boldest are staggered; and he who would pray for nothing else is forced to pray for light.

Having largely explicated the physical cause of the passion, in which the principle of sublimity originates, the inquirer proceeds to a consideration of Love, as the passion naturally produced by Beauty and here among various remarks of uncommon force and elegance, is one on the contrast between small and vast objects, which cannot easily be paralleled by anything in the writings of ancient or modern philosophers.

The fifth part on the influence of Words, is no less argumentative and original than the rest of the Inquiry. In this part, words are divided into three classes.-The first class com-. prehends those which are aggregates, or such as represent many simple ideas united by nature to form one determinate composition, as

man, horse, tree, &c. The second class consists of words, which stand for one simple idea of such compounds and no more, as red, blue, round, square, and the like; these are called simple abstract words. The third class is formed by an arbitrary union of both the others, and of the various relations between them, in greater or less degrees of complexity; as virtue, honor, persuasion, magistrate, and the like. These last are the compound abstract words, of which the author says, that not being real essences, they hardly cause any real ideas. This, however, is a doubtful position, and somewhat paradoxical, for surely, though determinate images cannot be raised in the mind by such terms, simply expressed, it seems too far from a just conclusion, that no ideas whatever are suggested by them. Virtue for instance is a word that cannot excite an image, or be embodied, as it were, to the mind's eye, yet where is the person of understanding, who is destitute of an idea of what is meant by the expression, though it is out of his power to give a precise definition of it?

There is another questionable assertion in this part, and that is where the ingenious author says, So little does Poetry depend for its effect on the power of raising sensible images, that I am convinced it would lose a very considerable part of its energy, if this

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were the necessary result of all descriptionbecause that union of affecting words, which is the most powerful of all poetical instruments, would frequently lose its force along with its propriety, and consistency, if the sensible images were always excited."

In opposition to this doctrine, it is sufficient to adduce the authority of Longinus, to whom alone, as a philosophical critic, is BURKE inferior. That elegant writer in his section on imagery, says, "Visions, which by some are called images, contribute very much to the weight, magnificence, and force of composition. The name of an image is generally given to any idea, however represented to the mind, which is communicable to others by discourse: but a more particular sense of it has now become prevalent: when for instance, the imagination is so warmed and affected, that you seem to behold yourself, the very things you are describing, and to display them to the life, before the eyes of an audience. Rhetorical and poetical images, however, have a different object; the design of the latter is surprise, that of the former is perspicuity."

Thus the greatest critic of antiquity, held imagery to be the highest effect of mental exertion; whereas our illustrious modern will not allow that Poetry can with any propriety be

called an art of imitation; in which opinion, we believe, he has had but few if any followers. Nor indeed has the principal doctrine of his admirable work, that of making Terror the great cause of the Sublime, been suffered to pass without contradiction, and some writers of late, have held it up to ridicule in a manner, which shows more malignity than acumen. To the second edition of the Inquiry, the author prefixed an excellent discourse concerning Taste, which faculty he does not presume to describe by a formal definition, though he ascribes to it the general power of forming a judgment on works of imagination and the arts.

In the same year with this original Treatise, came out, a compilation in two volumes, entitled "An Account of the European Settlements in America;" which the public voice long concurred in ascribing to Mr. BURKE, without any contradiction of it on his part; nor was it till sometime after his demise, that his right to the work was called in question. That the performance was worthy of his pen, few persons who have read it carefully will venture to deny; and certain it is that the ablest judges of literary composition, and those the most intimate with Mr. BURKE, very readily acquiesced in the general opinion of its origin. The Abbé Raynal, in particular, was so sensible of the value of this history of the European

Colonies in America, as to incorporate almost the whole of it in his own elaborate and philo'sophical work on the Indies. Another publication, but of a more permanent character, which at this period did credit to the fertile genius and indefatigable industry of BURKE, was the Annual Register. There is reason to believe, that the idea of this valuable compilation, suggested itself during the progress of the preceding history, occasioned by the difficulties which the author found in his research, after the facts necessary for the elucidation of his subject. Upon this he drew up the plan of a yearly volume, to contain a digested record of foreign and domestic events; an arrangement of public papers with other documentary matter; and extracts from new books of importance, illustrative of the literary, scientific, and political history of the times. The plan being submitted to Dodsley, was readily adopted by that active publisher, and in the month of June 1759, the first volume made its appearance, all the original matter of which was furnished by Mr. BURKE, who continued to write the historical part, and to superintend the whole collection for many years afterwards.

These laborious exertions, which had for their object, the attainment of an honorable independence, produced a debility in the frame of Mr. BURKE, that gave great alarm to his