made its appearance on Saturday, March the 23d, 1756, and was continued weekly to November the 6th, 1756, when it closed with the thirtyfifth number. The style of the Prater is much superior to that of the generality of his contemporary essay. ists; there is a pleasing variety in the choice of subject, many traits of humour and character are exhibited, and a few specimens of elegant de scription. 14. THE PRATTLER. I have introduced the title of this paper, and in this place, not only in consequence of having seen it referred to, but from the similarity of its appellation to the pre ceding work, and from the probability of its being no distant successor of the Prater. I have hitherto been disappointed in obtaining a copy. 15. THE HERALD. A political paper published in the year 1758, and now of little value or interest. 16. THE BEE. Of the life of the author of this production, the celebrated Oliver Goldsmith, the limits of these essays, now rapidly approaching to a conclusion, will not admit an adequate detail. We must therefore rest satisfied with a few observations on his periodical compositions. The first number of the Bee was published on Saturday, October the 6th, 1759, and was continued weekly for a short period. In the last edition of our author's works, published in 1806, the Bee extends but to eight numbers, the last being dated November 24th, 1759. In the year following he contributed to the " Public Ledger" a series of essays entitled 17. THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD, which, though termed " Letters," have very little claim to that appellation. They are in number one hundred and twenty-two, and were, in 1762, first collected into two volumes 12mo. From this work, and from the Bee, their author subsequently selected a few papers, and, with much additional matter, published them in 1765, in a small volume 12mo. He also, in the year 1760, engaged in another periodical work, called In this 18. THE GENTLEMAN'S JOURNAL. he was assisted by the communications of various writers; but, notwithstanding all their efforts, it soon ceased to exist, dying, as Goldsmith phrased it, "of too many doctors." The periodical writings of Dr. Goldsmith are possessed of great, and marked, excellence. Their style is inferior to no compositions in the language; it is remarkably unaffected, easy, and elegant; whilst, at the same time, it is correct in its construction, and plastic in its powers of adaptation. Wit, humour, imagination, and pathos, by turns relieve and interest the reader of these essays, who experiences during their perusal a singular fascination, arising from the peculiar manner or naiveté of the writer. A selection from the periodical labours of Goldsmith, including his Essays and a considerable portion of his Bee and Citizen of the World, should be admitted, under the title which he first adopted, namely, that of "The Bee," into the body of our Classical Essayists. Two volumes might thus be formed which, in point of style, interest, and moral tendency, would scarcely be exceeded by any in the collection. 19. THE VISITOR. The conductor and chief author of this collection was Dr. William Dodd, whose dissipated life and disgraceful death are sufficiently known to the public. The Visitor made its original appearance in the "Ledger" during the years 1760 and 1761; and, having acquired some popularity, a selection from it was republished in two volumes 12mo. in 1764. Dodd was assisted in the composition of these papers by several of his friends, among whom were Mr. Thompson and Mr. Duncombe. The Visitor, as it appears in volumes, consists of eighty-five numbers, of which very few rise beyond mediocrity, either in style or matter. Many of the essays are on religious subjects; but the mode in which they are treated is frequently too vague and declamatory; the tendency of the whole, however, is unexceptionably good. 20. THE SCHEMER. The author of this whimsical but entertaining paper, Mr. James Ridley, was the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. Gloucester Ridley. He was sent to Winchester school, and afterwards entered at New College, Oxford. Taking orders, he succeeded his father as rector of Rumford in Essex, but died in 1765, a few years after his marriage to a most amiable woman, in consequence of some disorders contracted by fatigue, whilst attending his duty as chaplain to a marching regiment at the siege of Belleisle, in 1761. How deeply he was regretted by his father, will appear from the following passage of a letter written by the Doctor to a friend, shortly after the decease of his son: "Dear Sir, "I am ashamed to have appeared so negligent in answering your kind remembrance of me, by a letter so long ago as the fifth of February: but it has pleased God to visit me so sorely since, that I have had no leisure to think of any thing but my sorrows, and the consequent troubles in which they have involved me. Presently after receiving your letter, I went to spend a few days in London, in the Temple, from whence I returned very ill, and three days brought on the gout. My son went ill out of London the day before I did, and, during his illness, my own confinement would not permit me to see him. About eleven days carried off as hopeful a young clergyman as an affectionate father could wish his son to be. 66 So , generous a heart, such an intimate knowledge of the powers and workings of nature, so serious and earnest a desire to serve God and mankind, with a cheerful spirit and address in conveying his instructions, make his loss as great to the world as it is to me. Some specimens he has left behind him, in the humorous papers of the Schemer; and he lived just long enough to finish a monthly work, in which he engaged a year before his death, publishing his last number |