ten weeks; the first number being dated December 2, 1780; and the tenth, and last, February 3, 1781. It was the intention of the author to have indulged himself in “ greater excursions into the regions of pure Philosophy and Religion," than have usually been practised by periodical writers; and from the few specimens with which he has favoured us, it is to be regretted that the plan was so prematurely resigned. The style of Mr. Nares is, as might be expected, elegant and chaste; and were I to particularize any one of his effusions as pre-eminently pleasing, I should fix upon N° 7, on the true cause of the delight so generally experienced from the representation of Tragedy, and which concludes with a highly poetical Ode to the Tragic Muse. These essays have just been republished with other Occasional Compositions of the author, in two volumes octavo. 217. THE FEMALE MENTOR. This work consists of forty-four numbers; which, though under the adjunctive title of "Select Conversations," partake of nearly all the requisites necessary to the formation of the periodical essay. The first appearance of the Female Mentor was in 1793; it reached a second edition in two volumes 12mo, in 1798; and may be characterized as a work of considerable merit; highly instructive in its tendency, interesting from choice of subject, and conveyed in language generally easy, flowing, and correct. 218. THE GHOST. A paper published twice a week at Edinburgh, in the year 1796, under the assumed name of Felix Phantom. Each paper is dated from Fairyland; and my copy, a thin folio, contains forty-six numbers; the first appeared on April 25, 1796, and the last on November 16, 1796. Neither in manner nor matter is the Ghost entitled to much attention. 219. THE TRIFLER. That a periodical essay, under this title, was published at Edinburgh, in the year 1796, we learn from the pages of the Ghost, who, in Nos. 11 and 15, has condescended, and apparently not without reason, to ridicule the style of his brother essayist. From the same source we are likewise informed, that another ephemeral work, in this fertile branch of literature, had started up, during the above period, in Glasgow; namely, 220. THE SYBIL; which Mr. Phantom, in N° 25 of the Ghost, has branded with the appellation of the short-lived Sybil. 221. THE BURNISHER. The first number of this paper, which was advertised to be continued weekly, was published by Bagster, in December, 1801. To what extent it was carried, I am ignorant; but, I believe, it soon ceased to exist. FINIS. Printed by J. Seeley, Buckingham. |