of the manner in which these works are conducted.

A young gentleman and lady, paragons of beauty and excellence, meet accidentally with each other. Both are instantly seized with the most violent passion, over which reason possesses no kind of controul. The lover throws himself at the feet of his mistress, or, by expressive gestures, makes a sufficiently evident declaration of his sen timents. She, on her part, is equally enamoured, but is withheld by modesty, and by the necessity of lengthening out the story, from making an immediate confession. This is at last obtained; but, if the affair, as in ordinary cases, were to end here, the reader might have reason to complain of the scanty amusement afforded him. Obstacles must therefore be raised: inhuman parents, and detested rivals, must unite in opposing the completion of the lovers' felicity. Embarrassments arising from want of fortune are generally resorted to as the means of placing an insuperable bar to their

union. On a sudden, however, these are removed; wealth flows in from unexpected sources; friends are reconciled; rivals are killed or discarded; the two parties are married; upon which the scene closes, there being nothing more to be done or said.

The first thing that strikes us here is the perfection with which the leading characters are uniformly invested. So far as this circumstance operates, I have no doubt of its effects being on the whole beneficial. At the same time, it must be owned to be rather a vague and visionary kind of perfection, not very applicable to the purposes of active life. The accomplishments of person and manner form generally its most prominent features; any higher qualities appear only occasionally, and as appendages. The characters are drawn chiefly from that class of society which, raised above the necessity of following a profession for subsistence, is at the same time excluded from any concern in public affairs. It is seldom, therefore, that they are engaged in any active or useful employment; this, I believe, would rather be

considered as a disqualifying circumstance. They are represented as having nothing to do, and sauntering from one place to another in search of amusement.

This observation does not apply in the same degree to female characters, who, by nature and custom, are confined to the scenes of domestic life and social intercourse. It is only one part of their life, however, which enters into these compositions, and not that in which they have the most important duties to perform. The instruction conveyed by them must therefore be at least very limited.

The next circumstance to which we may advert, is their besng so exclusively occupied by the passion of love. There seems no reason, indeed, why it should be excluded.

Considering the force of this passion, and the intimate and lasting connection to which it leads, its due regulation cannot be considered as a matter of indifference. Still it must

be allowed to occupy, in these narratives, a space out of all proportion greater than what really belongs to it. It has been doubted also, whether, in other respects, the

direction which they tend to give it be just or useful.

It is of importance that this passion should be pure, and should be confined within the limits prescribed by virtue, and by a regard to the welfare of society. And here the narratives in question seem liable to little objection. When compared with those which preceded them, and more particularly with those which, during the last twenty or thirty years, have issued from the French press, they seem entitled even to considerable praise. In the latter point of view, indeed, it may be doubted, whether their merit be not diminished by the too frequent introduction of this passion. When it becomes, as these works tend to make it, not the occasional, but the great and constant, business of life, it must be more difficult to fix it constantly on any one object.

The next point is, that the lover should be well directed in the choice of this object. From the perusal of these works he will naturally be led to seek one possessed of every imaginable degree of perfection: but there

are several dangers with which such a disposition is attended. For, as was formerly observed, though it be very desirable that a man should aim at this quality in himself, it is by no means equally so that he should require it from others. Allowance must here be made for that imperfection which will ever adhere to humanity. The nature of this perfection, too, consisting chiefly in beauty and superficial accomplishments, will be apt to draw off the attention from more lasting and valuable qualities. That ardour of passion, by which the lover invests his mistress with every perfection, and transforms her even into an object of adoration, can hardly be accompanied with any great degree of judgment and discrimination. Accordingly his love is generally sudden, formed at first sight, without any of the caution and deliberation requisite in a choice that involves so deeply the happiness of his future life.

Another circumstance, no less characteristic of the narratives in question, is that multitude of improbable incidents, unex