point long fince determined, because it is principally owing to that faculty of the mind that he is able to create, and be, as it were, a MAKER, which is implied in his original title given to him by the confent of Greece. But furely there are many other powers of the mind as fully effential to constitute a fine poet, and therefore, in order to give the true cha racter of any author's abilities, it fhould feem neceffary to come to a right understanding of what is meant by genius, and to analyfe and arrange its feveral qualities.

Mr. Murphy then obferves, that he may be truly said to be a GENIUS, who poffeffes the leading faculties of the mind in their vigour, and can exercise them with warmth and spirit upon whatever fubject he chufes; that the imagination must be very quick and fufceptible, in order to receive the strongest impreffions either from the objects of nature, the works of art, or the actions and manners of men; that the judgment alfo must be clear and ftrong, to felect the proper parts of a story or defcription, to difpofe the various members of a work, fo as to give a lucid order to the whole, and to use fuch expreffion as fhall not only ferve to convey the intended ideas, but to convey them forcibly, and with that decorum of ftile, which the art of compofition requires; that invention muft alfo concur, that new fcenery may be opened to the fancy, new lights thrown upon the profpects of nature, and the sphere of our ideas be enlarged, or a new affemblage be formed of them, either in the way of fable or illuftration. The power of the mind, adds he, which exerts itself in what Mr. Locke calls the affociation of ideas, muft be quick, vigorous, and warm, because it is

from thence that language receives its animated figures, its bold tranflation of phrafes from one idea to another, the verbum ardens, the glowing metaphorical expreffion, which conftitutes the richness and boldness of his imagery; and from thence likewife fprings the readiness of ennobling a fentiment or defcription with the pomp of fublime comparifon, or ftriking it deeper on the mind by the aptness of witty allufion. Mr. Murphy fuppofes, that what we call genius, might be ftill more minutely analysed; but thefe, he concludes, are its principal efficient qualities; and in proportion as these, or any of thefe, fhall be found deficient in an author, fo many degrees shall he be removed from the first rank and character of a writer.

To bring these remarks home to the late Mr. Fielding, an estimate of him, fays his Biographer, may be juftly formed, " by enquiring how far these various talents may be attributed to him; or if he failed in any, what that faculty was, and what discount he muft fuffer for it. But though it will appear, perhaps, that when he attained that period of life, in which his mind was come to its full growth, he enjoyed every one of thefe qualifications, in great ftrength and vigour; yet, in order to give the true character of his talents, to mark the diftinguishing specific qualities of his genius, we muft look into the temper of the man, and fee what byas it gave to his understanding; for when abilities are poffeffed in an eminent degree by feveral men, it is the peculiarity of habit that must difcriminate them from each other.

"A love of imitation, continues Mr. Murphy, very foon prevailed in Mr, Fielding's mind. By imitation

the

the reader will not understand that illegitimate kind, which confifts in mimicking fingularities of perfon, feature, voice, or manner; but that higher fpecies of reprefentation, which delights in juft and faithful copies of human life. So early as when he was at Leyden, a propenfity this way began to exert its emotions, and even made fome efforts towards a comedy in the sketch of Don Quixote in England. When he left that place, and fettled in London, a variety of characters could not fail to attract his notice, and of courfe to ftrengthen his favourite inclination. It has been already observed, that diftrefs and difappointments betrayed him into occafional fits of peevishness, and fatyric humour. The eagerness of creditors, and the fallacy of diffembling friends, would for a while four his temper; his feelings were acute, and naturally fixed his attention to thofe objects from whence his uneafinefs fprung; of course he became, very early in life, an observer of men and manners. Shrewd and piercing in his difcernment, he faw the latent fources of human actions, and he could trace the various incongruities of conduct arising from them. As the study of man is delightful in itfelf, affording a variety of difcoveries, and particularly interefting to the heart, it is no wonder that he fhould feel delight from it; and what we delight in foon grows into an habit. The various ruling paffions of men, their foibles, their od dities, and their humours, engaged his attention; and from thefe principles he loved to account for the confequences which appeared in their behaviour. The inconfiftencies that flow from vanity, from affectation, from bypocrify, from pretended

friendship, and, in fhort, all the dif fonant qualities, which are often whimfically blended together by the folly of men, could not fail to strike a perfon who had fo fine a fenfe of ridicule. A quick perception in this way, perhaps, affords as much real pleasure as the exercise of any other faculty of the mind; and accordingly we find that the ridiculous is predominant through all our author's writings, and he never seems fo happy, as when he is developing a character made up of motley and repugnant, properties, and fhews you a man of fpecious pretences, turning out in the end the very reverse of what he would appear. To search out, and to describe objects of this kind, feems to have been the favourite bent of Mr. Fielding's mind, as indeed it was of Theophraftus, Moliere, and others; like a vortex it drew in all his faculties, which were fo happily employed in defcriptions of the manners, that upon the whole he must be pronounced an admirable COMIC GENIUS.

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"When I call our author a COMIC GENIUS, I would be understood in the largest acceptation of the phrafe, implying humorous and pleasant imitation of men and manners, whether it be in the way of fabulous narration, or dramatie compofition. In the former fpecies of writing lay the excellence of Mr. Fielding; but, in dramatic imitation, he must be allowed to fall fhort of the great mafters in that art; and how this hath happened to a COMIC GENIUS, to one eminently poffeffed of the talents requifite in the humorous provinces of the drama, will appear at the firft blush of the queftion fomething unaccountable. But feveral caufes concurred to produce this effect, In the first place, without Pp 2

atin&ture of delicacy running thro' an entire piece, and giving to good fenfe an air of urbanity and politenefs, it appears to me that no comedy will ever be of that kind, which Horace fays, will be particularly defired, and feen, will be advertifed again."

This deficiency in our British Ariftophanes (from whence, though poffeffed of great comic talents, he proved not very fuccefsful in co. medy) Mr. Murphy afcribes" to the woundings which every fresh difappointment gave him, before he was yet, well difciplined in the fchool of life, and hackneyed in the ways of men; for in a more advanced period, when he did not write recenibus ediis, with his uneafinefs just beginning to fefter, but with a calmer and more difpaffionate temper, we perceive him giving all the graces of defcription to incidents and paffions, which in his youth he would have dafhed out with a rougher hand. An ingenious writer has paffed a judgment upon Ben Johnfon, which, though Fielding did not attain the fame dramatic eminence, may be justly applied to him. "His tafte for ridicule was ftrong, but indelicate, which made him not overcurious in the choice of his topics. And lastly, his ftyle in picturing his characters, though mafterly, was without that elegance of hand, which is required to correct and allay the force of fo bold a colouring. Thus the byas of his nature leading him to Plautus, rather than Terence, for his model, it is not to be wondered that his wit is too frequently cauftic; his raillery coarse; and his humour exceffive."" Perhaps the afperity of Fielding's mufe was not a little encouraged by the practice of two great wits, who had fallen into the

fame vein before him; I mean Wycherley and Congreve, who were in general painters of harsh features, attached more to subjects of deformity than grace; whofe drawings of women are ever a fort of Harlot's Progrefs, and whofe men for the most part lay violent hands upon deeds and fettlements, and generally deferve informations in the king's bench. Thefe two celebrated writers were not fond of copying the amiable part of human life; they had not learned the fecret of giving the fofter graces of compofition to their tablature, by contrafting the fair and beautiful in characters and manners to the vicious and irregular, and thereby rendering their pieces more exact imitations of nature. By making Congreve his model, it is no wonder that our author contracted this vicious turn, and became faulty in that part of his art, which the painters would call defign. In his ftyle, he derived an error from the fame fource: he fometimes forgot that humour and ridicule were the two principal ingredients of comedy; and, like his mafter, he frequently aimed at decorations of wit, which do not appear to make part of the ground, but feem rather to be embroidered upon it. There is another circumftance refpecting the drama, in which Fielding's judgment seems to have failed him; the ftrength of his genius certainly lay in fabulous narration, and he did not fufficiently confider that fome incidents of a ftory, which, when related, may be worked up into a deal of pleasantry and humour, are apr, when thrown into action, to excite fenfations incompatible with humour and ridicule. I will venture to say, that if he had refolved to shape the business and characters of his last comedy (the

Wedding

Wedding Day) into the form of a novel, there is not one scene in the piece, which, in his hands, would not have been very fufceptible of or nament; but as they are arranged at prefent in dramatic order, there are few of them from which the tafte and good sense of an audience ought not, with propriety, to revolt."

To thefe caufes of our author's failure in the province of the drama, may be added that fovereign contempt he always entertained for the understandings of the generality of mankind. It was in vain to tell him that a particular scene was dangerous on account of its coarsenefs, or because it retarded the general bufinefs with feeble efforts of wit; he doubted the difcernment of his auditors, and fo thought himself fecured by their ftupidity, if not by his own humour and vivacity. A very remarkable inftance of this difpofition appeared, when the comedy. of the Wedding Day was put into rehearsal. An actor, who was principally concerned in the piece, and, though young, was then, by the advantage of happy requisites, an early favourite of the public, told Mr. Fielding he was apprehenfive that the audience would make free with him in a particular paffage; adding, that a repulfe might fo flurry his fpirits as to difconcert him for the reft of the night, and therefore begged that it might be omitted. "No, d-mn 'em, replied the bard, if the fcene is not a good one, let them find that out." Accordingly the play was brought on without alteration, and, just as had been foreseen, the difapprobation of the houfe was provoked at the paffage before objected to; and the performer, alarmed and unealy at the hiffes he had met with, retired into the green-room, where

the author was indulging his genius, and folacing himself with a bottle of champain. He had by this time drank pretty plentifully; and cocking bis eye at the actor, while ftreams of tobacco trickled down from the corner of his mouth, What's the matter, Garrick? fays he, what are they biffing now? Why the fcene that I begged you to retrench; I knew it would not do, and they have fo frightened me, that I shall not be able to colleft myself again the whole night. Qb! d—mn'em, replies the author, they HAVE found it out ; have they?

If we add to the foregoing remarks an obfervation of his own, namely, that he left off writing for the ftage, when he ought to have begun; and together with this confider his extreme hurry and difpatch, we shall be able fully to account for his not bearing a more diftinguished place in the rank of dramatic writers. It is apparent, that in the frame and conftitution of his genius there was no defect, but fome faculty or other was fuffered to lie dormant, and the reft of course were exerted with lefs efficacy; at one time we fee his wit fuperfeding all his other talents; at another his invention runs riot, and multiplies incidents and characters in a manner repugnant to all the received laws of the drama. Generally his judgment was very little confulted. And, indeed, how could it be otherwife? When he had contracted to bring on a play, or a farce, it is well known by many of his friends now living, that he would go home rather late from a tavern, and would, the next morning, deliver a fcene to the players, written upon the papers. which had wrapped the tobacco, in which he fo much delighted.

As it was the lot of Henry Fielding to write always with a view to profit,