THE UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE, NEW SERIES. CONTAINING ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS IN HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, THE BELLES LETTRES, &c. &c. VOL. XV. JANUARY to JUNE, INCLUSIVE. 1811. LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, [Price 13s. 6d. Half Bound.] Printed by Squire & Warwick, Furnival's-Inn Court. PREFACE. ONCE more we have to address our readers. Once more we have to tell them how good we have been, and how good we will be. To recal the past, and to anticipate the future, seem to be all, however diversified they may be, that can enter into the composition of a yearly preface. This fatal necessity we have often deplored; but, like many other evils of life, we are still doomed to endure them, amidst all our declarations of displeasure. When the Athenian sage was asked what was the hardest thing to overcome? his reply was CUSTOM. He had well appreciated the force of habit in the human mind, and knew that what we once accustom ourselves to expect, we always see omitted with regret. This is true, not only of what we look for with any degree of desire, but also of many things about which we are necessarily indifferent. Hence the implied necessity of this preface. Still, however, we know not what to say that has not been said before. We are sincerely desirous of public approbation, and its consequent support. We know, too, that neither the one nor the other can be obtained without that necessary application of time, labour, and talents, without which no claim to them can be supported; and we know, also, that where that union does really exist, their claim is seldom denied. Accident, caprice, or fashion, may, |