Greville, and of his poems in this work the following catalogue has been given by Mr. Duncombe. For 1746, the Devil Painter, a Tale; the Chaise Percee; Epistle to the King of Prussia; Lines to the Rev. Mr. Layng, and to Dr. Warburton, on a series of theological inquiries; a Thought from Marcus Antoninus, and the Smart. For 1747, the Accident; Ants' Philosophy; Death of Arachne; Chamont and Honorius; Origin of Doubt; Life, an Ode; Lines to Hope; Winter, an Ode; and the Experiment, a Tale. For 1748, the Midsummer Wish; Solitude; the Two Doves, a Fable, and Autumn. For 1749, Poverty Insulted; Region allotted to Old Maids; the Nymph at her Toilet; God is Love, and Chloe's Soliloquy.

Several of these little productions, the occa sional amusement of his leisure, are elegant, and pleasing; but, like Johnson, the powers of his imagination are in a much higher degree displayed in his prose than in his verse.

The domestic circumstances of our author, at this period, are little known; and it is remarkable, that not one of his relations, or literary friends, has thought it necessary to preserve or record the events of his life. His pecuniary resources, during his early connection with the Gentleman's Magazine, are supposed to have been very confined;

nor were they probably immediately or much enlarged by his matrimonial connection, for his wife kept a boarding-school for young ladies at Bromley in Kent.

The friendship of Johnson, however, was of essential service to him; through this medium he became acquainted with many eminent scholars; and it speaks highly in favour of his literary talents, that when the Club in Ivy-Lane was constituted, of the nine members which originally formed its circle, Hawkesworth was selected by Johnson as one.

The success of the Rambler as soon as it was collected into volumes, the admiration which it excited in the breast of our author, and the wish, which he was known to entertain, of pursuing the footsteps of Johnson, induced him, in the year 1752, to project and commence a Periodical Paper, under the title of THe Adventurer.

For a work of this kind Hawkesworth appears, in many respects, to have been well qualified. His literature, though by no means deep or accurate, was elegant and various; his style was polished, his imagination ardent; his morals were pure, and he possessed an intimate knowledge of the world. He did not, however, attempt the execution of his scheme, unassisted; his first coadjutor was Dr. Richard Bathurst; and he soon after, in

the view of this resource soon failing, obtained the aid of Johnson, and, through his influence, of Dr. Joseph Warton. The letter of our great moralist, on the occasion, as developing, in a considerable degree, the plan of the Adventurer, it will be proper, in this place, to insert.

"To the Rev. Dr. Joseph Warton.

"Dear Sir,

I ought to have written to you before now, but I ought to do many things which I do not; nor can I, indeed, claim any merit from this letter; for being desired by the authors and proprietor of the Adventurer to look out for another hand, my thoughts necessarily fixed upon you, whose fund of literature will enable you to assist them, with very little interruption of your studies.

66

They desire you to engage to furnish one paper a month, at two guineas a paper, which you may very readily perform. We have considered that a paper should consist of pieces of imagination, pictures of life, and disquisitions of literature. The part which depends on the imagination is very well supplied, as you will find when you read the paper; for descriptions of life, there is now a treaty almost made with an author and an authoress; and the province of

*

This treaty was never executed.

criticism and literature they are very desirous to assign to the Commentator on Virgil.

"I hope this proposal will not be rejected, and that the next post will bring us your compliance. I speak as one of the fraternity, though I have no part in the paper, beyond now and then a motto;* but two of the writers are my particular friends, and I hope the pleasure of seeing a third united to them will not be denied to, dear Sir,

"Your most obedient,

"And most humble servant, "Sam. Johnson."‡

The first of the Adventurers, on a folio sheet, was given to the world on November the 7th, 1752; and the paper was continued every Tuesday and Saturday, until Saturday, the 9th of March, 1754; when it closed with N° 140, signed by Hawkesworth, in his capacity of Edifor. The price of each essay was the same as of the Ramblers, and it was printed for J. Payne, at Pope's Head, in Paternoster-Row.

The name, the design, the conduct, and the execution of seventy numbers, of the Adventurer,

* Dr. Johnson had, at this time, only written one paper, and the profits were given to Dr. Bathurst.

† Hawkesworth and Bathurst.

Boswell's Johnson, vol. 1, p. 216, 217.

are to be ascribed to Hawkesworth. The sale, during its circulation in separate papers, was very extensive; and, when thrown into volumes, four copious editions passed through the press in little more than eight years.

The variety, indeed, the fancy, the taste, and practical morality, which the pages of this periodical paper exhibit, were such as to ensure popularity; and it may be pronounced, as a whole, the most spirited and fascinating of the class to which it belongs.

To his essays in the Adventurer Hawkesworth was, in fact, indebted for his fame, and, ultimately, his fortune; and, as they are the most stable basis of his reputation, a more minute inquiry into their merits will be necessary.

It is scarcely requisite to observe, that he formed his STYLE on that of Dr. Johnson; he was not, however, a servile imitator; his composition has more ease and sweetness than the model possesses, and is consequently better adapted for a work, one great object of which is popularity. He has laid aside the sesquipedalia verba, and, in a great measure, the monotonous arrangement ard the cumbrous splendour of his prototype, preserving, at the same time, much of his harmony of cadence and vigour of construction. Of the following paragraphs the first and second