"encouraged me to undertake the weekly essay, "of which you will consider this letter as the prospectus. 66 66 Not only did the plan seem to accord better "than any other with the nature of my own “mind, both in its strength and in its weakness; "but conscious that, in upholding some principles both of taste and philosophy, adopted by the great men of Europe, from the middle "of the fifteenth till toward the close of the seventeenth century. I must run counter to many prejudices of many of my readers (for "old faith is often modern heresy). I perceived "too in a periodical essay, the most likely means "of winning instead of forcing my way. Sup"posing truth on my side, the shock of the first 66 66 66 day might be so far lessened by reflections of "the succeeding days, as to procure for my next "week's essay a less hostile reception, than it "would have met with, had it been only the "next chapter of a present volume. I hoped to "disarm the mind of those feelings, which pre"clude conviction by contempt, and as it were, 66 66 fling the door in the face of reasoning, by a "presumption of its absurdity. A motion too for honourable ambition was supplied by the fact, "that every periodical paper of the kind now at"tempted, which had been conducted with zeal "and ability, was not only well received at the time, but has become permanently, and in the 66 best sense of the word, popular. By honour"able ambition, I mean the strong desire to be useful, aided by the wish to 66 66 be generally ac knowledged to have been so. As I feel myself "actuated in no ordinary degree by this desire, 66 so the hope of realizing it appears less and "less presumptuous to me, since I have received from men of highest rank and established "character in the republic of letters, not only strong encouragements as to my own fitness "for the undertaking, but likewise promises of support from their own stores. 66 "The object of The Friend' briefly and generally expressed is--to uphold those truths and "those merits against the caprices of fashion, "and such pleasures, as either depend on transitory and accidental causes, or are pursued "from less worthy impulses. The chief subjects "of of my own essays will be: 66 "The true and sole ground of morality, or virtue, as distinguished from prudence. "The origin and growth of moral impulses, "as distinguished from external and immediate "motives. 66 66 66 "The necessary dependence of taste on moral impulses and habits; and the nature of taste (relatively to judgment in general and to genius) defined, illustrated and applied. Under "this head I comprise the substance of the "Lectures given, and intended to have been 66. 66 given, at the Royal Institution, on the distinguished English Poets, in illustration of the general principles of Poetry, together with "suggestions concerning the affinity of the Fine Arts to each other, and the principles common "to them all: Architecture; Gardening; Dress; "Music; Painting; Poetry. 66 66 "The opening out of new objects of just ad"miration in our own language, and information " of the present state and past history of Swedish, Danish, German and Italian literature, (to which, but as supplied by a friend, I may add "the Spanish, Portuguese and French,) as far as "the same has not been already given to Eng"lish readers, or is not to be found in common "French authors. "Characters met with in real life; anecdotes "and results of my life and travels, &c. &c. as "far as they are illustrative of general moral "laws, and have no immediate learning on per"sonal or immediate politics. "Education in its widest sense, private and "national sources of consolation to the afflicted "in misfortune or disease, or dejection of mind "from the exertion and right application of the "reason, the imagination, and the moral sense; "and new sources of enjoyment opened out, or "an attempt (as an illustrious friend once expressed the thought to me) to add sunshine to daylight, by making the happy more happy. 66 66 "In the words dejection of mind,' I refer particularly to doubt or disbelief of the moral government of the world, and the grounds and arguments for the religious hopes of human "nature." 66 The first number, printed on stamped paper, was dated June 8th, 1809. He commences this work with the following motto: "Whenever we improve, it is right to leave "room for a further improvement. It is right "to consider, to look about us, to examine the "effect of what we have done. Then we can 66 66 66 proceed with confidence, because we can pro"ceed with intelligence. Whereas, in hot reformations, in what men more zealous than "considerate, call making clear work, the whole "is generally so crude, so harsh, so indigested; "mixed with so much imprudence and so much injustice; so contrary to the whole course of "human nature and human institutions, that the very people who are most eager for it, are among the first to grow disgusted at what they have done. Then some part of the abdicated grievance is recalled from its exile in order to "become a corrective of the correction. 66 66 66 "Then the abuse assumes all the credit and "popularity of a reform. The very idea of purity and disinterestedness in politics falls into disrepute, and is considered as a vision of hot " and inexperienced men; and thus disorders be 66 "come incurable, not by the virulence of their 66 own quality, but by the unapt and violent na"ture of the remedies."-(Burke's speech on the 11th of February, 1780.) TO MY READERS. "Conscious that I am about to deliver my "sentiments on a subject of the utmost delicacy, "I have selected the general motto to all my po"litical lucubrations, from an authority equally 66 respected by both parties. I have taken it "from an orator, whose eloquence enables Eng"lishmen to repeat the name of Demosthenes "and Cicero, without humiliation; from a states 66 man, who has left to our language a bequest "of glory unrivalled and all our own, in the "keen-eyed, yet far-sighted genius, with which "he has made the profoundest general principles "of political wisdom, and even the recondite "laws of human passions, bear upon particular "measures and passing events. While of the 66 harangues of Pitt, Fox, and their compeers on "the most important occurrences, we retain a "few unsatisfactory fragments alone, the very "flies and weeds of Burke shine to us through “the purest amber, imperishably enshrined, and “valuable from the precious material of their "embalment. I have extracted the passage not |