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PREFACE.

THE QUARRELS OF AUTHORS may be considered as a Continuation of the CALAMITIES OF AUTHORS; and both, as some Memoirs for our Literary History.

Should these Volumes disappoint the hopes o those, who would consider the Quarrels of Authors as objects for their mirth or their contempt, this must not be regretted. Whenever passages c this description occur, they are not designed to wound the Literary Character, but to chasten it; by exposing the secret arts of calumny, the malignity of witty ridicule, and the evil prepossessions of unjust hatreds.

The present, like the preceding Work, includes other subjects than the one indicated by the Title, and indeed they are both subservient to a higher purpose; that of our Literary History.

It has been alleged, that in giving "Calamities of Authors," I have not balanced them by their enjoyments, and therefore my view is unphilosophical. But the truth is, both these Works form only separated portions of an extended view of "The Literary Character."*

* Of which many years ago I published a puerile Essay.

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PREFACE.

There is a French Work, entitled "Querelles Littéraires," quoted in "Curiosities of Literature," about twenty years ago. Whether I derive the idea of the present from the French source, I cannot tell. I could point out a passage in the great Lord BACON, which might have afforded the hint. But I am inclined to think, that what induced me to select this topic, were, the literary quarrels which JOHNSON has given between Dryden and Settle, Dennis and Addison, &c.; and Mr. WATER SCOTT, who, amidst the fresh creations of Fancy can delve for the buried truths of research, in his narrative of the Quarrel of Dryden and Lake Milbourne.

From the French Work I could derive no aid; and my plan is my own. I fixed on a Literary Controversy to illustrate some principle, to pourtray some character, or to investigate some topic. Almost every controversy which occurred, opened new views. With the subject, the character of the Author connected itself; and with the character were associated those events of his life, which reciprocally act on each other. I have always considered an Author as a human being, who possesses at once two sorts of lives, the intellectual and the vulgar: in his books we trace the history of his mind, and in his actions those of Human Nature. It is this combination which interests the Philosopher and the Man of Feeling; which provides the richest materials for reflection;

and all those original details, which open the constituent principles of man. JOHNSON's passion for

literary history, and his great knowledge of the human heart, inspired at once the first and the finest model, in this class of Composition.

The Philosophy of Literary History was indeed the creation of BAYLE. He was the first who, by attempting a critical dictionary, taught us to think, and to be curious and vast in our researches. He ennobled a collection of facts, by his reasonings, and exhibited them with the most miscellaneous illustrations; and thus conducting, apparently, a humble pursuit, with a higher spirit, he gave a new turn to our studies. It was felt through Europe; and many celebrated. Authors studied and repeated BAYLE. This father of a numerous race has an English, as well as a French progeny.

JOHNSON Wrote under many disadvantages; but, with scanty means, he has taught us a great end. Dr. BIRCH was the contemporary of JOHNSON. He excelled his predecessors; and yet he forms a striking contrast, as a literary historian. BIRCH was no philosopher, and I adduce him as an instance how a writer, possessing the most ample knowledge, and the most vigilant curiosity; one, practised in all the secret arts of literary research, in public repositories and in private collections, and eminently skilled in the whole science of Bibliography, may yet fail with the Public. The diligence of BIRCH has perpetuated his memory,

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by a monument of MSS.; but his touch was mortal to Genius! He palsied the character which could never die; heroes sunk pusillanimously under his hand; and in his torpid silence, even MILTON seemed suddenly deprived of his genius.

I have freely enlarged in my Notes; a practice objectionable to many, but indispensable perhaps in Literary History.

The late Mr. CUMBERLAND, in a conversation I once held with him on this subject, triumphantly exclaimed, "You will not find a single Note through the whole volume of my "Life." I never wrote a Note. The Ancients never wrote Notes; but they introduced into their text all which was proper for the Reader to know."

I agreed with that elegant writer, that a fine. piece of Essay-writing, such as his own "Life," required Notes, no more than his Novels and his Comedies, among which it may be classed. I observed, that the Ancients had no Literary History; this was the result of the discovery of Printing, the institution of National Libraries, the general literary intercourse of Europe, and some other causes which are the growth almost of our own times. The Ancients have written history without producing authorities.

Mr. CUMBERLAND was then occupied on a Review of Fox's History; and of CLARENDON, which lay open before him, he had been complaining, with all the irritable feelings of a Drama