even were his literary talents less industriously exercised than they
have hitherto been. His recent Lives of the British Painters and
Sculptors form one of the most agreeable books in the language; and it
will always remain one of the most remarkable and delightful facts in
the history of letters, that such a work--one conveying so much valuable
knowledge in a style so unaffectedly attractive--so imbued throughout,
not only with lively sensibility, amiable feelings, honesty and candour,
but mature and liberal taste, was produced by a man who, some twenty
years before, earned his daily bread as a common stone-mason in the
wilds of Nithsdale. Examples like these will plead the cause of
struggling genius, wherever it may be found, more powerfully than
all the arguments in the world.--_Ibid._

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DUELLING

Is the only crime into which an upright man, wanting in moral
firmness, can be impelled by the law of honour. Surely there could be
no difficulty in putting an end to this absurd and abominable practice
by wholesome laws. Appoint six months' imprisonment for the offence
of sending a challenge, or of accepting it; two years if the parties
meet; and if one falls, transport the other for life. Appoint the same
punishment in all cases for the seconds; and from the day in which such
a law should be enacted, not a pair of duelling pistols would ever again
be manufactured in this country, even for the Dublin market.--_Ibid._

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