Page:Modern literature (1804 Volume 2).djvu/61

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  • nity; he has received a classical education,

is master of arts, has been bred to the English bar, but, finding he could get no employment, harangues against all the counsellors who receive briefs, especially Erskine, Gibbs, and Garrow; although he has not laid the foundation of erudition in either physical or moral sciences, he has raked together a great quantity of detached and miscellaneous facts, and as he has formed a decent, though stiff and pedantic style, he can write commonplace observations on most subjects that occur; and while he confines himself to skimming the surface, he does well enough, and is very useful drudge in any periodical publication; but that won't serve the fellow, he must write books forsooth. His parts are middling, but his head has got a wrong twist, common sense presides not in his brain. Dicky would shine! To a man