bun philosophical WRITING.

DIALOGUE.-EPISTOLARY WRITING,lcub _ FICTITIOUS HISTORY.

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AS Hiftory is both a very dignified fpecies of L F- c T.Compofition, and, by the regular form which it XXXVII.affumes , falls diredly under the laws of Criticifm,

I difcourfed of it fully in the two precedingLectures.

The remaining fpecies of Compofition, inProfe,afford lefs room for critical obfervation.

Philosophical Writing, for inftance , will notlead us into any long difcuffion. As theprofeffedobject ofPhilofophy is to convey inftrudtion, andas they who ftudy it are fuppofed to do fo forinftrudion , not for entertainment, the Style, theform , and drefs , of fuch Writings , are lefs ma-terial objects. They are objeds , however, thatmult not be wholly negleded. He who attemptsto inftrud mankind , without ftudying, at thefame time, to engage their attention , and to in- ,tereft them in his iubjed by his manner of exhi-biting it, is not likely to prove fuccefsful, The