1XX ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND

rafter of his tafte, which delighted more to remarkthat pliancy of genius which accommodates itfelfto eftablifhed rules, than to wonder at the bolderflights of an undifciplined imagination) was increa-fed to a great degree, when he faw the beautiesthat had ftruck him in the clofet, heightened bythe utmoft perfeftion of theatrical exhibition. Inthe laft years of his life, he fometimes amufed him-feli, at a leifure hour, in fupporting his theoreticalconcluiions on thefe fubjefts, by the facts whichhis fubfequent ftudies and obfervations had fug-gefted; and he intended, if he had lived, to haveprepared the refult of thefe labors for the prefs.Of this work he has left for publication a Ihortfragment; but he had not proceeded far enoughto apply his doftrine to verfification and to thetheatre. As his notions, however, with refpeft tothefe were a favorite topic of his converfation,and were intimately connefted with his generalprinciples of criticifm, it would have been impro-per to pafs them over in this flcetch of his life; andI even thought it proper to detail them at greaterlength than the comparative importance of thefubjeft would have juftified, if he had carried hisplans into execution. Whether his love offyftem,added to his partiality for the French drama, maynot have led him, in this inftance, to generalize alittle too much his concluiions, and to overlookfome peculiarities in the language and verfification