Should the foregoing slight examination of this specimen of Doctor Langhorne's poetry persuade others, who may not as yet have seen them, to read the volumes published by his son, I shall be found in my recommendation to have consulted their indulgence at least as much as the reputation of the author.

And now to conclude this inquiry: I am conscious that in the course of it I have not advanced any thing which I do not think, nor any thing of which,

morally speaking, I should be ashamed: I am also thoroughly satisfied that my motive for this attempt, as far as the subject of novels is concerned, is closely connected with public advantage, and, as such, praiseworthy; while, on the other hand, I feel that to these superficial hints a great deal might be added, and that what I have here endeavoured to say might have been much better said by many others. Yet I cannot but wish-and my wishes almost amount to hopes that parts of this humble essay may be the means of awakening some serious reflections in the minds of those

who by nature or accident are the guardians of the young; and that hereby they may be induced to consider the importance of their high and holy office; the inestimable value of their hours to rational beings in early life; the good or evil consequences arising to society from the proper employment or the waste of that precious portion of existence; and, finally, the truth of a maxim I have tried to enforce, that light reading, of a certain. kind, is, like procrastination, too frequently, at least

"The thief of time;"

and, as the expression is usually under

stood, essentially injurious to the growth

of private and public virtue.

FINIS.