IN INTRODUCTION. N the outfet we defired to derive no credit from our promifes, as they were in the power of the meaneft adventurers; and declared, that we could only take a pride in the applaufe which flows from the experience of promifes honourably performed. Having now come to the conclufion of our first volume, we are anxious that the public fhould take the trouble to enquire how far we have fucceeded in the profecution of the plan with which we courted their favour. The prefent is the moment for difcuffing the probability and value of promises; and if our readers can for a few minutes divert their attention from political to literary promifers, we intreat them to compare the fix numbers of the European Magazine and London Review, already published, with the propofals, and fee whether we have pursued with accuracy and effect the fyftem upon which we fet out. We declared that our firft object was to unite in one periodical work the diftinct qualities of the Magazine and Review-to elevate the character of the one, and to purify that of the other-that to do this, a number of gentlemen had affociated, whofe opportunities were conducive to the respective departments which they undertook to fill; and that to comprehend fo extenfive a plan as we propofed to the public, we enlarged the limits of the work; and having fomething more than emolument in view, were determined to exert ourselves in the execution, that as our Magazine was dearer, it fhould alfo be better than either of our contemporaries. How we have fucceeded we muft leave to the opinion of the public. One of the principal objects of our purfuit, has been to present to the world Biographical Anecdotes of fuch illuftrious characters as are engaged in the great scene of political action, and who are diftinguished by the brilliancy of their rank in the field or in the fenate. To the Anecdotes of thefe men we have added beautiful and correct Portraits, either taken from the original, or from fome celebrated painting-we have had the affiftance of the most refpectable artifts, and may prefume to fay, that these engravings are fuperior to any that the public have been accustomed to receive in Magazines. We fhall perfevere in this purfuit, and fhall labour to procure anecdotes of the lives, and accompany them with the likeneffes of those men who shall from time to time engage the public notice: and our readers may be affured, that we shall not hazard intelligence haftily or partially fupplied. We have had it in our view to give accounts of various places and objects of public purfuit, and to defcribe whatever is great, new, ufefal, or curious, within the limits of our information. Under this head we have already prefented our Readers with the Defcription of feveral Exhibitions and valuable Collections. We have begun a Series of Eflays on the Religious Seats and Societies of the Metropolis, and alfo an Account of the most celebrated Preachers. We have collected Materials for Anecdotes of Painting and Painters; and have promifed in the volume which we are now entering upon to give this valuable Article, and to extend it to all the living Artis of Eminence in Europe, beginning with thofe of our own Country. In this part of our work too we propofe, at the Request of many valuable Friends, to furnish Anecdotes of Mufic and of Mulical Compofers, and to give a Relation and Review of fuch Mufic as fhall from Time to Time come forth either in this Country or on the Continent. Another most material article, which we have in defign, and which will come under this department, is, An Account of the Lectures of the celebrated Profeflors in this Metropolis, Metropolis, and in the Universities of Europe, on the Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Divinity, Philofophy, Rhetoric, and the Belles Lettres. We have made arrangements for this important object; and have the Promise of fuch Support as will enable us to give, with Accuracy and Precifion, a profpectus of the feveral Lectures, accompanied with Anecdotes of the most remarkable Lecturers in Europe. In this department we folicit the contributions of the literati, as a collection of this fort made with fidelity and candour must be truly ufeful to fociety. It will comprehend all that is valuable in literature, and afford fuch information to the student and the fcholar, as muft amply recompenfe us for the labour which it will require. It was this that induced the Philological Society to engage in a work of this nature, as a Magazine conducted upon this plan must be ufeful to every man, and particularly fo to men of letters. It was alfo our design to draw into the Magazine, and preferve fuch effays of literary men, in profe and verfe, as by being of a fugitive nature were liable to be loft to the world. We have already been happy in tranfmitting many valuable pieces to the public, and we are not lefs grateful for the communications, becaufe we have not acknowledged the fources from whence they came. Where confidence is required we fhall always obferve it with ftriétnefs, though we may be thereby deprived of the opportunity of giving public teftimony to the goodness of our friends. The more gay, lively, and fashionable requifites of a Magazine have. not been overlooked. We have invariably given an Account of the Entertainments. The Man-Milliner has collected the Fafhions, the Dreffes, the Intrigues, and the Scandal; while the Hive has been a refervoir for the Wit, the Bon Mots, the Jeux d'Efprit, and the Humour of the Month. We have given a number of well-written Stories, have entered upon feveral Periodical Papers, and have ftudied to purfue Amusement, as we faid in the beginning, through her endlefs varieties. This part of the work has been embellished with a number of beautiful prints. And to thefe we have joined, what has been confidered as a very valuable acquifition to a numerous fet of readers, twenty-eight pages of engraved Mufic; in which part of our plan we defign to give always one or more of the fashionable pieces of the month, except where, at the request of our friends, we fubtitute a Map, or a View, in its ftead. Our Review of new Publications has been confidered as one of the most important, if not the most important object of our purfuit. A large portion of the work has been dedicated to this department; and to the most liberal and candid examination of each work, we have added faithful Anecdotes of the Author. This has been a recommendation of a new and valuable kind; and, we trust, that through the whole of the fix numbers, we have not, in one instance, deviated from the impartiality which is required of us as Reviewers, nor the civility which is due from us as Men., We shall purfue the plan with the fame liberal view on which it was begun, and we have not a doubt of making this part a valuable Chronicle of living Writers. At the fame time we have introduced a full and comprehenfive account of the politics of the time. The proceedings of Parliament have been given with fairness; and the Gazettes, as well as other important State Papers, have been recorded. This is the plan on which we fet out, and which hitherto we have purfued with ardour. The approbation of the public has been felt in the rapidity and extent of our fale; which, while it has filled us with gratitude for the patronage, as well as with refolution to perfevere in the course, has raifed up rivals, who do us the honour to fhew that they can only hope før fuccefs by the fidelity of their plagiarism. THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE, AND LONDON REVIEW; FOR JULY, 1782. ANECDOTES of the Right Hon. HENRY GRATTAN, M. P. Accompanied by a moft ftriking LIKENESS, elegantly engraved by ANGUS, from an original Painting by STODHART. MR. R. Grattan owes his prefent popularity, and eminent refpect in which he ftands with his countrymen, entirely to his own virtues. His father was a Barrifter, who pushed himself forward in life more by a perfevering industry, and prudent conduct, than by oratory, or other hining abilities. A character of ftrict integrity procured him the honour of being appointed Recorder of the City of Dublin; an office of high truft, and confiderable emolument. The duties of this office he difcharged with unimpeachable integrity, and his political principles being patriotic, he was chofen a Reprefentative in Parliament for the City of Dublin by a very large majority, though opposed by an Alderman (Dunn) and the whole influence of the board of Aldermen, and the Court. Mr. Grattan's mother was fifter to the Reverend Doctor Marley, promoted to an Irish Deanery in the Viceroyalty of Lord Townshend, who was remarkably attached to his company, on account of his wit. The Dean was one of thofe facetious gentlemen who fupported a paper of wit and humour, in Dublin, called the Batchelor; or Speculations of Geoffry Wagstaff. Mr. Grattan has received a moft liberal education; having performed his fchool exercifes with a degree of reputation afto nifhing for his years, he was, in 1765, entered a Fellow Commoner in the Univerfity of Dublin, where, though cantemporary with the greatest men that now ornament the Irifh Senate, he carried a premium at every public examination. The examinations in the University of Dublin are not matters of form; to anfwer at them requires infinite labour and ftudy: they are performed openly in the face of the world, and their points are the principles of Government, Sciences, and the Belles Letters. The neceffary fudy to anfwer for a Fellowship in this Univerfity is fo fevere, that there are many inftances of gentlemen dying in confequence of intenfe application. It was, at one time, the intention of Mr. Grattan to have red for a Fellowship; but, by the perfuafion of his friends, he entered a Student of the Middle Temple, and was called to the Irifh bar. He did not, however, long apply himself to the bufinefs of the courts, for having been prefented with a Borough by the Earl of Charlemont, who had long conceived an idea of emancipating his country from the British legislature, brought Mr. Grattan into Parliament, to forward this glorious patriotic defign. No man could have been more fitting for the purpofe; his eloquence |