The rules which have been laid down by criticism '- for historical composition, are generally applicable, but with some qualification, to the style proper for biography. If it wants simplicity, the work will ap pear to be rather the production of the rhetorician than of the honest narrator ; if it wants dignity, or that grace which is always nearly akin to dignity, it will degenerate into the vapid garrulity of the story teller. A well-written biography, however, will have an air of much greater familiarity than belongs to the most approved historical style. We are best entertained, and perhaps not least instructed, by me. rnoirs which abound in anecdotes ; and to communi. cate them in a style which mimics the majestic march of the history of nations, must provoke ridicule, the proper chastisement and best corrective of affectation. In works of this sort, splendor of imagery, elaborate description, and rhetorical ornament, in general, would want propriety, and therefore beauty ; their charac ter should be that of elegant simplicity.
• By whatever rule the comparative value of literary - productions ought to be estimated, biography will be found to occupy no inferior place. Its object, _like that of poetry, is both to delight and to instruct, and this it effects, in common with all authentic his tory, by the relation of facts. It invites the atten tion, even of the most indolent, by the ease and fa miliarity of its address ; it teaches, not by precept, but example ; and is heard the more willingly, be cause it speaks rather as a companion than a monitor. The biographer, sitting in the circle of his hearers, and assuming no superiority of talent, or office, en forces the, best lessons of morality in the best possible way. But though his pretensions are not arrogant, his task is not therefore easy, and within the com pass of every ordinary capacity. The art of narration, indeed, seems at first view to require no endowment which rises above mediocrity. Diligence in the in vestigation of facts, fidelity, perspicuity, and case in the relation, are the great requisites in histon cal composition. The poet, if he aspires to the first order, must soar to the highest heaven of invention ; and if he would be enrolled in any order of his art, his track must rise far above the ordinary level, and lead through scenes of beauty and of interest. He may want the truth, but not the fire of inspiration ; and his conceptions must swell with an enthusiasm that, like charity, will cover a multitude of faults. But the historian has fulfilled his promise, when he has made his reader acquainted with that portion of the history of man which he proposed to delineate, by a faithful narration of the facts in the order of their succession, and by referring events to their proper causes, or to such at least as will be thought most probable by a judge of human character and actions. What is so simple in the design will scarce ly be thought difficult in the execution, unless by those who have learnt that simplicity is the last at tainment of art. The history of empires and na tions, however, embracing a multitude of agents, and great variety of events, to winch their true place and operation must be assigned, is evidently a work far above the execution of limited capacity. To reduce the chaos of events to their proper order ; to exhibit them in their actual connection ; to draw with a faith ful pencil the portraits of the principal agents ; to describe the endless diversities of character, and the doubtful lights and shades of virtue and of vice, in each maintaining, at the same time, a strict regard to testimony and to truth,—is a design of such magni tude, that it is no wonder if, of those who have made the attempt, few have been very successful in the execution. Here the theatre is wide, the drama ex
tended, the characters various and numerous, the in cidents almost inexplicably interwoven, and the pas sions engaged in perpetual conflict. But biography exhibits persons, not empires ; it traces the chain of events, not through centuries, but during the short period of the life of one man ; and in this period, of those events only in which he lad a principal concern. It attends upon history as the artist upon the navi gator, who, with his pencil in his hand, is contented to depict single and detached spots, where the view is concentrated, and the outline commanded at a single glance. Whilst history traces the actions and progress of man, from the first twilight of tradition to the present hour, presenting him in patriarchal simplicity, and invested in all the culture of civiliza tion, shewing the same creature through all the va riety of political arrangement, biography chobses, from the multitude of mankind, persons on some ac count distinguished from the rest, and subjecting them to particular inspection, presents a chart of their lives for the benefit of succeeding generations.
Biography, in this view of it, may be properly I considered as a supplement to history. Where the 3 historian could give only a sketch, the biographer presents us with a finished picture. He selects from historical groupcs the most distinguished figures, ad vances them into the fore ground, and gratifies us with the means of a nearer contemplation. History proposes to introduce us to the knowledge of particular persons, and their actions, so far only as is necessary to carry on the chain, and mark the connection of • events which it describes : it thews the soldier in the ' field, the statesman in the senate, and sometimes in the cabinet ; but it does not lead us within the thres hold of his retirement, and exhibit him in the inter. esting relations of domestic life : it gives us the pub lic, but not the private man ; or no more of the pri vate man than is necessary to the elucidation of public transactions. When his prhiciples, passions, and con 'duct, have borne with powerful influence upon the great stream of human action, they are brought into nearer view, and subjected to closer inspection. Still lie is seen but at a distance in the great historic gal lery ; the finer shades of manners, from which ac tions and characters of the same class derive difference and individuality, are seldom distinguished in this general survey. Here biography steps in with peen. liar advantage ; it leads us into the familiar walks of life ; it shews the monarch in his family, the hero in the circle of his friends, the orator no longer declaim ing in the senate or the hall, but conversing on the level of his associates, and unbending his eloquence to negligence and playfulness ; it enables us to see the great man divested of his state, the conqueror descended from his car, the mock-patriot in his sphere of private oppression, and the true one sup ported under public injustice and ingratitude by the lofty consciousness of rectitude.