Biography being one of the numerous depart menu of history, it has some objects common to them all. It proposes to ascertain and record what is true in fact, and to-this end it separates the fabulous from the authentic, discharges the false colouring of prejudice and party, weighs opposing testimonies, exposes the representations of falsehood, and labours, like the Cretan judge, to administer impartial justice to the dead. 'I o accomplish this task, it is neces. nary that the biographer be capable of patient inves tigation, and diligent research. Not only must his love of truth raise Mm above the cloudy region of prejudice and faction ; he must be endowed with no ordinary share of sagacity, that lie may detect spe • dons fabrications, and through the distortions of envy, and the exaggerations of flattery, discover what is probable and credible. Another, and a principal object of biography, is to record what is instructive in example. It has been remarked, and •perhaps truly, that there is no man, however confined his capacity and sphere of action, a faithful narrative of whose life would not furnish lessons of useful instruction; if it. disclosed nothing new in human nature, it might at least serve to illustrate and confirm what was already known. But since equal benefit is not to be derived from every life, biography takes out of the long roll of those who have performed the same journey be fore us, the names of those, whose wisdom or whose weakness, whose virtues or whose errors, are likely to make the deepest and most salutary impression ; it thus gives us an opportunity of enriching our own minds with the treasures of experience, which have been collected by others, and collected often at a great price of labour and of pain. A question has been made by the critic and moralist, respecting the epic poem, whether it is necessary that the hero of the piece be distinguished for virtue, as well as for the .spleadour of his qualities and exploits ; and, though the poet has not always chosen or constructed his story in conformity to such a rule, it must be owned, that had lie done so, he would have rendered an im portant set-vie: to the interests of virtue, instead of leaving it, to say no more, very questionable, whe ther his productions have not, in some instances, mi litatid against them. Unless the hero be encircled with a radiance sufficient to dazzle even a strong sight, his pour) will soon be found to be any thing but poetry ; and if a character intrinsically bad be made powerfully to engage admiration, the princi ples Of virtue must be much better understood, and more generally, and at a much earlier age settled in the mind than they are in fact, to prevent admira tion becoming sometimes the forerunner of imitation. The same objection does not lie, however, against making a man of depraved manners the subject of a biographical memoir; for in such cases it is the fault of the biographer, and not an inevitable result of that species of writing, if the admiration of splendid ta lents is made to prevail over the detestation of de pravity. Biography proposes to rescue what is me morable from the spoils of time. In every age, men of more than ordinary endowment, have risen above the plain of their cotemporaries, who, by their ac tions or writings, have not only commanded an ex tensive influence over the times in which they lived, and the people with whom they mingled ; but even over succeeding ages, and over nations far removed from the immediate sphere of their activity. De stroyers, or benefactors of mankind, they were the volcano whose eruption carries desolation in its Course, or the heights that send their streams to fructify the land, and give plenty to the inhabitants. We contemplate the records of their lives as monu ments of generations which have been long extinct ; -and travelling up the stream of time, we gain a sort of pre-existence to the short life which is allotted us -among our cotemporarics. We converse with the greatest and wisest of our progenitors, and are some times privileged to enjoy a sort of confidential ac • quaintance with them, to visit their solitude, and pe netrate the recesses of their minds, the principles and motives of their conduct. It is also consolatory to know, that though the common law of our nature extends its rigorous necessity to the wisest and the best, as well as to the least and worst of mortals, yet every memorial of them shall not perish with their lives ; their memory, if not their existence on earth, shall be perpetuated, and shall kindle a kindred flame in the breast of their successors, when they and their ashes have long lost their wonted fires." One end of biography is to add to the stock of human know ledge, and of that part especially which it most con cerns all men to possess,—the knowledge of human •nature. In the study of man, as well as of every other species of being, if we would not substitute fiction for reality, we must begin with particulars, and proceed to what is general. The individual must be known before it can be ranged under its proper class. Nothing so much retarded the progress of knowledge as the pursuit of a contrary method through a long succession of centuries. The phi losopher was degraded into the mere schoolman, and was employed in forcing and torturing natural • objects into a conformity to his factitious categories and predicaments, instead of pushing his inquiries by observation a:0, experiment into the actual proper ties of surroundii g beings. A like error is commit
ted by him who first constructs an elaborate theory of man, and examines the individuals with no other view than to fit them to his preconceived philosophy. Some errors in morals, and more in metaphysics and theology, might have been avoided, had the only me thod of science been pursued, the study of particu lars ; had the philosophy of man been built upon the knowledge of the individuals which compose the spe cies. In such a pursuit, biography offers its ready help, by making men of every age, nation, tempera ment, profession, and character, pass in review ; and enabling the philosophical speculatist to form his opinions respecting the nature of man, not from dog mas, apothegms, and maxims, whether fashioned in the cloister, or collected in the court, but from ac tual survey, and critical examination of the nature of man, exhibited under all the diversified forms of in. dividual existence.
But the object which biography especially propo ses to accomplish, and for which it has advantages above every other species of writing, is, to make en tertainment the vehicle of information and improve ment. Its superior utility on this account will ap pear by comparing it with general history on the one hand, and on the other with tales of fiction. A great portion of history is occupied in relating the intrigues of courts, the operations of the camp, the adjustment of treaties, and the causes of the rise and decline of nations, in poising the interests of different states, and unravelling the intricacies of state policy. These details, however interesting to the statesman, the po litician, and the soldier, are capable of little practical application to ordinary life, and administer more to the gratification of the curious than to general im provement. To a great proportion of readers, they are found even wanting in entertainment. The sub jects of narration are too remote from their own ob servation and experience, to awaken any very power ful sympathy ; and the information which they con vey is desired rather for ornament than use. But in the perusal of the lives of eminent persons, we con template the man as well as the politician and the warrior. By a nearer approach to him, by seeing him in different relations private as well as public, and following him step by step from the cradle to the grave, we participate in his feelings, enter into his designs, and appropriate, in some measure, the results of his experience. But whatever means the biographer may possess of making instruction steal upon the reader in the way of entertainment, fiction appears to have some advantages which are not to be found even in his department. In constructing a talc of fiction, the author may shape his characters, and connect incidents in any way that does not violate probability, and trespass beyond the limits of nature. Within this line lie has license to range at large, and collect and combine whatever, and in what manner soever lie may think best suited to the accomplish inent of his design. He may throw into the lives of his chief actors the experience of many ordinary, and extraordinary lives, and contrive every passage of them with such skill and address, that each shall point to some moral, or lead to some train of useful reflection. He can suppose facts with a direct re ference in every step of his invention, to the conclu sion which he wishes to be drawn from them ; while the historian must take facts as they are, connect them as they are actually connected, and pursue uti lity in no track but that of historical truth. This restriction, it must be admitted, narrows the basis of his structure ; but it gives it at the same time a so lidity and stability which fiction wants. The latter, indeed can produce correct imitations of nature and of manners ; it can also describe a series of actions that shall inculcate lessons of wisdom not different from those which proceed from actual experience ; but the dignity and impression of truth are still wanting ; the orders which are issued are good, but they have not the seal of authority. We are delight ed, but little practical conviction springs from the delight. That it is but fiction, will inevitably occur, if not during the perusal, so as to weaken the inte rest of the tale, yet at the conclusion, when emotion has subsided, and the moral and practical application remains to be made. If any moral feeling be in stinctive, it is respect for truth. The child has no sooner learnt the meaning of the word, than he asks is it true at the close of the narrative which has af fected or surprised his young mind. If he finds it to be fiction, it shares the fate of the toy which, ha ving amused him for a second, is no more thought of ; but assure him of its truth, and if the moral be not above his reach, lie will pluck it, and make it a part of the little system of associations which govern his practice. Whatever good therefore maybe effected by fiction, and much it can effect, biography has a great superiority over it from its power of uniting in a much higher degree the two objects of entertain ment and instruction.