Page:Catalogue of five hundred celebrated authors of Great Britain, now living (1788).djvu/5

 many, whose pretensions are better founded, find even the cravings of their vanity satisfied by the universal applause which they receive.

It is an old observation, that we are no sooner interested by the writings of an author, than our curiosity is awakened for his history, his fortune, and his character. Upon this foundation a Moreri and a Bayle, the compilers of the General Dictionary and the Biographia Britannica, constructed their bulky folios; and it is hard indeed, if the author of a petty octavo cannot find room for his box in the midst of their Gothic palaces. An Englishman for instance, is happy to read the biography of Stephen Langton, and Thomas a Becket; but surely the curiosity of the candid will be more strongly arroused by the incidents,  which respect a Sheridan and a Burke, a  Watson and a Hurd. We will therefore yield the prize, at least in point of mag-