Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/77

 The second volume of the present work contains a selection from the private correspondence of Mrs. Barbauld, her entire share of the Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose written by herself and her brother con jointly, her three pamphlets, and several occasional pieces, some of them now first given to the world, others reprinted from periodical works where they appeared anonymously.

It is equally true of the style of Mrs. Barbauld in prose as in verse, that it was never produced to the public till it had reached its perfect stature : the early volume of Miscellaneous Pieces contained specimens in various kinds which she never surpassed. In the allegory of the Hill of Science she tried her strength with Addison, and sustained no defeat. The Essay on Romances is a professed imitation of the style of Dr. Johnson ; and it was allowed by that celebrated rhetorician him-