The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-01-21 00:00:00

Pit EI'ACE.

The life, the wit, en.l lromonr, nod the great fond of en-
tertainment to be found in " Ilartlenbrais fond ::nrcrill,"
will, it nosy be feared, raise in those who may have read that
excellent Work, too high an expectation of the merits of
this History of hobos fits-Jul,.. All I shell say is, that,
however it may differ front thirdeohritss in some respects,
the sexacinus reader will discover the ante faithful delinea-
tion of Inemin nature, airmen living and emir:, as they see
seen hymn; and acting in the worl.l. *li ‘e
farts and characters will not sppri.e rider untistui al or in-
cur diode to limy. Irtve seen much of life.

Reader, this !lists., a is neither milli iral, nor levelled nt its.
diridnals. If the great mall of the age br introdut cil, it is
only becalm he was found nrcessat y to the story, of which
he forms nu prumiurot feature, the little that is related of
him serving only to influence 81.1.0;ot:illy ti, events of Mr.
Fitx-John's life. This, sine wont.' Mink, need,. no apiihocs ;
nevertheless, it is wished to guard a;attist every spectra of
mitrepreseutation.
The best Works of this kind in an languages have been
accused of containing characters intended to represent
living persons. The rs Mill is obvious. There are few Im.
icier. whose prominent points will not, like suits of clothes,
fit many iudirsduals. Ouse cannot straw a foul or a knave tit
his true colours, but each at once thooks hinted( the urigi.
sal of the portrait, sod fifty claintai.ts start forth for the
honour of the cap. That Dards tibias" shoti:tl n-t have
escaped such an accusation is not wonderful, aboundrig, as
it does, with strongly drawn characters, patio. il to the very
life. It seems as if the elitiste tribe of the protlipite and the
vicious hail taken the alarm. Th.- grossest 1111,4 riss,o illa-
tion., the basest calumnies, the vilest ensile-us artifice..
have been resorted to, to prevent its tire some or
them, if the anchor were so inclined. rognisahle in a Coors
of indict% Nay, even a charge of immorality has Man
brought against one Cif the WWI MORAL Woo to. of • sitcriniti-
meld that was ever wsitten. The Politic shall I,IC slat
know move of these st met practices, and the gnarl. is a locurc
they inmost.
The conduct of Ow Meta! l on thi occasion is re.
workable. The work t. lio striking, toss notch unlike the
productions of the pi i scot ill), to adroit of • thence of
sticeeeding aizatiost it by the ordinary method.: the only
course left is to keep it, if possible, lions the eyes of the
Public. There are some honourable exeeptiona, amongst
which I calmed help meutioning the Anti-lambits Review,
where justice is done to the merits of that eery inierrdiait
work. SIMIe of the liberal Newspapers have rtfused to
Insert en article from w Pablir Journal contaillitit remarks
on Ilartleithrass'—otaik, gaisd Reader positively re.
fared nn; they only ilentauJed a utatisfrom excluding
peke, null that, too, fwdednifein expressed
The base arts ttianloyill mood vv.-Ideally fall. Hardest-
lwass list lOU WOOS intrinsic • xi-ell-Her Slut to I.efOssis• finally
a standard Work. In the mean
unprejudiced persons tnjordgir
.for amnia-kr., and to take
11w trouble rtirdiousla to Fire their opiates, *nil wake it
known iu all eoinpnies whatsoever. This is the best me-
thod of defeating vile combinatioes. If the Public would
act thws, in all VIM S, they would quickly get tat of the
trammels of 11;red writer*, by whom they arc now fp xernid,
and they would be furnished with looter honks. !Oils of ia.
lent would oat decline exerting their abilities in that way,
whets a good book would have a fair chauce, though out of
the connexion.
To the Author himself it is of little tttttt need ; these
Wos ks nut bring published with au rye to prutit. His object
is alregdp attained. Who he is ra ret know ti In only one
other person in the world) will probably never he tumefy
public. It is nut very bk. ly that be will emitter hiniseli to
the mass of malice set at work, mid the wealth and power of
the unto-incepted instigehors
To prevent similar aboiniontions with respect to the pre-
sent Work, I enter the following Cures':
Whereas, certain erilrlispresd persons. having, at the
instigatiun of the Devil, gone about wickedly and mali-
ciously defaming and misrepresent leg Hardenbrass, as if cer-
tain characters therein d. pieteil were intended to represent
certain well-known iuilivolnals, to the great annoyance of
his Majesty's liege subjects, and the grief of well di-posed
people; in order to prevent similar 'nil-practices with re-
.pret to the History of Julius Fite-John, Take Notice,
fled the History of Julius l'ox•John, is merely a wool;
of esitertai tttttt mail that the characters therein described,
sprain* mute tithil to represent ars Swing individual
women, or s Itiblren whatever : Nevertheless., be it lawful
for any Pm', Kaare, or other Picini.* or profligate Perron,
who shill lay c6tila to any of the said characters. to adopt
the. VOWc at his pleasure, and to pass for stock fralialt,
blemish, vie iuus,or prtyligate Cita roc ter, until the day ..f his
death, any thing herein coot:tined note ithsiatisling.
THE EDITOR.

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