wrong that wonderful man, by calling him an ingenious, or animated, or gorgeous declaimer. No -Mr. Burke was an orator-Mr. Burke was born to be admired at home and abroad, and by friends and foes. The happiest effusions of Mr. Burke's eloquence, prepared by judicious correction for the press,49 are not far removed from perfection,50 and they deserve to be called, in the well-known language of Thucydides :

“Κτήματα ἐς αἰεὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγωνίσματα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀκούειν.” Α. κγ. 55.

The mantle of Mr. Burke was of celestial texture, and it may serve to deck out some future claimant not unworthy of inheriting the precious insigne, and trained to the sacred office in the schools of the prophets-but where shall we find the favoured mortal, upon whom a double portion of Mr. Burke's spirit may be expected to descend?

If I had been told, that Mr. Burke had described Mr. Fox as a most accomplished and brilliant debater, in conversation only, and had used no other terms of praise, I should have thought of his words as I now think, and for the sake of the speaker I should not have produced them before the public, without the most urgent and palpable necessity. Even in writing to you, dear Sir, I should not have disturbed the manes of Mr. Burke, if they had not been invoked to descend from that glorified state,* to which some Platonists supposed that the souls of illustrious men were exalted immediately after

* Vid. Maxim. Tyr. Dissertation 27, and the Notes.

death, and had not been employed in performing the part of a tutelary genius to the reputation of Mr. Fox.

But, Amicus Foxius, veritas etiam magis Amica, and for the strictures which have fallen from my pen, the responsibility, in the first instance, lies with that person, who, depending upon the merits of a good cause, or on his own gigantic strength and magic skill to support a bad one, has challenged the severities of investigation.

It were useless, and perhaps unbecoming, to indulge any conjectures upon the motives which led the writer of the sketch in question to look for any sanction to his own present opinions of Mr. Fox, in the qualified or unqualified concurrence of Mr. Burke. Great, indeed, are the talents of both Mr. Burke and his encomiast, and to both should I have listened most attentively and most respectfully, in any honest application of those talents to great subjects. Upon any other occasion, I might have been pleased with that encomiast on his making those acknowledgments which were once made by Mr. Fox, for the instruction and delight, which, in common with every scholar of every party, he may have himself derived from the speeches and the writings of Mr. Burke. Reasons he may have for professing to make a common cause with that extraordinary man upon the demerits of French politics; but surely upon the merits of English eloquence, there is no visible temptation to seduce him from rigorous and uniform impartiality, even into seeming or momentary compliance with the lurking prejudices

of such a favourite as Mr. Burke now appears to be in his estimation.

I condemn not Mr. Burke, nor any other man, who has undergone a real "change in the general complexion of his mind,”* or a change "in the opinions" which he professes to hold, and endeavours to disseminate-even a change so great as to raise suspicion in common observers, that he is ashamed of his former exertions for the people." I shall endeavour to vindicate Mr. Burke from a part of that charge against the reviewer, and I should be very reluctant indeed to alledge a similar charge against other men. The reasons for their change may be very solid-the motives to it may be honourablethe effects of it may be useful at once to the individuals and to the community.

It is unjust to say that inconsistency is, in all cases, the infallible criterion of insincerity—it is unjust to tie down manhood to those tenets which have been ingenuously avowed, but perhaps hastily adopted, in youth-it is unjust to shackle men of genius with any other restraints than those which are necessary for the observance of decorum, honour, and the strictest fidelity-it is unjust to debar any human beings from the moral or intellectual benefits which may arise from greater accuracy of information, or greater maturity of judgment—it is flagrantly unjust to blame them for discharging those new duties which are really imposed upon their

* See the Monthly Review, to be quoted hereafter in the Notes.

consciences, by new and disinterested views of controverted and important questions. But conversion would not be disgraced by its circumstancial accompaniments, if converts were to pause a little, before they pronounce the whole truth to lie upon one side only-if, reflecting upon their own situation, and communing with their own hearts, they should be impressed with an humble and fearful sense of that fallibility which is inseparable from our common nature-if they would vouchsafe sometimes to separate the proofs and the consequences of opinions, from the moral characters of the persons who hold them-if they would extend to other men the same credit which they claim to themselves, for sincerity of conviction, and uprightness of intention-if they would avoid every unseemly appearance of that versatility which for the sake of popularity is content to exchange sweet for bitter and bitter for sweet, and of that shrewdness, which, for the sake of convenience, is prepared occasionally to halt between right and wrong—and above all, if they were to be very wary in suspecting, and very tender in censuring, any unfortunate followers, who may have been swayed by their arguments to adopt their opinions, and to imitate their example. Such candour would atone for many of their former errors, and such prudence might serve to restrain their present and their future zeal.

The sketch of Mr. Fox's character which I mentioned to you, if considered as a literary composition, is indisputably worthy of the writer to whom it has been assigned by common fame. The general

excellence of it consists in the judicious selection of topics, in the luminous arrangement of the matter, and in diction 51 most agreeably diversified, and most exquisitely polished. It is calm without languor, flowing without redundance, and elegant without gaudiness. But the particular passages to which I have adverted, were evidently introduced with great deliberation-they have produced, and were intended to produce great effect; and as the judgment which Mr. Burke passed upon Mr. Fox as a debater is not accompanied by any mark of dissent or disapprobation, the well-wishers of Mr. Fox may be excused for discussing the real import of the compliment paid to him upon this occasion by Mr. Burke. To me, indeed, it appears probable that the more judicious admirers even of Mr. Burke himself, will not be very highly pleased by the republication of a remark which reflects very little credit upon the magnanimity of him who made, or the discretion of him who would disseminate it. The writer to whom I allude, has himself shewn Mr. Fox to have been more than "a brilliant and accomplished debater," and his manner of shewing it entitles him to my praise, for the clearness of his discrimination, and the beauty of his language-I would therefore cherish the hope that he remembered what he does not entirely approve, and that he has recorded what he would not deign to imitate. But I cannot suffer the charms of his style, or the celebrity of his name, to give undue weight to the words he has selected from the writings of another man, or eventually to injure that character which,