kinds, vitiate rather than nourish the body. Hence let your reading be confined to the most approved authors, and if at any time you seek for amusement in others, return again to the first.' Sir Matthew Hale is an illustrious example of the wonders that may be wrought, by a methodical use of time; his application was unremitted, and the compass of his knowledge almost without bounds, but he knew how to estimate it rightly; he made all his acquisitions subservient to discovering the springs of society, unfolding the principles of human nature, teaching lessons of practical wisdom, and acting on the condition of man. He sought knowledge for these ends alone, and valued particulars only as they opened light into some new truth, and conducted him to useful and comprehensive results.

Our Reminiscent entertains us with a long chapter on the Letters of Junius; if forsooth we may be allowed the intimation, that anything entertaining can now be said on a subject so completely exhausted. There is little new in the Reminiscent's observations, inasmuch as he has left the great mystery of the authorship of these letters as much in the dark as it was before, yet there is an interest in hearing a man describe things in which he has been personally concerned, and talk of distinguished men with whom he has been in habits of intimacy. This kind of interest will be found in the author's discussion on the Letters of Junius. The argument in favor of Sir Philip Francis having been the author of these Letters has been pursued with so much success, chiefly on the ground of resemblance in the handwriting, that Mr Butler would destroy its force by supposing Sir Philip to have been the amanuensis of Junius, and copied the Letters for the press. When it is considered, that the known writings of Sir Philip bear no comparison, in the character of style, or power of thought, with the Letters of Junius, this hypothesis is more than probable. The Reminiscent examines the evidence on which the other candidates have been brought forward as the authors of these Letters, but after going round the circle, and telling now and then an agreeable anecdote on the way, he sits down at the point from which he first set out, fain to acknowledge that he has found no clue by which to penetrate the mysterious labyrinth.

The parts of the volume, which will be perused with most delight by the greater portion of readers, are those relating

to distinguished British statesmen and orators. As the Reminiscent was either personally acquainted with these men, or had often witnessed the public exhibition of their talents, and knew their characters, habits, and the estimation in which they were held by their cotemporaries, his descriptions are doubtless to be relied on for their fidelity. His manner, style, and spirit, will speak for themselves, in the examples quoted below. Of Lord Erskine he says,

'The eloquence of this remarkable man was an era at the bar. His addresses to juries have not been equalled; they alike captivated their understandings, their imaginations, and their passions. He often rose to the highest oratory; but it was always simple; and even in his sublimest flights, there was much that was very familiar; but this rather set off than clouded their splendor, rather increased than diminished their general effect. His skill in the conduct of a cause, and in the examination of witnesses, has never been surpassed; his discretion never forsook him, even in his highest forensic enthusiasm; his manners were always most gentlemanly; at the bar he was uniformly loved and admired; and, when he accepted the seals, no one, as lord Eldon justly remarked of him, could have a greater wish to discharge properly the office, which was conferred on him, or greater talents to qualify him for a proper discharge of it. A true friend to constitutional liberty, he was its constant and animated advocate; but he never failed in respect to the crown, or sacrificed to the prejudices or vagaries of the populace. It is highly to the credit of the two noble lords, that, though the difference of their politics repeatedly placed them in a state of forensic conflict, neither ever said that to the other, or of the other, which it was unpleasing to him to hear. This circumstance Lord Erskine himself noticed to the Reminiscent.' pp. 61, 62.

Lord Chatham is thus described.

In

'The nature of the eloquence of this extraordinary man, it is extremely difficult to describe. No person in his external appearance was ever more bountifully gifted by nature for an orator. his look and his gesture, grace and dignity were combined, but dignity presided; the "terrors of his beak, the lightnings of his eye," were insufferable. His voice was both full and clear; his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, his middle tones were sweet, rich, and beautifully varied; when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the house was completely filled with the volume of the sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer or animate; he then had spirit stirring notes, which were perfectly irresistible. He frequently rose, on a sudden, from a very low te

care;

a very high key, but it seemed to be without effort. His diction was remarkably simple, but words were never chosen with greater he mentioned to a friend of the Reminiscent, that he had read twice, from, beginning to end, Bailey's Dictionary; and that he had perused some of Dr Barrow's Sermons so often, as to know them by heart.

'His sentiments, too, were apparently simple; but sentiments were never adopted or uttered with greater skill; he was often familiar and even playful, but it was the familiarity and playfulness of condescension; the lion that dandled with the kid. The terrible, however, was his peculiar power. Then the whole house sunk before him. Still he was dignified; and wonderful as was his eloquence it was attended with this most important effect, that it impressed every hearer with a conviction, that there was something in him even finer than his words; that the man was infinitely greater than the orator; no impression of this kind was made by the eloquence of his son, or his son's antagonist.

'Still, with the great man,-for great he certainly was,-manner did much. One of the fairest specimens, which we possess of his lordship's oratory, is his speech, in 1766, for the repeal of the stamp act.

"Annuit, et nutu totum tremefecit Olympum."

'Most, perhaps, who read the report of this speech, in Almon's Register, will wonder at the effect, which it is known to have produced on the hearers; yet the report is tolerably exact, and exhibits, although faintly, its leading features. But they should have seen the look of ineffable contempt with which he surveyed the late Mr Grenville, who sat within one of him, and should have heard him say with that look, " As to the late ministry, every capital measure they have taken, has been entirely wrong." They should also have beheld him, when addressing himself to Mr Grenville's successors, he said, "As to the present gentlemen,-those, at least, whom I have in my eye,”—(looking at the bench on which Mr Conway sate,)-"I have no objection; I have never been made a sacrifice by any of them. Some of them have done me the honor to ask my poor opinion, before they would engage to repeal the act; they will do me the justice to own, I did advise them to engage to do it, but notwithstanding, (for I love to be explicit,) I cannot give them my confidence. Pardon me, gentlemen," (bowing to them,) "confidence is a plant of slow growth." Those, who remember the air of condescending protection, with which the bow was made, and the look given, when he spoke these words, will recollect how much they themselves, at the moment, were both delighted and awed, and what they themselves then conceived of the immeasurable superiority of the orator over every human beVOL. XX. NO. 47.

36

ing that surrounded him. In the passages which we have cited, there is nothing which an ordinary speaker might not have said; it was the manner, and the manner only, which produced the effect.' pp. 121–123.

The parallel between Fox and Pitt, which we next introduce, is loosely drawn, but it contains some discriminating traits of the character of their minds and eloquence.

On his first separation from the ministry, Mr Fox assumed the character of a whig; and, from this time, uniformly advocated, in consistency with that noble character, the great cause of civil and religious liberty, on their broadest principles.

6 Almost the whole of his political life was spent in opposition to his majesty's ministers. It may be said of him, as of Lord North, that he had political adversaries, but no enemy. Good nature, too easily carried to excess, was one of the distinctive marks of his character. In vehemence and power of argument he resembled Demosthenes; but there the resemblance ended. He possessed a strain of ridicule and wit, which nature denied to the Athenian; and it was the more powerful, as it always appeared to be blended with argument, and to result from it. To the perfect composition, which so eminently distinguishes the speeches of Demosthenes, he had no pretence. He was heedless of method; having the complete command of good words, he never sought for better; if those, which occurred, expressed his meaning clearly and forcibly, he paid little attention to their arrangement or harmony. This detracts from the merit of his speeches, when they are read; but, when they were delivered, it perhaps added to their effect, as it tended greatly to make the hearers believe that he was above art, and spoke from conviction. Nothing more strongly recommends a speaker to his audience, or gives greater force to his oratory.

The moment of his grandeur was, when, after he had stated the argument of his adversary, with much greater strength than his adversary had done, and with much greater than any of his hearers thought possible, he seized it with the strength of a giant, and tore and trampled on it to destruction. If, at this moment, he had possessed the power of the Athenian over the passions or the imaginations of his hearers, he might have disposed of the house at his pleasure, but this was denied to him; and, on this account, his speeches fell very short of the effect, which otherwise they must have produced.

'It is difficult to decide on the comparative merit of him and Mr Pitt; the latter had not the vehement reasoning, or argumentative ridicule, of Mr Fox; but he had more splendor, more imagery, and much more method and discretion. His long, lofty, and

reverential panegyrics of the British constitution, his eloquent vituperations of those, whom he described as advocating the democratic spirit then let loose on the inhabitants of the earth, and his solemn adjuration of the house, to defend and to assist him, in defending their all against it, were, in the highest degree, both imposing and conciliating. In addition, he had the command of bitter contemptuous sarcasm, which tortured to madness. This he could expand or compress at pleasure; even in one member of a sentence, he could inflict a wound that was never healed. Mr Fox having made an able speech, Mr Erskine followed him with one of the very same import. Mr Pitt rose to answer them; he announced his intention to reply to both; "but," said he, "I shall make no mention of what was said by the honorable gentleman who spoke last; he did no more than regularly repeat what was said by the member who preceded him, and regularly weaken all he repeated."

It was prettily said by the historian of the Roman Empire, that "Charles's black collier would soon sink Billy's painted galley;" but never did horoscope prove more false; Mr Fox said more truly, "Pitt will do for us, if he should not do for himself."

Mr Fox had a captivating earnestness of tone and manner; Mr Pitt was more dignified than earnest. The action of Mr Fox was easy and graceful; Mr Pitt's cannot be praised. It was an observation of the reporters in the gallery, that it required great exertion to follow Mr Fox while he was speaking; none to remember what he had said; that it was easy and delightful to follow Mr Pitt; not so easy to recollect what had delighted them. It may be added, that, in all Mr Fox's speeches, even when he was most violent, there was an unquestionable indication of good humor, which attracted every heart. Where there was such a seeming equipoise of merit, the two last circumstances might be thought to turn the scale; but Mr Pitt's undeviating circumspection,—sometimes concealed, sometimes ostentatiously displayed,tended to obtain for him, from the considerate and the grave, a confidence which they denied to his rival; besides, Mr Pitt had no coalition, no India bill to defend.

'Much that awes by power or charms by beauty was heard in the harangues of both; but, while Fox spoke, his argument only was thought of; while Pitt harangued, all his other excellencies had their due measure of attention. Each made better speeches than Lord Chatham; neither of them possessed oven one of those moments of supreme dominion, which, (he is sensible how very imperfectly,) the Reminiscent has attempted to describe.' pp. 138

141.

We trust we shall be pardoned for introducing the following notice of Lord Thurlow, although it contains his cele