tigable application. He had an exquisite taste for the fine arts; and was deemed by Sir Joshua Reynolds the best judge of pictures he ever knew. Much of his leisure time was spent in Sir Joshua's house. The amusement in which he most delighted was the theatre He did not, like Johnson, contemn scenical persona tion; he had a high admiration of theatrical excellence his taste was gratified by the perfect imitation of human characters and passions, which a Garrick and a Siddons exhibited. Part of the recess he spent at Beaconsfield: there his taste appeared in various fine improvements of natural beauty. But higher qualities procured him the respect and love of all within the sphere of his action; not those only who knew and could appreciate his talents, and who, perhaps dazzled by the lustre of his genius, might see his conduct imperfectly; but those who knew nothing of him but as a country gentleman. The peasants, who were benefitted by his counsels; the labourers, for whose em ployment, and the melioration of whose condition, he was daily devising means; the poor, who found him a bountiful benefactor ; all joined in praising his wisdom and blessing his goodness. He planned various institutions, some of which I shall, in the sequel, detail, for making the poorer mechanics and labourers save a little from their wages or profits to assist each other in sickness or poverty, and give to their children the education necessary or useful in their humble stations. He was himself, in country as in town, a man of study and business. That time was given to relaxation which remained from active duties. Otium laborque non temporibus divisa; quod labori supererat otio datum. His objects at his villa and in the senate were the same,-to promote the welfare of that portion of mankind on which his actions might operate. Burke," im every part of his conduct, shewed that the wisdom which he pursued was practical. He was uniformly the enemy of speculative innovations. At Beaconsfield he bestowed much attention on farming. The estate would let at about 6001. a year; three-fourths of it he cultivated himself. As a farmer he pursued that plan which had been found, by experience, to produce the best corn and cattle; and was, in fact, without any unusual expence, one of the most successful farmers in the county. When in town he had his mutton, poultry, and äll other meats, except beef; also the various productions of the dairy and gardens, from his own estate, brought by his own horses and carts. The same horses which served for his carriage were employed on his farms. Both in town and country he was remarkable for hos pitality-an hospitality of real benevolence: there was no parade of stile, no ostentatious display of side-boards, no sumptuous entertainments; but every thing plain, substantial, and agreeable, with kind looks, kind manners, and a hearty welcome. He would often insist, in town, on eight or ten of his acquaintances go ing home with him to eat mutton-chops or beefsteaks; and, on such occasions, literally gave such dinners-dinners, with the zest of his company, to which few could be found equal. He liked a cheerful glass, but never drank to excess. During dinner his beverage was water, and afterwards generally claret or some other light wine, and he seldom exceeded a bottle. His conversation was always so animated and so flowing, his spirits so. exhilirated, that the 'wine could make no addition. His benevolence extended itself to common beggars. In walking in the streets he generally disposed of all the silver he had in his pocket to the various mendicants who solicited his charity. He imputed inattention to such petitions not to the policy of discouraging beggars, but to unwillingness to part with money. Both as a student and a man of business he had unceasing industry. He was an early riser, and used to dispatch many important affairs while some of his friends were recruiting themselves from the watching of the tavern or the ferment of the gaming-house. In his way to the House he frequently called on a friend equal in ability even to himself, but very inferior in point of regularity, and found him at three o'clock be ginning his breakfast. "There's Charles, (he would say) whilst I am exhausted by reading and business, he is quite fresh; it is no wonder he is so much more vigorous in the House.", Part of the summer was frequently devoted to revisiting his native country, or in viewing different places in England. He sometimes travelled in the stage-coach, and was an exqui sitely agreeable companion. He knew the history, physical and moral, of every place he passed through, and entertained his fellow travellers with pleasing or useful anecdotes and observations, according to their capacity or inclination. I have heard from a lady that once -came in the coach with hinia considerable part of the road from Yorkshire, without knowing who he was, that he fixed the attention of all the passengers by his great fund of local knowledge, and the anecdotes with which it was interspersed. They all concurred in thinking him the most entertaining man they had ever met. Seeing him afterwards in London, she found that he who had delighted, a stage-coach company was a man 1 "The applause of listening senates to command." In summer, 1772, he visited the Continent: there he first saw the fair Marie Antoinette, whose accomplishments and graces made such an impression on a mind feelingly alive to the sublime and beautiful, and whose charms and misfortunes he has since described with so pathetic eloquence. The literary and political eminence of Burke rendered him, while in France, courted by the antimonarchical and antihierarchical philosophers of the time. One of the subjects of discussion between him and the philosophers of France was the merit of Beatie's Essay on Truth. He seems to have been as partial for Beatie as against Hume. To an impartial reader it might appear surprising, that men, possessed themselves of such powers of reasoning as Burke and Johnson, should admire the declamatory writings of Beatie, if he were not to recollect that the wisest men do not always judge as wise men, but frequently form opinions which persons, much their inferiors, can per ceive to be erroneous. It might be attributed to their regard for religion, that they so much venerated its zealous defender: but were that the sole cause, they would have estimated its champions by their ability, and preferred the logical closeness of Campbell, and the cautious modest profoundness of Reid, to the confident vivacity of Beatie. But though the reasonings of Beatie be neither very profound nor very ingenious, his doctrines are just and salutary⚫ * It is said that, besides his zeal for orthodoxy, his vanity as an author prompted Beatie to abuse Hume. Hume, on perusing some of his poems, called them milk and water verses; which, it said, the divine never forgave. We find the arguments of Beatie much more frequently quoted, and his book much more highly esteemed, by pious well-disposed men, of no very great reach, than by able men (except Johns son and Burke), even of the Christian persuasion. |