[1796.] and that masterly involution of phrase, by which he contrives to bolt the prominent idea strongly on the mind. Burke's felicity is in a different sphere: it lies in the diversified allusions to all arts and to all sciences, by which, as he pours along his redundant tide of cloquence and reason, he reflects a light and interest on every topic which he treats; in a promptitude to catch the language and transfuse the feelings of passion; and in the unrestrained and ready use of a style, the most flexible, and the most accommodating to all topics, " from grave to gay, from lively to severe," that perhaps any writer, in any language, ever attained." Ipsæ res verba rapiunt." As opposed to each other, condensation might perhaps be regarded as the distinguishing characteristic of the former, and expansion of the latter. OCT. the 7th. Read the 6th Book of Cæsar's Commentaries. His account of the religion and manners of the Gauls and Germans, is the succinct, but masterly, sketch of a wellinformed spectator: his persuasion, however, that the former worshipped many of the same Gods as the Romans, is surely fanciful. That, in many of their attributes, the divinities of each might bear some resemblance, is so probable, that I take it to be true; but their denominations could scarcely be alike; and what identity has a God, but his name? OCT. the 8th Read the 7th and last Book of Cæsar's Commentaries. The warrior warms, for once, at the recital of the affair before Alicia: he kindles at pourtraying the hot assault upon his camp, by the multitudinous forces of congregated Gaul; he paints, in glowing colours, the perils of that decisive day; he even recounts his personal achievements; and triumphantly exults at the total rout and irredeemable dispersion of the assailants, with the ardour of a veteran. After having shone with a clear and steady lustre through a long succession of adventures, he expires at last in a blaze of glory. OCT. the 9th. Read the 3rd and 4th Books of Macchiavel's History of Florence, which deducë the account to the period, when Giuliano, and afterwards Cosmo De Medeci; [1796.] silently grew, by their wealth, their wisdom, and their moderation, into considera. ble influence in the Republic. The current of his narrative grows clearer, and deeper, and more diffusive, as it flows. Lord C. looked in. Adverting to a late event, I remarked, that Earl Fitzwilliam was at least consistent; that he pursued the same steps I should myself have taken, had I originally encouraged the war on its only defensible ground; and that he had put administration in a much more awkward situation than it was now possible for opposition to place them-but that I feared his motives were disappointment and chagrin. Burke and the Earl, his Lordship said, had deserted their political principles entirely. This may, or may not, be true. The principles on which they profess to have seceded from their party, are so distinct from those which originally bound that party together, that the mere act of separation can furnish no conclusion on the subject. To be sure, if they have done it on corrupt motives, they have abandoned all principle; but they may have separated, and retain the common principles which once held them together, still.-Roscoe, his Lordship remarked, was timid, and therefore probably deficient, in Greek; and perhaps not quite stable, in Latin, literature. He had been struck with the unusual sense in which R. employs the word "compromise." This term seems to have undergone a singular revolution. "Compromissum," which could have meant, originally, only a mutual engagement, appears to have been restricted in Roman jurisprudence, to a "mutual engagement to refer to arbitration:"-to refer to the judgment of a third person, in such a way, is "to submit to hazard in conjunction with another;" and in both these senses the derivative word, in French and Italian, seems to have been commonly and respectably employed: in English, at least in the most accepted use of the term, we seem to have dropped both the "reference" and the "jeopardy," and to have applied it to that " reciprocal concession" which either led to admit such an appeal, or which it is probable an umpire would award.-The conversation then turned on Burke; against whom, for his late conduct, his Lordship bears an enmity approaching almost to rancour. I ventured, notwithstanding, to remark, that I saw so distinctly the principles of his present opinions scattered through his former works, that could the case of the French revolution have been hypothetically put to me eight years ago, I should have predicted that he would take precisely the course he has pursued. The care, indeed, with which this wonderful man, during a long series of strenuous opposition to the measures of government, uniformly occupied his ground, and the caution with which he qualified his reasonings-a care and caution which really seemed superfluous on the occasion-might almost indicate, that he foresaw the time would [1796.] come, when he should be led to urge a very different strain of argument: as we can scarcely, however, give him credit for such foresight, it unquestionably affords a most extraordinary example, in a mind so vehement and impassioned, of the predominance of philosophical over, party spirit. It would be difficult to find in the English language, of equal variety and length, four such compositions, as Burke's Speech to the Electors of Bristol; Johnson's Preface to Shakspeare; Parr's Dedication to Hurd; and Lowth's Letter to Warburton. OCT. the 11th. Read Hawkesworth's Life of Swift; of whose character and conduct but an imperfect idea is given by the narrative of Johnson. Hawkesworth is much more communicative and interesting; and the minuteness and simplicity with which he details the few, but deplorable, incidents of the four last years of Swift's life, are highly affecting. The circumstance of his struggling to express himself, after a silence broken but once for more than a year; and, finding all his efforts ineffectual, heaving a deep sigh, quite cleaves the heart. · OCT. the 13th. Finished Sheridan's Life of Swift. Every anecdote of Swift is necessarily interesting; but such matter could scarcely be put in a more uninteresting form. The beginning and end of Swift's life are borrowed from Hawkesworth: the intermediate materials are capriciously divided and perplexedly arranged; tales are tediously told and tiresomely repeated; the same extracts are three times quoted; and much time is wasted in needless disputation. Sheridan appears rather a weak man; yet he clearly convicts Johnson of misrepresentation: indeed the many facts mistated through negligence, or distorted through prejudice, in several of Johnson's lives, is a circumstance which considerably deducts from their value. I was rather surprized to hear of Swift's fervent piety, and secret devotion; but Sheridan's defence against the crimination grounded on his Yahoos, I can by no means admit : that this odious animal was designed as a bitter satire upon man as he is, I cannot bring myself for one moment to doubt. OCT. the 14th. Read the 5th and 6th Books of Macchiavel's History of Florence. A native of Florence, or an adjoining state, might possibly be interested with the details of the [1796.] former: but I confess myself heartily wearied with the puny contests of these Lilliputian republics; whose very warfare is insipid mockery, and yields, in heroic pathos, to the battles of the pigmies and the cranes. What can we think, at this day, of a combat raging between two adverse hosts, with various success, "dalle 20, alle 24 ore" and terminating, at last, in the utter rout of one of them, in which only a single warrior perishes; and he, unhappy wight! not by the ennobling sword, but an unlucky tumble from his horse! The fall from power, however, and the feelings on that fall, are finely depicted, towards the close, in the person of Francesco.-In the latter book, Florence, indeed, disappears; but the immediate object of my search approximates and expands. OCT. the 16th. Al Read the 7th and 8th (the two last) Books of Macchiavel's unfinished History of Florence; and found that here, for my purpose, I ought to have begun. Roscoe, I am afraid, makes fewer acknowledgements to Macchiavel, than he ought. most all the historical narrative with which he accompanies the life of Lorenzo, is comprised in these two Books; the general arrangement and texture are frequently the same; and the two relations sometimes bear a striking resemblance in minute coincidencies. Macchiavel, on the whole, is fair and impartial; though it is possible, I think, to discover some lurking propensities, with which, if they were really patriotic, I can well sympathise. The atrocious conspiracy against Lorenzo and Giuliano, he relates in his usual cold manner; not sparing, indeed, the conspirators, by any mutilation or softening of facts, but not expressing a proper and natural indignation at the attempt; nor warmly exulting at its failure in the preservation of Lorenzo, to whose character, however, at the close, he pays a most respectable homage. I should conjecture, that Roscoe took Macchiavel as his ground work in the historical department of his work; and afterwards wrought out the prominent parts from more circumstantial documents. OCT. the 24th. Finished Jortin's Life of Erasmus. The ease, simplicity, and vigour of this engaging writer (I speak of the biographer), who negligently scatters learning and vivacity on every subject which he treats, are here exercised on a most congenial topic. The chief circumstances of Erasmus' life, are extracted from his letters; and the notices of England in these letters, are peculiarly interesting. I take very [1796.] kindly to Erasmus: circumstanced as he was, I should have conducted myself just as he did, towards the pope and the reformists :-they are only bigots, who will violently condemn his moderation. OCT. the 26th. Read the first two Books of Livy's History. How infinitely superior, to my taste and feelings, is his clear, free, ample, and nervous style of narrative, to the laboured terseness and condensation of Tacitus; who seems eternally on the stretch to shine, instead of taking his cue from the theme, and contracting and expanding with his subject. The topics pressed by the Tarquins on Porsena (Lib. 2. c. 9) to induce him to assist them in recovering their sovereignty, might neatly be applied to Mr. Burke. "Monebant-ne orientem morem pellendi reges, inultum sineret. Satis libertatem ipsam habere dulcedinis. Nisi quantâ vi civitates eam expetant, tantâ regna reges defendant, æquari summa infimis; nihil excelsum, nihil quod supra cetera emineat, in civitatibus fore. Adesse finem regnis-rei inter Deos hominesque pulcherrimæ." OCT. the 29th. Read the 3rd Book of Livy. To modern habits it appears amazing, how the Patricians, without the influence of great wealth or extensive patronage, could, by a dexterous availment of conjunctures, and the lucky diversion of wars, maintain themselves for any length of time against the unruly power of the Plebeians, conglomerated in one city, conscious of their physical strength and political authority, and headed by those fearless and turbulent demagogues the Tribunes. The two modern engines of power, the management of the revenue, and the command of the army, could here be of no avail; where the former was too inconsiderable to be named, and the latter was raised merely for the purpose of the moment, by a hasty and promiscuous levy, which it was in the power of any tribune to forbid.— A curious disquisition might be written (and it is much wanted) on the govern. ment of Rome, from the expulsion of the Tarquins to the accession of Augustus. Looked into Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. The prolific fancy of this wild writer, and his power of ready, various, and apt quotation, are truly wonderful. NOVEMBER the 3rd. Read Bp. Watson's Apology for the Bible, in reply to Paine. There is an un |