Mr. Burke raised himself from an obscure
situation, by the greatness of his abilities, and his unrivalled genius.
Never was distinction more nobly earned. Of every species of literary
composition he is equally a master. He excels alike in the most abstruse
metaphysical disquisition, and in the warmest and most spirited
painting. His rhetoric is at once ornamented and sublime. His satire is
polished and severe. His wit is truly Attic. Luxuriant in the extreme,
his allusions are always striking, and always happy. But to enumerate
his talents, is to tell but half his praise. The application he has made
of them is infinitely more to his honour. He has devoted himself for his
country. The driest and most laborious investigations have not deterred
him. Among a thousand other articles, that might be mentioned, his
system of oeconomical reform must for ever stand forth, alike the
monument of his abilities, and his patriotism. His personal character is
of the most amiable kind. Humanity and benevolence are strongly painted
in his countenance. His transactions with lord Rockingham were in the
highest degree honourable to him. And the more they are investigated,
and the better they are understood, the more disinterestedness of
virtue, and generous singularity of thinking, will be found to have been
exhibited on both sides.
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