130 Character and Merits of 



visitings of fancy, which it was necessary to fix on the spot, or 

 to lose for ever ; no casual inspiration to invoke and to wait for ; 

 no transitory and evanescent lights to catch before they faded. 

 All that was in his mind was subject to his control, and ame- 

 nable to his call, though it might not obey at the moment ; and 

 while his taste was so sure that he was in no danger of overwork- 

 ing any thing that he had designed, all his thoughts and senti- 

 ments had that unity and congruity, that they fell almost spon- 

 taneously into harmony and order ; and the last added, incorpo- 

 rated, and assimilated with tlxe first, as if they had sprung si- 

 midtaneously from the same happy conception. 



But we need dwell no longer on qualities that may be 

 gathered hereafter from the works he has left behind him. 

 They who lived with him mourn the most for those which will 

 be traced in no such memorial ; and prize far above those 

 talents which gained him his high name in philosophy, 

 that personal character which endeared him to his friends, 

 and shed a grace and dignity over all the society in which he 

 moved. The same admirable taste which is conspicuous in his 

 writings, or rather the higher principles from which that taste 

 was but an emanation, spread a similar charm over his whole 

 life and conversation ; and gave to the most learned philosopher 

 of his day the manners and deportment of the most perfect 

 gentleman. Nor was this in him the result merely of good 

 sense and good temper, assisted by an early familiarity with 

 good company, and consequent knowledge of his own place 

 and that of all around him ; his good breeding was of a higher 

 descent, and his powers of pleasing rested on something better 

 than mere companionable qualities. With the greatest kind- 

 ness and generosity of nature, he united the most manly firm- 

 ness, and the highest principles of honour; — and the most 

 cheerful and social dispositions, with the gentlest and steadiest 

 affections. Towards women he had always the most chivalrous 

 feelings of regard and attention, and was, beyond almost all 

 men, acceptable and agreeable in their society, — though with- 

 out the least levity or pretension unbecoming his age or con- 

 dition : and such, indeed, was the fascination of the perfect 



