CHARACTERS. 



459 



majesty of the old, nor the amaz- 

 ing volubility of the new school. 

 That flexibility of features which 

 gives the power, and that rare, but 

 precious faculty, proceeding from 

 art or nature, which aifords the 

 means of expressing all the passions 

 in succession, appear to have been 

 wanting. Yet, deficient as he 

 might be in respect to those quali- 

 fications, he is said in the senate to 

 have been listened to with atten- 

 tion, and on the hustings, at Covent 

 Garden, he always experienced a 

 marked and uniform degree of ap- 

 plause ; for there he had recourse 

 to that broad humour in which the 

 multitude delights, and those bold, 

 sweeping assertions, those daring 

 and unmeasured charges, which 

 are suitable to the genius of a po- 

 pular audience. 



The sarcastic remark of Mr. 

 Wilkes, in early life, " that the 

 parson never laughed,'' was, in 

 some degree, verified in his latter 

 years. It was evident, that no one 

 could tell a story, or enjoy a joke 

 better ; but he seemed in general 

 to keep his passions in abeyance, 

 and seldom or neverexhibited signs 

 of that obstreperous and convul- 

 sive merriment which others so 

 frequently display and enjoy. The 

 character of his countenance seems 

 to be admirably pourtrayed in the 



followmg Imes : 



-He reads much ; 



He is a great observer, and he looks 



Quite through the deeds of men 



• ><■*■• 



Seldom he smiles ; and smiles in such a 



sort. 

 As if he mocked himself, and scom'd his 



spirit. 

 That couul be moved to smile at any 



thing." 



Julius Caesar, act. »,, scene 2. 



In many parts of his character, 

 he seemed to reconcile contradic- 

 tions. In general he spoke as if 

 destitute of feeling ; and, for the 

 most part, acted as if made up of 

 sensibility ; in fine, he united in 

 himself, what king William declar- 

 ed to appertain only to the duke of 

 Marlborough ; " the coolest head, 

 with the warmest heart." 



Gay, lively, and full of pleasant- 

 ry in general conversation ; on po- 

 litics alone he was bitter, vitupe- 

 rative, and inflexible. On those 

 occasions, however, he seemed to 

 be actuated solely by conviction ; 

 and it is no small praise, that, 

 without regarding popularity, he 

 was constantly on the side of 

 liberty. 



Originally open, communicative, 

 and confiding, he had, in the course 

 of time, become close, reserved, 

 and suspicious. The experience 

 of a long series of years had, 

 doubtless, taught him caution, and 

 even distrust, in respect to public 

 men ; for, in the bloom of youth, 

 he had experienced the treachery of 

 one friend, while, in the decline of 

 life he had nearly been cut off 

 from society by the enmity of an- 

 other; and yet, in behalf of the 

 former he had sacrificed his for- 

 tune ; while he had heartily em- 

 barked in the same cause with the 

 latter, and fought in the thickest 

 of the battle without any prospect 

 of reward after the victory. 



That he was devoid of guilt, in 

 respect to his conduct at the com- 

 mencement of the first American 

 war, the general voice of the nation 

 seems to have long since determin- 

 ed ; that his conduct was merito- 

 rious, in attempting to stop the 

 effusion of the blood of those con- 



