C H A R A C T E R S. 



.461 



one after the other, to the jealousy 

 of their opponents, without con- 

 tributing any thing in behalf of the 

 common cause, which was ruined 

 by their injudicious exertions. 



But notwithstanding all this, 

 and even under a variety of disad- 

 vantages, in point of birth, fortune, 

 and profession, much must be al- 

 lowed to have been accomplished 

 by the subject of this memoir. 

 As an author, his work on the 

 theory of language has stood the 

 test of criticism, and will probably 

 be esteemed, so long as the tongue 

 in which it was written shall en- 

 dure. In respect to the laws, from 

 the practice of which he was un- 

 justly precluded, he has, at least, 

 confirmed that noble position in 

 English jurisprudence, " That no 

 man shall be obliged to accuse 

 himself," by putting an end to in- 

 terrogatories. And in regard to 

 politics, if he proved unequal to 

 the task of effecting any essential 

 reform in the representation of the 

 house of commons, yet by procur- 

 ing the publication of the debates, 

 he diffused a general taste for par- 

 liamentary investigation; and, while 

 a new check was thus imposed on 

 corruption, he, at the same time, 

 enabled every man in England to 

 sit in judgment on the conduct of 

 bis representatives. 



In respect to political principles 

 he may be considered as a Whig 

 - of the times of king William ; never 

 contending for a republic, like 

 Milton ; but, like lord Molesworth, 

 ••landing up for every thing, either 

 timed at or obtained by the revo- 

 lution. This subjected him to no 

 -common share of obloquy, and 

 seemed to involve his opinions in a 

 chronological error; for they were 

 not always fitted to the times in 



which he lived, but appeared, by 

 some anachronism, to have been 

 transferred from the seventeenth 

 to the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century. Accordingly, the notions 

 of government maintained by him, 

 were said to be utterly impracti- 

 cable. His extreme disinterested- 

 ness ; his ideas of political perfec- 

 tability ; his personal independ- 

 ence ; might be well calculated for 

 a solitary, unconnected individual, 

 but they were not deemed suitable 

 to the genius of a luxurious and 

 corrupt age. The machine of the 

 body politic, it was said, could 

 not be brought into action under 

 such auspices, unless a new race 

 of men was created for the express 

 purpose of working it: while a 

 single individual, however able, 

 and however powerful, could not 

 act with any effect in a government 

 so constituted as ours, without the 

 aid of a party possessing all the 

 feelings, passions, and prejudices 

 of men. It must, however, be al- 

 lowed, that with a steady uniform- 

 ity, of which Bolingbroke could 

 not boast, Mr. Tooke possessed a 

 better right than that nobleman, 

 to style himself" the enemy of no 

 national party, the friend of no 

 faction ; but distinguished under 

 the cloud of proscription, by zeal, 

 to maintain the liberty, and to re- 

 store the ancient prosperity of 

 Great Britain." 



His reasoning faculties were pe- 

 culiarly acute, prompt, and un- 

 clouded. During an argument, he 

 usually heard his adversary with 

 great patience, and, in his turn, 

 pointed out the real, or seeming 

 absurdity of his reasoning. If no 

 opening was given for this, he then 

 recurred to the Socratic method, 

 and by means of pertinent and 



