ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



947 



affeftion of a friend towards a dis- 

 position and character well entitled 

 to such regard. 



On that disposition and character 

 the editor forbears to enlarge. — 

 Their best panegyric will be found 

 in the following pages. Lord Ca- 

 melford i.s there described such as 

 lord Chatham judged him in the first 

 dawn of his youth, and such as he 

 continued to his latest hour. The 

 same suavity of manners, and stea- 

 diness of principle, the same cor- 

 rectness of judgment and integrity 

 of heart, distinguished him through 

 life ; and the same atfcftionate at- 

 tachment from those who knew 

 him best, has followed him beyond 

 the grave. 



Qum Gratia vh'o^ 

 —Eadem sequitur tellure repostum ! 



Of the course of study which these 

 letters recommend, little can be ne- 

 cessary to be said by their editor. 

 He is, however, anxious that a 

 publication, calculated to produce 

 extensive benefit, should not in any 

 single point mislead even the most 

 superficial reader: nor would he, 

 with all the deference which he 

 owes to the authority of lord Cha- 

 tham, willingly appear to concur in 

 the recommendation or censure of 

 any works, on which his own judg- 

 ment is materially different from 

 that, which he is now the instru- 

 ment of delivering to the world. 



Some early impressions had pre* 

 possessed lord Chatham's mind with 

 a much more favourable opinion of 

 the political writings of lord Bo- 

 lingbroke, than he might himself 

 have retained on a more impartial 

 reconsideration. To a reader of 

 the present day, the " Remarks on 

 the History of England" MO'iJd pro. 



bably but ill appear entitled to the 

 praises which are in these letters so 

 liberally bestowed upon them. For 

 himself, at least, the editor may be 

 allowed to say, that their style is, 

 in his judgment, declamatory, dif- 

 fuse, and involved : deficient both 

 in elegance and in precision, and 

 little calculated to satisfy a taste 

 formed, as lord Chatham's was, on 

 the purest models of classic simpli- 

 city. Their matter he thinks more 

 substantially defective : the obser- 

 vations which they contain display 

 no depth of thought or extent of 

 knowledge; their reasoning is, for 

 the most part, trite and superficial ; 

 while on the accuracy with which 

 the facts themselves are represented, 

 no reliance can safely be placed. The 

 principles and character of their au- 

 thor, lord Chatham hi?nseif con- 

 demns with just reprobation. And 

 when, in addition to this general 

 censure, he admits, that in these 

 writings the truth of history is oc- 

 casionally warped, and its applica- 

 tion distorted, for party purposes, 

 what farther notice can be wanted 

 of the caution with which such a 

 book must always be regarded ? 



Lord Chatham appears to have 

 recommended to his nephew, at the 

 same time, the study of a very dif- 

 ferent work, the history of Claren- 

 don : but he speaks with some dis- 

 trust of the integrity of that valua- 

 ble writer. When a statesman traces, 

 for the instrudtion of posterity, the 

 living images of ihe r:cn and man- 

 ners of his time ; the passions by 

 which he has himself been agitated, 

 and the revoluli<Jlis in which his owa 

 life and fortunes were involved, the 

 picture will doubtless retain a strong 

 impsession of the mind, the charac- 

 ter, and the opinions of its author. 

 l?ut there will always be a wide in- 



.3 P 2 tsrval 



