52 LIFE OF MYTTOS. 



admit of no inconsiderable distinction ; and we have a 

 striking instance here. Mytton, by nature, was kind 

 and beneficent to a degree very rarely witnessed. I 

 will not go so far as to say — what Crabbe's son says 

 of him — that " no sympathy was like his," yet, with 

 a pretended insensibility to the common sympathies 

 of our nature, he never saw misery that he did not 

 wish to relieve it. The conflicting elements of his 

 character, or, more properly speaking, some parts of 

 his conduct, may appear to give the lie to this ; yet 

 all who knew the man know that I have spoken the 

 truth, and the tears of the multitude that were shed 

 at his grave place it beyond dispute. In his temper 

 he was sudden and violent, and, like Achilles, impa- 

 tient of restraint ; yet his wrath endured but the 

 twinkling of an eye, and in forgiveness of injuries 

 he had no equal within my knowledge of mankind. 

 What a paradox then is here ! With all his native 

 goodness of heart, he appeared to wish to make the 

 world believe he cared no more than Dionysius for 

 the gods what the world thought or said of him ; 

 and although his good sense must have convinced 

 him that there is a profligacy of spirit in defying 

 the rules of decorum, he oftentimes acted as if he 

 considered every law, human or divine, of little 



