Ixxxviii 
ACCOUNT OF THE 
both cases our knowledge of the facts is much too imper- 
fect to enable us to form a correct opinion as to the pro- 
priety of his conduct, much less to justify us in condemn- 
ing him unheard. 
In all the relations of private life, he appears to have 
been highly exemplary ; and his conduct as a son, a hus- 
band, and a father merited every praise. To the more 
gentle and amiable parts of his character the most certain 
of all testimonies may be found in the warm attachment 
of his friends, and in the fond and affectionate recollections 
of every branch of his family 
There are some moral defects very difficult to be avoided 
by those persons, who from a situation comparatively 
obscure, rise to sudden distinction and celebrity. From 
these failings Park was happily exempt. He was a stranger 
to all vanity and affectation; and notwithstanding his 
great popularity and success, appears to have lost no por- 
tion of the genuine simplicity of his character and manners. 
This simplicity originated perhaps in a considerable degree 
from a certain coldness and reserve, which, as was before 
remarked, rendered him very indifferent, and perhaps 
somewhat averse, to mixed or general society. It was 
probably owing to the same cause that his conversation, 
for a man who had seen so much, had nothing remarkable, 
and was rarely striking or animated. Hence, although 
his appearance was interesting and prepossessing, he was 
apt to disappoint the expectations of strangers ; and those 
persons who estimated his general talents from his powers 
of conversation, formed an erroneous and inadequate opi- 
nion of his merits. 
