] 821.] 
Stephensiana. _ No. II. 
335 
BURKE and DALRYMPLE. 
The king is supposed by some to 
have given Burke and Sir Joiiu Dal- 
rymple access to King William’s ca¬ 
binet at Kensington, where they made 
some extracts unfavourable to Sydney 
and Russel. 
A discourse proposed to be pronounc¬ 
ed over the Body of John hqrne 
TOOKE, by SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, 
BART.* 
Mankind have ever been grateful to 
their benefactors. In Rome, as well as 
in Greece, statesmen, philosophers, and 
heroes were celebrated in funeral ora¬ 
tions, and in our own days, the memory 
of a Franklin, and a Washington, have 
been commemorated by means of eulo¬ 
gies, pronounced not only in the coun¬ 
try which gave them birth, but among 
distant and admiring nations. 
We, also, are now assembled to per¬ 
form the last mournful duties to de¬ 
parted worth; to execute the last sad 
offices of humanity to a friend now no 
more; to commemorate the virtues and 
the talents of a great, a singular, and a 
daring genius ; and it falls to my lot, 
who have so long and ,so intimately 
known him—who so recently closed 
his eyes, and received his last adieus— 
to shed a tear, and strew a few flowers 
over his grave ! 
As this spot has been selected by 
himself for his sepulture, the usages of 
our country do not permit that these 
precious remains should be lodged in 
“ Hallowed Earth,” 
but we are well aware that the tomb in 
which his ashes are destined to repose, 
will ever after be deemed sacred : it is 
henceforth consecrated to Freedom ;_ 
his requiem is wafted on the sighs of 
friendship, and his name canonized in 
the calendar of liberty! 
At the expiration of centuries yet to 
come, the future antiquary may search 
for the spot around winch we now stand; 
for it also, is deserving of notice, as 
being intimately connected with the 
annals of a long reign, and the history 
of half a century, in which almost 
every year constitutes an epoch. 
44 Where is the tomb of Archimedes ?” 
was the first question of Cicero, to the 
inhabitants of Syracuse. 
The name of John Horne Tooke, 
which at this moment excites a thou¬ 
sand interesting sensations, as blended 
m our minds with public virtue, and 
* We find it in the hand of Mr. Stephens, 
but it was not delivered as proposed. 
every thing dear to humanity, will 
then, after having survived the scor¬ 
pion stings of slander and envy, be 
united with those of a Hampden and a 
Sydney, and all such as, despising pri¬ 
vate interests, and scorning individual 
danger, have dared to think for them¬ 
selves, and will act and suffer for their 
country. 
As a man of learning and research, 
his reputation has ever stood high with 
foreigners as well as with his country¬ 
men. In every species of composition, 
with the exception of poetry, which 
does not appear to have been cultivated 
by him, he excelled. Bold and argu¬ 
mentative; manly and energetic at 
once playful and didactic, his style 
resembled his conversation ; and what 
that was, you who have so often wit¬ 
nessed the brilliancy of his wit, the 
sallies of his imagination, the solidity 
of his understanding, and the various 
powers of his extensive, great, and com¬ 
manding genius, can best testify. 
As to his grammatical studies, they 
are connected with our vernacular 
tongue, and the memory of his 
EI1EA IITEPOENTA 
can only perish when the English lan¬ 
guage has ceased to exist. 
But it was the peculiar misfortune 
of our departed friend, in the language 
of the immortal Milton, whom he so 
much resembled in this, as well as in 
a variety of circumstances : 
44 To have fallen on evil days, and 
evil tongues, for at a no remote, but 
very sinister period of our history, phi¬ 
losophy had become suspected; the 
spirit of freedom was attempted to be 
stifled by the most opprobious means 
while patriotism became a term of sus-’ 
pieion, reproach, and even of danger.” 
It is but little wonder, then, & that 
under such baleful auspices, in addition 
to a life of persecution, a man, who in 
his own person united all those claims 
to public gratitude, should have been 
forced to struggle for his honour and 
his existence. 
While other men adroitly shaped 
their course according to the gale of 
interest, he stood firm as a rock in the 
ocean, unmoved by adverse currents, 
unshaken by the billows that assailed’ 
him on every side; uiiawed, although 
not unmenaced, by the thunder itself. 
He appeared like Abdiel the heroic 
angel 44 faithful among the faithless.” 
No sordid bargain, no interested 
compromise, no selfish coalition, ever 
disgraced his character or stained his 
conduct. 
