perhaps, readily be confeffed is unattainable; fince to the task there fhould be brought an eloquence no Jefs diffufive, choice, animated, lofty, and pathetic, than that which marked the genius of the effulgent luminary, between whose beams and a perverfe and devious age the darkness of death is irrevocably interpofed. Of him who has fo admirably celebrated cotemporary greatnefs in his faithful yet fplendid eulogy of Chatham; who, with a mafter-hand of friendfhip, "fmiling in tears" at the recollection of the paft, could fo affect ingly delineate the pious and patriotic fentiment, the inflexible and unfullied honour, the focial and private virtues of the noble Keppel; of the incomparable orator, from whofe chafte and glowing defeription the moft highly diftinguifhed and excellent in character feemed on various occafions to borrow new luftre, who, alas! can there now be found competent to fpeak? who qualified to proclaim his worth and tell his fame? Gifted by the bounty of nature with a capacity the most comprehenfive, the mind of Edmund Burke was early enriched by all the claffical luxuriance of antiquity. In a country which knows how to cherish and appreciate fcholaftic learning, he was educated into an intimate acquaintance with Greek and Roman literature, which familiarized to him all that is exquifite and valuable in their poets, and orators, and hiftorians. Such was the knowledge which ferved as the first and fure foundation whereon the magnificent edifice of his future eminence was erected a knowledge which he ever afterwards delighted to cultivate and educe-a knowledge, now more than ever fanctioned by the railings of that defpicable equality which would defroy whatever is calculated to add dignity to man, or to exalt him above the fphere of its own villainous level. On this rich and venerable ftock Mr. Burke engrafted the moft felect fruit in the elegant and variegated walks of the literary garden of England, added

to the most precious productions of foreign foils. Nor were his mental poffeffions confined only to the more polite and facile embellishments, but, incited by a vehement thirst for eradite acquirements, commenfurate with his lively and unconquerable force of apprehenfion, he fuccessfully penetrated to the most hidden flores in the various improved branches of modern fcience

With native talents, thus aided and fortified, Mr. Burke could not fail to bring into public life an irrefifiible claim to the notice of a wife and generous nation. Accordingly, on the grand theatre of political exhibition, in "the chofen temple and favourite habitation of British fame," the Houfe of Commons, he foon commenced his career; and, for a long progrefs of years, until the feafon of his retirement, he continued to aftonish and illumine, and to fhine confpicuous among the primary orbs in the fyftem of that illuftrious body. During the whole period in which he fided with the oppofition, in the many warm and vigorous productions of his pen, and the most impaffioned efforts of his tranfcendent elocution, it fhould be recollected, to the honour of Mr. Burke, that, while maintaining a fpirited conteft against the ministerial policy, he has left no traces of aberration, by which he can be accufed of having, in the most unguarded moment of irritation, afferted the doctrines of licentious disorder-of hav ing intentionally affited to confound, mifguide, or delude-or of ever facrificing, for an inftant, the rights and dignity of his ftation to the audacity of mobbifh pretenfion, or the veering breath of popular applaufe. But the period in his hiftory, wherein he should now more particularly be held up to contemplative admiration, is from the epoch when, on the event of the terrific and execrable revolution in France, he burft, with honest magnanimity, the trammels of party, and indignantly fevered every tainted connection, by boldly unfurling a radiant flag of warfare against the demoniac

enemy of focial being. With the ken of prophetic wifdom, Mr. Burke was the first to forefee and predict the devouring and defolating effects of that tremendous explosion on morals, religion, and law. At a moment of general infatuation he had the hardy refolution to ftem the tempeftuous current from French infanity, and, with a warning voice, to expofe to mankind the rocks, and quickfands, and fyren perils of that deftructive fea. From that inftant he continued to be affaulted by a hoftile array of profane philofophy, enraged jacobinifm, feditious nobility, profligate ambition, and grovelling democracy, all conjoined under one motley banner by the fame infamous unity of end. But the arrows of pigmy ma levolence reached not, or fell harmlefs from, the firm front of the mighty Coloffus.

"The hero rofe, "Her ægis, Pallas o'er his fhoulders

"throws."

Inceffantly was he accused of wantonly exciting the moft chimerical alarm, and of fabricating fictitious confequences on the change in France, alike injurious to the purity of her defigns and the caufe of political reformation. By a fingular fatality, France herself anfwered his accufers, and juftified him. Her conduct realized to the uttermoft" every dreadful anticipation he had made: and, with a melancholy coincidence, most of her deeds of darkness and iniquity have been perpetrated in the exact order, and by the very means, which he had anxiously foretold. What was once treated as the extravagant ravings of a prolific imagination, appears now to be scarcely any thing more than a fimple reprefentation of the obvious connexions of cause and effect-an authentic hiftory, written on the fcene of action, of what had already occurred, inítead of a profpective view of that which was likely to happen. As a ftatefiman, he might have enjoyed this remarkable teftimony in favour of his fagacity, if, as a man, he had not poffeffed

a heart fenfibly alive to the miferies and future dangers of fuffering and perfecuted humanity.

To fay that the exalted character of Mr. Burke was unalloyed by failings, would be to arrogate for him what can never be the lot of imperfect man. Malice has pleafed itself with dwelling on his haughty contumely, his intemperate hyperbole, and imprudent precipitance; but, in this refpect, even the exaggerated picture he has drawn imputes to him no weakneffes but thofe of an ardent and towering mind, retrieving every error by an hundred-fold weight of fterling merit. To the charge of corrupt apoftacy in his latter years, which, without believing, his foes are obliged to ufe as a weapon of protection to their own depravity, it would be infulting to his memory to deign a reply. To them, the difference between honeft independence and venal verfatility is as unintelligible as that which feparates rational freedom from the faturnalian uproar of anarchy. Nor can they comprehend, from their own feelings, why a man of undifguifed and ingenuous nature fhould renounce the ties of former affociates, when their principles of conduct ceafed to accord, without being actuated by the mercenary mo. tives of prostitute cupidity. But to America it will remain a proud monument of honour on record, that the fame Edmund Burke, who, in the hour of her distress, fignalized himfelf as the able champion of her caufe, fhould have been the first to oppose the ruins and convulfions of Gallic tumult. Let her then manifeft her gratitude by attending to the found and orthodox leffons which, in his last days, the venerable veteran in polity has fo impreffively pronounced and forrowfully illuftrated. Above all, at a crifis when it is become fo peculiarly neceffary to inftil loyal and facred principles into the minds of her youth, let the rifing generation be taught to know and respect his hallowed fervices, and to emulate the enlarged powers and delightful

models which his works difplay. In the tendency to imitate him, they muft afpire to the most extenfive attainments of ftudious application; for the fources of his captivating oratory are as unbounded as the range of vifible creation. At his command, each department of nature opened wide its treafures; and science flood like a handmaid to fupply him with all her "gorgeous imagery." Every defcription of rhetorical power belonged to him, that always feeming moft eminently his own which at the moment he was wielding. At one time, we may behold him in a dazzling blaze of awful majefty, as when imprecating public vengeance against the mantled tyrant of India; and again, in mild yet glowing ferenity, appearing the confecrated guide of homage to fuperior goodness, when invoking bleff ings on the godlike virtue of the philanthropic Howard. If in this moment, like "the mighty mafter" when he fung the fallen Darius," he leads us, in the thraldom of penfive melancholy, at the fad and unworthy fate of beauteous and auguft royalty', in the next we are awakened by the loud trumpet of righteous indignation against the rabble oppreffor, till loft

in fullen recollection that the honourable days of chivalrous enterprize are no more. No idea was to him too vaft or fublime for appofite expreffion. With impetuous force, he ranfacked the whole material world for metaphor and analogy, feizing and rejecting at pleasure, in his gigantic ftride. To him alone, perhaps, it has appertained to utter, in equal language, the favage abominations of the heretic republic. With the magic wand of his genius, riding in the ftorm, he has been able to fwell a wild hurricane of eloquence, irregular, perturbed, and overwhelining, fignificant of the eruptive violence and relentless fury of that lyftem of riotous turmoil, which, from its blackest deep, he has explored, and turned up to the fhuddering fenfes of civilized man.

all fpeeches and writings, however important the fubject, he never failed to excite, at will, the most curious intereft in whatever concerned himself. More fortunate, perhaps, in this than the Roman orator-in him egotism was no longer difgufting; and vanity itself, putting off its title with its grofsnefs, was gracefully refined into an attractive ornament of bland perfuafion. Pleafed and obedient whenever he digreffed to bring himself into view, his followers infenfibly forgot the high-way of his argument, and even inclined to lament his return to it, as a departure from his proper theme. Of a perfonage thus highly privileged and defervedly favoured, very humble attempt to trace back the prominent and characteristic features may gain fome indulgence from his liberal adherents and confederates in principle. To a liege ad-nirer it is the welcome occafion for rendering fealty to that glory which, reiting on the unchangeable bafis of religious and political truth, shall stand as a rock of adamant, defying the malignant rage of the fiends of faction, fcepticism, and innovation.

To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag.

CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE 66 MINSTREL" OF DR. BEAT

TIE.

SIR,

THERE is a fpecies of poetical compofition, which, poffeffing many refined and delicate allurements, is not relished by those whofe tastes are of a boisterous or groffer kind.

or Effay on Man, intereft but parti. ally. The Minstrel I confider to be of this defcription; and, to explain my ideas more fully, I think Thomfon's Caftle of Indolence, a poem of known merit and celebrity, belongs to the fame rank, from the very fame caufes.

This poem profeffes to defcribe the progrefs of Genius or Education in the formation of the Minftrel of antient days; commencing with his youth, and terminating with the period of his being qualified to wander forth, in his avocation of Minstrel, to inftruct and delight.

In the firft divifion of this poem, he is reprefented as forming to him felf a refined and extenfive tafle for the fublime and beautiful of nature a taste known to be infeparable from true poetical genius. For this purpofe, he is in the perpetual contem plation of fcenes, the defcription of which renders the poem uncommonly interesting and firiking. Whilft a child, he fhuns the feftive gaiety of fociety-Concourfe, and noife, and toil, he flies, and hies to the forelt, where

"At large he roams the lonely moun

"tain's head."

As he increases in years, he chooses walks of "wider circuit."

"Vales more wide, and mountains

"more fublime."

The whole of this first part, or divifion, is occupied with this fimple but delightful education. The following termination of it will difcover the extent of thefe acquire ments, as leading to objects of more practical refearch in the fecond.

Meanwhile, whate'er of beautiful or

new, Sublime or dreadful in earth, fea, or iky,

By chance or fearch was offer'd to his

view,

He fcann'd with curious and romantic

eye

Whate'er of lore tradition could fupply,

From Gothic tale, or fung, or fable old,

Rouz'd him, ftill keen to liften and to

pry

At last, though long by penury con troul'd,

And folitude, his foul her graces 'gan unfold.

In the fecond divifion, young Edwin is placed in a more dignified and interefting point of view. Fully acquainted with the beauties of nature, and with a heart expanding with gratitude and admiration to the divine Author for the perfections fo manifelt, he arrives at that age when his knowledge of men is to become more extended.

The manner of his acquiring this knowledge impreffes his mind ftrongly, and the whole fcene is fo beautifully reprefented, that I may be exculed for a little quotation.

One day, whilt wandering in his accuftomed manner

Where rocks on rocks pil'd as by magic spell,

Here fcorch'd with lightning, there with ivy green, Fenc'd from the north and eat, a favage dell;

Southward a mountain rofe, with eafy fwell,

Where long, long groves eternal mur◄ murs made,

And toward the weftward fun the ftreamlet fell,

Where thro' the cliffs the eye, remote, furvey'd

Blue hills, and glitt'ring waves, and fkies in gold array'd—

He overhears the contemplation of a venerable perfon who had retired as a fufferer from the follies and

difappointments of the world. His contemplations are a series of moral reflections, in which natural beauty is ftrongly contrafted with moral deformity..

For virtue loft, and ruin'd man I mourn: O man! creation's pride, heaven's darling child,

Whom Nature's beft, divineft gifts adorn,

Why from thy home are truth and joy exil'd,

And all thy favourite haunts with blood and tears defil'd?