grows on you every moment, and you wonder it did no more than raise your attention at first.

Her eyes have a mild light, but they awe you when she pleases; they command like a good man out of office, not by authority but by virtue.

"Her features are not perfectly regular; that sort of exactness is more to be praised than to be loved; for it is never animated. "Her stature is not tall; she is not made to be the admiration of every body, but the happiness of one.

"She has all the firmness that does not exclude delicacy: she has all the softness that does not imply weakness.

"There is often more of the coquet shown in an affected plainness than in a tawdry finery; she is always clean without preciseness or affectation. Her gravity is a gentle thoughtfulness, that softens the features without discomposing them; she is usually

"Her voice is a low, soft music, not formed to rule in public assemblies, but to charm those who can distinguish a company from a crowd; it has this advantage, you must come close to her to hear it.

"To describe her body describes her mind; one is the transcript of the other. Her understanding is not shown in the variety of matters it exerts itself on, but in the goodness of the choice she makes.

"She does not display it so much in saying or doing striking things, as in avoiding such as she ought not to say or do.

"She discovers the right and wrong of things not by reasoning but sagacity most women, and many good ones, have a closeness and something selfish in their dispositions; she has a true generosity of temper; the most extravagant cannot be more unbounded in their liberality, the most covetous not more cautious in the distribution.

"No person of so few years can know the world better; no person was ever less corrupted by that knowledge.

"Her politeness seems to flow rather from a natural disposition to oblige, than from any rules on that subject; and therefore never fails to strike those who understand good breeding and those who do not.

"She does not run with a girlish eagerness into new friendships, which, as they have no foundation in reason, serve only to multiply and embitter disputes; it is long before she chooses, but then it is fixed for ever; and the first hours of romantic friendships are not warmer than hers after the lapse of years. As she never disgraces her good nature by severe reflections on any body, so she never degrades her judgment by immoderate or ill-placed praises; for every thing violent is contrary to her gentleness of disposition and the evenness of her virtue; she

has a steady and firm mind, which takes no more from the female character than the solidity of marble does from its polish and lustre. She has such virtues as make us value the truly great of our own sex; she has all the winning graces, that make us love even the faults we see in the weak and beautiful of hers."

The following tribute of respect to her, with the humorous conclusion, deprecating the criticism of the rest of the family, is believed to be from the pen of Dr. Brocklesby. It was presented to her about 1774:

• Cicero.

:

To Mrs. Burke, on New Year's Day.

May the new year, O Delia, bring
To you each joy that mortals know;
And may you, blest with cheerful spring,
Ne'er feel the iron winter blow.

May all your hours, your minutes roll,
Exempt from grief, exempt from pain,
Except the tear that melts your soul,
When shed, for suffering worth, in vain.

May all the white and happy hours,
Which grandsire Janus has in store,
Still strew thy path of life with flowers,
And smoothe each rugged furrow o'er.
May sweet contentment soothe thy mind,
And blooming health glow through thy frame,
So still unchanged, your soul you'll find,
And still that tranquil breast the same.

Whilst thy loved lord makes senates hear,
What every Briton ought to know;
In strains might charm an Attic ear,
Or make the Roman's ashes glow;
Fair partner of his praise and fame,

Long mayest thou soothe his thoughtful breast;
Whilst the bright undiminished flame,
That Hymen warmed, still makes you blest.

Long may thy lovely darling boy
Thy comfort be, thy hope and pride,
And still each parent's blooming joy,
His father's conduct be his guide.
Thus emulous of such a sire,
In honour clear, sincere in truth,
Virtue shall all his soul inspire,
And wisdom guard the fire of youth.

R

B

will laugh for five minutes or more,

But then he'll forget it and all will be o'er.

To you then, dear Madam, for mercy I plead,

Do but think it well meant, tho' ill sung and ill said,
And if now to poor culprit you a pardon extend,

He may prove a good boy, and next year perhaps mend.

The war then lately commenced with France exciting attention to the American colonies as one of the chief points in dispute, there came out in April, 1757, in two volumes, octavo, "An Acthe European Settlements in America."

Doubts have been often started whether Mr. Burke was the sole or joint author of this work; there is, however, no question but that he wrote, if not the whole of it, at least by far the greater part. Mr. Shackleton, who had no other means of knowing the fact than from himself or his family, always stated it to be wholly his. The editor of the edition published by Stockdale in 1808, asserts positively that he saw the receipt for the copy money, amounting to fifty guineas, in Mr. Burke's own hand-writing. Internal evidence tends to the same conclusion both in language and manner, and particularly in some phrases, such as (when speaking of exchanges of territory) the "cutting and shuffling of a treaty of peace," and others equally peculiar, which may be found in his future works. Toward the end of the second volume occurs a passage on population nearly the same in idea and expression as used by him in an argument with Johnson on the same subject some years afterwards, and repeated by Boswell. Similar coincidences may be traced on other points connected with political economy; and the account of the North American colonies, which beyond all question is his, contains the germ of some of his arguments, and much of that intimate acquaintance with the people and country, afterwards displayed by him in parliament. It may be remarked also, that he contends for the probability of a north-west passage, which at the present time occupies so much of the public attention.

On the other hand, the late Lord Macartney said it was the joint production of Edmund, Richard his brother who had joined him from Ireland on commercial pursuits, and their name-sake and most intimate friend through life, William Burke; his lordship was on the most friendly terms with them all, and might have understood the fact to be so, but he himself did not arrive in London till above a year after the publication. It is also true that Edmund did not subsequently avow it, though for this there might be sufficient reasons; his reputation for instance, did not require such an addition, especially if it could be useful to his brother, or to William Burke; he might not wish to claim as his own what was in part the work of others, however small that part might be; and being brought out on an emergency, he might

* Richard Burke.

deem it an unsatisfactory as well as a hasty production, unworthy of his fame.

Whether wholly his own or not, the sketch, for it professes to be little more,—and an apology is made in the preface for inequality in the style which the reader may not readily discover,is in many parts masterly, the reflections just and often original, but paraded perhaps too formally and frequently before the reader, so as sometimes to interfere with the facts, or almost to supersede them. The style is what may be termed ambitious, aiming at depth, terseness, and brevity, yet too frequently betraying the effort no writer, however, need be ashamed of such a work. Mr. Dugald Stewart terms it a masterly sketch. Abbé Raynal is believed to have profited much by it in his history; and at home its popularity was such as to reach a seventh edition; the published price of the two volumes, containing above seven hundred octavo pages, was only eight shillings; this, while it accounts for the small sum received for the copyright, impresses the fact of the little encouragement then given to literature.

Soon after this time, Mr. Burke, under the pressure of temporary difficulties, is said to have disposed of his books, his coat of arms pasted in some of them, according to the story, having inadvertently disclosed the secret. Hence it has been asserted that he was frequently so; and those who would throw a slight of some sort upon his memory, in order, by the absence of any more substantial failings to bring greatness down to their own level by some means or other, have said that for many years his pen, exerted in the periodical publications, afforded him the only means he enjoyed of support.

For these assertions there is little or no foundation. The simple fact of declining to be called to the bar, is of itself evidence that had he not had other resources, he would not have declined the profession of a barrister, calculated as he was beyond all question to be the greatest that ever addressed a jury. His father, who possessed a handsome income from his profession, allowed him about 2007. per annum, at that time a liberal sum, during much of the time he spent in London; and though any additional supplies derived from the exercise of his literary talents were doubtless sufficiently acceptable, as they are to much richer men, it is certain they were not considerable. Literature, as may be believed from the sum given for the work just noticed, was then a wretched trade. Johnson the first author of the age, could barely elevate himself above abject poverty; and parliamentary, legal, and theatrical reporting, now a source of emolument to many, and by which several of the law students are enabled to keep their terms with little expense to their friends, were then in a great degree unknown.

There is indeed an amusing, but rather an absurd, coyness among the scribbling race themselves, about being known to write

for periodical works, and to receive payment for their labours. After all as no man writes well by intuition, so magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers, form the natural nurseries for unfledged authors in which they are enabled to try the strength of their wings before engaging in more arduous flights. Some make the experiment for amusement, some for improvement, some to circulate a favourite opinion, and some who are nevertheless not at all dependent on such small and casual supplies, to be enabled by the produce of their pens to add to their libraries.*

For what reason there should be any slight attached to the idea of profiting in a pecuniary way by literary labour, it is difficult to conceive, except indeed it be the alarming apprehension to the person receiving it, that he may thence be suspected of being poor. To accept the reward, however, is not necessarily to be in want of it, or to be under obligation by receiving it. "He who writes otherwise than for money," said Dr. Johnson, "is a fool." So thought Mr. Burke; so said Darwin; so say, and so think, most others whose writings are in request by the world, or who know the severe and solitary toil by which alone a good work can be produced, and who in other respects care nothing for money. money. An author must not be frightened by the term hireling; for no man is such except he who sells his principles: or rather perhaps it may be said, that in fact all men who receive pay from royalty downwards, are in this sense of the word hirelings. No man in any station of life, for instance, no statesman, no lawyer, no physician, no clergyman, no soldier, gives his labours, mental or bodily, to society, without hire. Why then should not the author also have his hire without slight or reproach? He who writes gratuitously for a bookseller, works for a man probably richer than himself. This species of charity is therefore misapplied. If a writer can afford to be generous, let it be to those who are really in want; for the fruits of his ingenuity, whether diurnal, monthly, or quarterly, if not necessary to himself, may be advantageously applied to purposes of private benevolence.

Some few years ago, when a member of the House of Commons, of the party of Mr. Fox, under the influence of erroneous information, had been throwing some slight upon the memory of Mr. Burke, as having been obliged to write in the periodical publications for subsistence previously to coming into parliament, Mrs. Burke, who saw the statement in the newspapers, ran her pen through it in the presence of some friends, observing, "Mr. Burke himself would not take the trouble to contradict this,

* A young author, perfectly independent of literature as a trade, lately received from the conductor of a periodical work a few pounds for some of his essays, which he directly laid out in books. "This money," said he, "gives me more pleasure than ten times the sum arising from any other source. I take pride in it, because by the labour of my own mind I am enabled to make myself more extensively acquainted with the minds of others."