Lennox, 83; Miss Burney (Mme. D'Arblay), 87; Miss More and Mrs. (Miss)
Carter, 88. Their hostess, Mrs. Garrick, was 97 or 98.
[852] Miss Burney, describing how she first saw Burke, says:--'I had
been told that Burke was not expected; yet I could conclude this
gentleman to be no other. There was an evident, a striking superiority
in his demeanour, his eye, his motions, that announced him no common
man.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 145. See _ante_, ii. 450, where
Johnson said of Burke:--'His stream of mind is perpetual;' and Boswell's
_Hebrides post,_, v. 32, and Prior's _Life of Burke_, fifth edition,
p. 58.
[853] _Kennel_ is a strong word to apply to Burke; but, in his
jocularity, he sometimes 'let himself down' to indelicate stories. In
the House of Commons he had told one--and a very stupid one too--not a
year before. _Parl. Hist_, xxiii. 918. Horace Walpole speaks of Burke's
'pursuit of wit even to puerility.' _Journal of the Reign of George
III_, i. 443. He adds (_ib_. ii. 26):--'Burke himself always aimed at
wit, but was not equally happy in public and private.
Pages:
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843