'this country with no good auguries, nor any very decided 'principles of action. They had to talk their way in the 'world that was to furnish their means of living.'

An Irish adventurer who had to talk his way in the world, is much what Burke was considered by the great as well as little vulgar, for several more years to come. He was now thirty-three; and till the present year had derived his only help from the booksellers, for whom he had some time written, and continued to write, the historical portion of the Annual Register. He had been but a few months in enjoyment of Hamilton's pension, and was already extremely uneasy as to the conditions on which he began to suspect it had been granted. His patron does not seem to have relished his proposed return to London society. Your business ought on all occasions 'to have the preference, I know,' wrote Burke, in deprecation; to be the first, and the last, and indeed in all respects the main concern. All I contend for is, that I may not be considered as absolutely excluded from all 'other thoughts, in their proper time and due subordina'tion.' The whole truth was not made obvious to him till two years later. He then found (and on finding it flung up the pension) that Hamilton thought him placed by it in a sort of domestic situation.' It was the consideration of a bargain and sale of independence. It was a claim for absolute servitude. Not to value myself as a gentleman,' remonstrated Burke, 'a freeman, a man of education, and 'one pretending to literature, is there any situation in

'life so low, that can subject a man to the possibility of 'such an engagement? Would you dare attempt to bind 'your footman to such terms?' Mr. Hawkins, it is clear, would have thought the terms suitable enough to the situation in life of an Irish adventurer; and the incident may illustrate his vulgar and insolent phrase.

Let it always be remembered, when Burke's vehemence of will and sharp impetuosity of temper are remembered. These were less his natural defects, than his painful sense of what he wanted in the eyes of others. When, in later years, he proudly reviewed those exertions which had been the soul of the revived Whig party, which had reestablished their strength, consolidated their power and influence, and been rewarded with insignificant office and uniform exclusion from the Cabinet, he had to reflect that at every step in the progress of his life he had been traversed and opposed, and forced to make every inch of his way in the teeth of prejudice and dislike. The narrowness ' of his fortune,' says Walpole, 'kept him down.' At every turnpike he met, he had been called on to show his passport; otherwise no admission, no toleration for him. Improved by this, his manners could hardly be: the more other spheres of consideration were closed to him, the more would he be driven to dominate in his own: and I have little doubt that he somewhat painfully at times, in the first few years of the Club, impressed others as well as Hawkins with a sense of his predominance. He had to talk his Iway in the world that was to furnish his means of living,'

and this was the only theatre open to him yet. Here only could he as yet pour forth, to an audience worth exciting, the stores of argument and eloquence he was thirsting to employ upon a wider stage; the variety of knowledge, the fund of astonishing imagery, the ease of philosophic illustration, the overpowering copiousness of words, in which he has never had a rival. A civil guest, says Herbert, will no more talk all, than eat all, the feast; and perhaps this might be forgotten now and then. I am convinced,' says Miss Hawkins, my father was disgusted with the overpowering deportment of Burke, and his monopoly of 'the conversation, which made all the other members, 'excepting his antagonist Johnson, merely his auditors.' Something of the same sort is said by that antagonist, though in a more generous way. What I most envy 'Burke for,' said Johnson, 'is, that he is never what we call 'hum-drum; never unwilling to begin to talk, nor in 'haste to leave off. Take up whatever topic you please, 'he is ready to meet you. I cannot say he is good at 'listening. So desirous is he to talk, that if one is speak'ing at this end of the table, he'll speak to somebody at 'the other end. But Burke, sir, is such a man, that if 'you met him for the first time in the street, where you 'were stopped by a drove of oxen, and you and he stepped 'aside to take shelter but for five minutes, he'd talk to 'you in such a manner, that, when you parted, you would 'say, this is an extraordinary man. Now you may be long ' enough with me, without finding anything extraordinary.'

This was modest in Johnson, but there was more truth than he perhaps intended in it. In general, Burke's views were certainly the subtler and more able. He penetrated deeper into the principles of things, below common life and what is called good sense, than Johnson could. 'Is he 'like Burke,' asked Goldsmith, when some one seemed to exalt Johnson's talk too highly, 'who winds into a subject like a serpent?" On the other hand, there was a strength and clearness in Johnson's conversational expression which was all his own, and which originated Percy's likening of it, as contrasted with ordinary conversation, to an antique statue with every vein and muscle distinct and bold, by the side of an inferior cast. He had, beside, wit, often an incomparable humour, and a hundred other interesting qualities, which Burke had not; while his rough dictatorial manner, his loud voice, and slow deliberate utterance, so much oftener suggested an objection than gave help to what he said, that one may doubt the truth of Lord Pembroke's pleasantry to Boswell, that 'his sayings would not appear so extraordinary but for 'his bow-wow way.' Of the ordinary listener, at any rate, the bow-wow way exacted something too much; and was quite as likely to stun as to strike him. He's a tremen'dous companion,' said poor George Garrick, when urged to confess of him what he really thought. He brought, into common talk, too plain an anticipation of victory and triumph. He wore his determination not to be thrown or beaten, whatever side he might please to take,

somewhat defiantly upon his sleeve; and startled peaceful society a little too much with his uncle Andrew's habits in the ring at Smithfield. It was a sense, on his own part, of this eagerness to make every subject a battle ground, which made him say, at a moment of illness and exhaustion, that if he were to see Burke then, it would kill him. From the first day of their meeting, now some years ago, at Garrick's dinner table, his desire had been to measure himself, on all occasions, with Burke. I suppose, 'Murphy,' he said to Arthur, as they came away from the dinner, you are proud of your countryman. Cum talis 'sit utinam noster esset.' The Club was an opportunity for both, and promptly seized; to the occasional overshadowing, no doubt, of the comforts and opportunities of other members. Yet, for the most part, their wit-combats seem not only to have interested the rest, but to have improved the temper of the combatants, and made them more generous to each other. 'How very great Johnson 'has been to-night,' said Burke to Langton, as they left the Club together. Langton assented, but could have wished to hear more from another person. 'Oh, no!' repliedBurke, 'it is enough for me to have rung the bell to him.'

Bennet Langton was, in his own person, an eminent example of the high and humane class who are content to ring the bell to their friends. Admiration of the Rambler made him seek admittance to its author, when he was himself, some eight years back, but a lad of eighteen; and his ingenuous manners and mild enthusiasm at once