ke, then, I shall speak of the whole compass and circuit of his
mind--not of that small part or section of him which I have been able to
give: to do otherwise would be like the story of the man who put the brick
in his pocket, thinking to shew it as the model of a house. I have been
able to manage pretty well with respect to all my other speakers, and
curtailed them down without remorse. It was easy to reduce them within
certain limits, to fix their spirit, and condense their variety; by having
a certain quantity given, you might infer all the rest; it was only the
same thing over again. But who can bind Proteus, or confine the roving
flight of genius?

Burke's writings are better than his speeches, and indeed his speeches are
writings. But he seemed to feel himself more at ease, to have a fuller
possession of his faculties in addressing the public, than in addressing
the House of Commons. Burke was _raised_ into public life: and he seems to
have been prouder of this new dignity than became so great a man. For this
reason, most of his speeches have a sort of parliamentary preamble to
them: there is an air of affected modesty, and ostentatious trifling in
them: he seems fond of coqueting with the House of Commons, and is
perpetually calling the Speaker out to dance a minuet with him, before he
begins. There is also something like an attempt to stimulate the
superficial dulness of his hearers by exciting their surprise, by running
into extravagance: and he sometimes demeans himself by condescending to
what may be considered as bordering too much upon buffoonery, for the
amusement of the company. Those lines of Milton were admirably applied to
him by some one--"The elephant to make them sport wreathed his proboscis
lithe." The truth is, that he was out of his place in the House of
Commons; he was eminently qualified to shine as a man of genius, as the
instructor of mankind, as the brightest luminary of his age: but he had
nothing in common with that motley crew of knights, citizens, and
burgesses. He could not be said to be "native and endued unto that
element." He was above it; and never appeared like himself, but when,
forgetful of the idle clamours of party, and of the little views of little
men, he appealed to his country, and the enlightened judgment of mankind.

I am not going to make an idle panegyric on Burke (he has no need of it);
but I cannot help looking upon him as the chief boast and ornament of the
English H