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formance of religious duties. At church, one day, he was unexpectedly saluted with a political sermon, which, though complimentary to his own views of public affairs, was so little suited in his opinion to the place, that he displayed unequivocal symptoms of disapprobation by rising frequently during its continuance, taking his hat as if to depart, and reseating himself with an air of evident chagrin. Surely," said he, on another occasion," the church is a place where one day's truce may be allowed to the dissensions and animosities of mankind."

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During the stay of the family here, his niece, Miss French, who had come from Ireland to reside with them, was accustomed to relate a little incident of the ingenuity and knowledge of small things possessed by her uncle, being unexpectedly put to the test. A ball being to take place at the rooms, the ladies, who had been little in public in consequence of Mrs. Burke's indisposition, became anxious to ascertain the prevailing colours and modes in that then very fashionable place of resort, but were sadly puzzled to find a fit messenger to dispatch upon this important errand. Mr. Burke overhearing the conversation, immediately removed the difficulty by jocularly offering himself as Embassador extraordinary on the occasion, and when he found that much merriment was excited by the proposal, and some remarks made upon his unfitness for a mission requiring a special knowledge of caps, dresses, flounces, tuckers, and all the paraphernalia of female dress, good-humouredly replied, "Come, come, I know more of these things than you give me credit for; my knowledge must not be undervalued until

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it is tried." To the rooms accordingly he went duly instructed by the ladies, made his remarks, according to his instructions, and returned with a humourous, and, as it proved, very correct account of all he had observed.

Toward the end of August Sir Joshua Reynolds published a print of him, engraved by Benedetti, from the best portrait painted by himself in 1775; underneath it the President caused to be engraved the following lines from the fifth book of Paradise Lost-the conduct of the good Abdiel; a strong allusion, it will be perceived, to the recent political quarrel, and expressive of his own sense of the proceedings of Opposition, as well as of their treatment, on that occasion, of his friend :

"So spake the fervent Angel, but his zeal
None seconded, as out of season judged,
Or singular and rash

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified;

unmoved,

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal ;

Nor number nor example with him wrought

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind
Though single. From amid'st them forth he passed
Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustain'd
Superior, nor of violence fear'd aught;

And with retorted scorn his back he turn'd

On those proud towers to swift destruction doom'd."

Mr. Burke, whose humility was as distinguished as any other of his qualities, and who did not see the plate until a considerable number of impressions had been worked off, urged the strongest remonstrances against the application of such lines to him;

and insisted, almost as the condition of continued friendship, that they should be obliterated, or the plate and all the impressions from it which had not been distributed, destroyed. Sir Joshua submitted to this determination of his friend with great reluctance, and it was so unrelentingly carried into effect that very few are now to be found. So far did Mr. Burke carry this feeling, squeamish or affected as some may consider it, that whenever he met with one of these prints in the house of a friend, he used to beg it as a particular favour, in exchange for one without the lines, and it was no sooner obtained than destroyed.

At this period also it may be remarked, that the war of caricatures which had been carried on against him for many years with some wit and address, as well as against Mr. Fox and others of the Opposition, now turned in some degree in his favour. The Jesuit's dress, by which and by his spectacles he had hitherto been commonly represented was omitted, and he was afterwards chiefly drawn as confounding or exposing in debate the apologists of the Revolution. A collection of these graphic though fleeting memorials of the whims or satire of the day, made by an admirer of Mr. Burke and an acquaintance of the writer, affords some amusing scenes at this period of time; the likenesses preserved in them are as faithful as caricature pretends to be, and some of his oratorical attitudes are very correctly caught.

This pictorial wit, however, even when most hostile to him, far from inflicting pain, frequently became a source of amusement to himself and his friends, as the following anecdote will testify. Some years

since, when dining at Lord Tankerville's, the conversation turning on caricatures, a gentleman remarked, that he believed Mr. Fox had been oftener exhibited in that way than any other man in the kingdom-" I beg pardon," said Mr. Burke, "but I think I may put in my claim to a greater number and variety of exhibitions in that line than my honourable friend." "I hope," observed Mr. Fox, "Not in the least,"

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they give you no uneasiness." was the reply, "I have, I believe, seen them all, laughed at them all, and pretty well remember them all; and if you feel inclined to be amused, and it would not be trespassing on the indulgence of the company, I can repeat the different characters in which I have figured in the shops, obedient to the mimic powers of the pencil."

Accordingly he began,

and detailed them all in so humourous a manner as

to keep the table in continual laughter during his

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CHAPTER III

Anecdote of Burke's unobtrusive spirit.-Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs.-French Emigrants.-Letter to Mr. (now Baron) Smith.-Writings on French Affairs, and on the Roman Catholic Claims.-Sir Joshua Reynolds.-Parliamentary Business.-Letter on the Death of Mr. Shackleton.-War with France.-Letter of Mr. R. Burke, Jun. to Mr. Smith.

Allusions having been made in this work to that unobtrusive spirit, which, whether called humility or modesty, constantly actuated Mr. Burke in restraining his partial and admiring friends from giving to the world through the customary channels, those biographical notices and domestic details and anecdotes so well calculated to exhibit him in an amiable light, and many of which are necessarily lost, an instance of the fact may be given, though it occurred some time before the period at which we are now arrived.

One of these friends, the very oldest and one of the very warmest he possessed, finding his name to occupy so frequently and so highly a large share of the public attention, conceived it might gratify general curiosity, and pay a debt at once to eminent merit and long friendship, by communicating more at large a few of those personal and domestic circumstances which impart the only true knowledge of character, and which his opportunities for observation enabled him very well to supply. This was accordingly done, and inserted in a newspaper of the

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