The Sun.
London, England, 1812-10-01 00:00:00

01.31 N

For the following masterly delineation of the
character, conduct, and labours, intelleetuA and
politiCal, of this man, which is founded upon a life
of;hirn, lately published, but of which only a pass-
ing
.notice is taken, we are indebted to The Quar-
terly Ren4w,
. [Continued from our Paper of Yesterday.]

His styleis strongly impressed with the cha-
racter of his mind ; —neat, clear, precise, and forci,
He, free from affectation, void of ornatnent. We
.do not thirik he is ever vulgar-; but he is full of
that genuine Anglicism' of which the course of
his studies rendered hint at mice an admirer and a
-master—that native idiom which the brilliant suc-
cesses of some of those who have written English
as a foreign language, hits within the, last fifty
years, brought into disuse, and almost into
viol': The most finished specimen Obis composi-
tion is probably to be found in the two or three
letters written in answer to the -attacks-of Junius
and he had the honour, which in those days was
deemeno inconsiderable one, of being the only
knight, that returned with his lance unbroken from
eombatwith that unknOwn but terrible champion.
If he Wants the exquisite, polish and the brilliant,
invective• of his adversary, that dexterous ma-
iipity which comes,in with such effect as blackens
a character by insinuation after invective has ex-
hausted its powers, and above all, the well-sus-
. tained- tone of austere dignity which gives to
Junius the air and authority, of a great personage
in
.disgiriSe ; be is superior .to him in facility,
vivacity, and that appearance of plainness and sin-,
ecrity which is of such importance in controver-
sial writings. The great fault of 'Junius is a sort
of stiffness and appearance of labour.
!Ifs com-
positions smell too much of the lamp. He want-
ed nothing to be a perfect master of his art, but
the power of concealing it. Mr. Tooke's-letters
have the flow, unity, and simplicity which' belong
to writings struck off at a heat, and which
depend for their effect rather upon the - general;
powers of the writer than upon great nicety and.
labour in the particular instance. In justice to
Junius, as a writer, we must add that he-was la,
bouring under the disadvantages of a Weak case.
It is evident that he was, early and deeply sensible
of his own mistake; and he was therefore glad to
put an end to the contest as soon as possible,
even at the price of leaving his adversary in pos-
session of the-field ; a humiliation to,-which he
would not have submitted but from the conseioui-
ness of his having originally selected an unfavour-
able ground. •
In speaking of Mr.Tooke's intellectual character
we have hitherto omitted to notice one of its most
striking features,. the love of paradox ; a disposi-
tion, which, though the natural companion of
subtlety and ingenuity,. was, we believe, never
found combined with true -greatriets of mind. To
J. add to the difficulty_of a proposition by a :plaint
unusual Method of enunciating it,- to display a vain
dexterity in defence of an acknowledged error, to
dress up Truth in a strange masquerade garb, in
hopes that Somebody will mistake her fotFalse-
hood—these are frivolous childish amusements,
and indiCative of an unsound or ilhregulated un-
derstanding. .No man that possessed the reason-.
ing power in its full perfection, was ever willing
to waste it in drawing a stare from ignorance and
vulgarity : on the contrary, those who have con-
triz uteri most •to enlarge the bounds of human
knowledge, by the discovery of new and import-
ant truths, have almost always been anxious to
place them in that point of view in which they
would give the least possible alarm, and win their
way to a general acceptance 'with the least possi-
ble opposition from the common prejudices and
feelings of the world. But truth and error, as
'such,. were almost indifferent to Mr. Tooke. He
,was more a sophist than a philosopher, 'and was
always most inclined to maintain that proposition,
whatever it might be, that afforded him the best
opportunity of exhibiting to advantage his argu-
mentative acuteness and skill. He was a sort of
intellectual juggler ; and provided he could keep
the multitude gapinz at the dexterity with which
. he handled his cups and balls, he cared very little
'-hat farther effect the spectacle might have upon
• their -minds.