[64]. I would recommend to the reader a masterly and unanswerable essay on the subject, in the Morning Post, by Mr. Coleridge, (see above) from which most of the above remarks are taken. See also Dr. Beddoes’s Letter on the public merits of Mr. Pitt. I will only add, that it is the property of true genius, to force the admiration even of enemies. No one was ever hated or envied for his powers of mind, if others were convinced of their real excellence. The jealousy and uneasiness produced in the mind by the display of superior talents almost always arises from a suspicion that there is some trick or deception in the case, and that we are imposed on by an appearance of what is not really there. True warmth and vigour communicate warmth and vigour; and we are no longer inclined to dispute the inspiration of the oracle, when we feel the ‘presens Divus’ in our own bosoms. But when, without gaining any new light or heat, we only find our ideas thrown into perplexity and confusion by an art that we cannot comprehend, this is a kind of superiority which must always be painful, and can never be cordially admitted. For this reason the extraordinary talents of Mr. Pitt were always viewed, except by those of his own party, with a sort of jealousy, and grudgingly acknowledged; while those of his rivals were admitted by all parties in the most unreserved manner, and carried by acclamation.
[65]. The prevalence of this check may be estimated by the general proportion of virtue and happiness in the world, for if there were no such check, there could be nothing but vice and misery.
[66]. Written in 1807, at a time when Mr. Whitbread’s scheme was in agitation in the House of Commons, and Mr. Malthus used to wait in the lobbies with his essay in his hand, for the instruction and compliments of Honourable Members. The above article is taken from a Reply to Mr. Malthus, one of my very early Essays, the style of which is, I confess, a little exuberant, but of the arguments I see no reason to be ashamed.
[67]. Altered in the last edition, to ‘suffer.’
[68]. Daughter of Marie Antoinette. Burke’s ‘romantic episode’ is in ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ (Select Works, ed. Payne, II. 89).
[69]. From L’Allegro, 139.
[70]. Birch’s, No. 15 Cornhill. Samuel Birch (1757–1841), the proprietor, was Lord Mayor 1814–15. The shop (now famous for turtle soup) still retains some old features.
[71]. Othello. Act IV. Scene 2.
[72]. Hamlet, Act IV. Scene 2.
[73]. Cowper, The Task III. 113.