wsy.
This drew smiles even from such as were _the object of it, and
scattered flowers over a desert_, and, like _sunbeams sparkling on a
lake_, gave spirit and vivacity to the dullest and least interesting
cause." And this mangling of metaphor is to teach us the qualities of
a profound and practical mind. What follows, is the perfection of
see-saw. "He was endued with an intellect sedate yet penetrating,
clear yet profound, subtle yet strong. His knowledge, too, was equal
to his imagination, and his memory to his knowledge." He might have
equally added, that the capacity of his boots was equal to the size of
his legs, and the length of his purse to the extent of his generosity.
This reminds us of one of Sydney Smith's burlesques on the balancing
of epithets by that most pedantic of pedants, the late Dr
Parr--"profundity without obscurity, perspicuity without prolixity,
ornament without glare, terseness without barrenness, penetration
without subtlety, comprehensiveness without digression, and a great
number of other things without a great number of other things."

Little tricks, or rather large ones, now and then diversify the
narrative. On the same day that Conway resigned the seals, Lord
Weymouth was declared secretary of state. At the same time, Lord
Hilsborough kissed hands for the American department, but nominally
retaining the post-office, the salary of which he paid to Lord
Sandwich, _till the elections should be over_; there being so strict a
disqualifying clause in the bill for prohibiting the postmasters for
interfering in elections, which Sandwich _was determined to do_ to the
utmost, that he did not dare to accept the office in his own name,
_till he had incurred the guilt_. Another trick of a very
dishonourable nature, though ultimately defeated, may supply a moral
for our share-trafficking days in high quarters. Lord Bottetort, one
of the bedchamber, and a kind of second-hand favourite, had engaged in
an adventure with a company of copper-workers at Warmley. They broke,
and his lordship, in order to cover his estate from the creditors,
begged a privy seal to incorporate the company, by which means private
estates would not be answerable. The king ignorantly granted the
request; but Lord Chatham, aware of the deception, refused to affix
the seal to the patent, pleading that he was not able. Lord Bottetort,
outrageous at the disappointment, threatened to petition the lords to
remove Lord Chatham, on the gr