e quickness of parts, that one can fetch in remote
conceits applicable; a notable skill, that he can dextrously accommodate
them to the purpose before him; together with a lively briskness of
humour, not apt to damp those sportful flashes of imagination. (Whence
in Aristotle such persons are termed [Greek: _hepidexioi_], dextrous men,
and [Greek: _eustrophoi_], men of facile or versatile manners, who can
easily turn themselves to all things, or turn all things to themselves.)
It also procureth delight, by gratifying curiosity with its rareness, as
semblance of difficulty: (as monsters, not for their beauty, but their
rarity; as juggling tricks, not for their use, but their abstruseness,
are beheld with pleasure:) by diverting the mind from its road of
serious thoughts; by instilling gaiety and airiness of spirit; by
provoking to such dispositions of spirit in way of emulation or
complaisance; and by seasoning matters, otherwise distasteful or
insipid, with an unusual and thence grateful tang.' BOSWELL. Morris's
_Essay_ was published in 1744. Hume wrote:--'Pray do you not think
that a proper dedication may atone for what is objectionable in my
Dialogues'! I am become much of my friend Corbyn Morrice's mind, who
says that he writes all his books for the sake of the dedications.' J.
H. Burton's _Hume_, ii. 147.

[344] The quarrel arose from the destruction by George II. of George
I.'s will (_ante_, ii. 342). The King of Prussia, Frederick the Great,
was George I.'s grandson. 'Vague rumours spoke of a large legacy to the
Queen of Prussia [Frederick's mother]. Of that bequest demands were
afterwards said to have been frequently and roughly made by her son, the
great King of Prussia, between whom and his uncle subsisted much
inveteracy.' Walpole's _Letters_, i. cxx.

[345] When I mentioned this to the Bishop of Killaloe, 'With the goat,'
said his Lordship. Such, however, is the engaging politeness and
pleasantry of Mr. Wilkes, and such the social good humour of the Bishop,
that when they dined together at Mr. Dilly's, where I also was, they
were mutually agreeable. BOSWELL. It was not the lion, but the leopard,
that shall lie down with the kid. _Isaiah_, xi. 6.

[346] Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, authour of tracts relating to natural
history, &c. BOSWELL.

[347] Mrs. Montagu, so early as 1757, wrote of Mr. Stillingfleet:--'I
assure you our philosopher is so much a man of pleasure, he has left off
his old friends and his bl