ch, so far as my knowledge goes, are still readable,
were those of Erskine, who, after trying the careers of a sailor and a
soldier, found the true application for his powers in oratory. Though
his legal knowledge is said to have been slight, the conditions of the
time enabled him in addressing a British jury to put forward a political
manifesto and to display singular literary skill. Burke, however, is the
typical figure. Had he been a German he might have been a Lessing, and
the author of the _Sublime and Beautiful_ might, like the author of
_Laokoon_, have stimulated his countrymen by literary criticism. Or he
might have obtained a professorship or a court preachership and, like
Herder, have elaborated ideas towards the future of a philosophy of
history. In England he was drawn into the political vortex, and in that
capacity delivered speeches which also appeared as pamphlets, and which
must rank among the great masterpieces of English literature. I need not
inquire whether he lost more by giving to party what was meant for
mankind, or whether his philosophy did not gain more by the necessity of
constant application to the actual facts of the time. That necessity no
doubt limited both the amount and the systematic completeness of his
writings, though it also emphasised some of their highest merits. The
English political order tended in any case to divert a great deal of
literary ability into purely political channels--a peculiarity which it
has not yet lost. Burke is the typical instance of this combination, and
illustrates most forcibly the point to which I have already adverted.
Johnson, as we know, was a mass of obstinate Tory prejudice, and held
that the devil was the first Whig. He held at bottom, I think, that
politics touched only the surface of human life; that 'kings or laws,'
as he put it, can cause or cure only a small part of the evils which we
suffer, and that some authority is absolutely necessary, and that it
matters little whether it be the authority of a French monarch or an
English parliament. The Whig he thought objected to authority on
principle, and was therefore simply subversive. Something of the same
opinion was held by Johnson's circle in general. They were conservative
both in politics and theology, and English politics and theological
disputes did not obviously raise the deeper issues. Even the
devil-descended Whig--especially the variety represented by Burke--was
as far as possible from repr