ists between them, if there shall be found to be any, has not yet
been brought out; and it is my business to press these together; hence
to demonstrate principles, or to deduce inferences.

The literary fame of Warburton was a portentous meteor: it seemed
unconnected with the whole planetary system through which it rolled,
and it was imagined to be darting amid new creations, as the tail of
each hypothesis blazed with idle fancies.[144] Such extraordinary
natures cannot be looked on with calm admiration, nor common
hostility; all is the tumult of wonder about such a man; and his
adversaries, as well as his friends, though differently affected, are
often overcome by the same astonishment.

To a Warburtonian, the object of his worship looks indeed of colossal
magnitude, in the glare thrown about that hallowed spot; nor is the
divinity of common stature; but the light which makes him appear so
great, must not be suffered to conceal from us the real standard by
which only his greatness can be determined:[145] even literary
enthusiasm, delightful to all generous tempers, may be too prodigal of
its splendours, wasting itself while it shines; but truth remains
behind! Truth, which, like the asbestos, is still unconsumed and
unaltered amidst these glowing fires.

The genius of Warburton has called forth two remarkable anonymous
criticisms--in one, all that the most splendid eloquence can bring to
bear against this chief and his adherents;[146] and in the other, all
that taste, warmed by a spark of Warburtonian fire, can discriminate
in an impartial decision.[147] Mine is a colder and less grateful
task. I am but a historian! I have to creep along in the darkness of
human events, to lay my hand cautiously on truths so difficult to
touch, and which either the panegyrist or the writer of an invective
cover over, and throw aside into corners.

Much of the moral, and something too of the physical dispositions of
the man enter into the literary character; and, moreover, there are
localities--the place where he resides, the circumstances which arise,
and the habits he contracts; to all these the excellences and the
defects of some of our great literary characters may often be traced.
With this clue we may thread our way through the labyrinth of Genius.

Warburton long resided in an obscure provincial town, the articled
clerk of a country attorney,[148] and then an unsuccessful practising
one. He seems, too, once to have figured a