accused of an inordinate affection for
quibbles and puns. His favorite niece, and latterly his guest, was
sometimes provoked into a--"Really, uncle, that is very poor." But
upon the whole it may be asserted, that in social converse Burke
was equalled by none of his contemporaries and his countrymen,
except only Dr. Johnson himself and perhaps Lord Thurlow.

We have no more room for further extracts; those we have made illustrate
the temper and the style of the work, and will commend it to the favorable
consideration of American readers. Among subjects treated most elaborately
is that of the authorship of Junius; but Lord Mahon has no new facts for
the vindication of his judgment, that Sir Philip Francis was
unquestionably the writer of the famous letters under that name.

There is an appendix to each volume; and in the appendix of one, and in
the notes of both, are some curious illustrations of the worthlessness of
Mr. Sparks's editions of the writings of Washington and Franklin. We first
called attention to this subject some five years ago, and after the
changes, &c. of Mr. Sparks had been pointed out in _The International_, a
series of carefully prepared criticisms appeared in the _Evening Post_, in
which the discrepancies between the original letters of Washington were
exhibited to a degree that at once and for ever destroyed the good
reputation of Mr. Sparks in this department. He chose not to take any
notice of the disclosures to which we refer, but it may be that Lord
Mahon's criticism will secure his attention, and an attempt, at least, for
his vindication. Besides his comparisons of MS. and printed letters in the
appendix, Lord Mahon has several allusions to the subject, of which we
quote specimens:

"Some samples of the manner in which that gentleman (Mr. Sparks)
has thought himself at liberty to tamper with the original MSS.,
will be found," &c.

"Mr. Sparks has printed no part of the correspondence precisely as
Washington wrote it, but has greatly altered, and as he thinks,
corrected and embellished it. Such a liberty with the writings of
such a man might be justifiable, nay, even in some respects
necessary, if Washington and his principal contemporaries had been
still alive; but the date of this publication, the year (1838),
leaves, as I conceive, no adequate vindication for _tampering with
the truth of history_."

"Washington, howe