But
Shaftesbury, the illustrious author of the _Characteristics_, was so
enamoured of it, that he terms "gravity (its counterpart,) the essence
of imposture;" and so it is, for to what purpose does a man store his
brain with knowledge, and the profitable burden of the sciences, if he
gathers only superciliousness and pride from the hedge of learning?
instead of the milder traits of general affection, and the open
qualities of social feelings. I remember, when a youth, I was
extremely fond of attending the House of Commons, to hear the debates;
and I shall never forget the repulsive loftiness which I thought
marked the physiognomy of Pitt; harsh and unbending, like a settled
frost, he seemed wrapped in the mantle of egotism and sublunary
conceit; and it was from the uninviting expression of this great man's
countenance, that I first drew my conceptions as to how a proud and
unsociable man looked. With very different emotions I was wont to
survey the mild but expressive features of his great opponent, Fox:
there was a placidity mixed up with the graver lines of thought and
reflection, that would have invited a child to take him by the hand;
indeed, the witchcraft of Mr.
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