The excellence and efficacy of
a _bon mot_ depend frequently so much on the occasion on which it is
spoken, on the particular manner of the speaker, on the person to whom
it is applied, the previous introduction, and a thousand minute
particulars which cannot be easily enumerated, that it is always
dangerous to detach a witty saying from the group to which it belongs,
and to set it before the eye of the spectator, divested of those
concomitant circumstances, which gave it animation, mellowness, and
relief. I ventured, however, at all hazards, to put down the first
instances that occurred to me, as proofs of Mr. Burke's lively and
brilliant fancy; but am very sensible that his numerous friends could
have suggested many of a superior quality. Indeed, the being in company
with him, for a single day, is sufficient to shew that what I have
asserted is well founded; and it was only necessary to have appealed to
all who know him intimately, for a complete refutation of the heterodox
opinion entertained by Dr. Johnson on this subject. _He_ allowed Mr.
Burke, as the reader will find hereafter [_post_. Sept.15 and 30], to be
a man of consummate and unrivalled abilities in every light except that
now under consideration; and the variety of his allusions, and splendour
of his imagery, have made such an impression on _all the rest_ of the
world, that superficial observers are apt to overlook his other merits,
and to suppose that _wit_ is his chief and most prominent excellence;
when in fact it is only one of the many talents that he possesses, which
are so various and extraordinary, that it is very difficult to ascertain
precisely the rank and value of each.
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