became. A thousand times he cursed his stars, which took, as he
apprehended, a malicious pleasure in making Mr. Falkland at every turn the
instrument of his humiliation. Smarting under a succession of untoward events,
he appeared to feel in the most exquisite manner the distinctions paid to his
adversary, even in those points in which he had not the slightest pretensions.
An instance of this now occurred.
    Mr. Clare, a poet whose works have done immortal honour to the country that
produced him, had lately retired, after a life spent in the sublimest efforts of
genius, to enjoy the produce of his economy and the reputation he had acquired,
in this very neighbourhood. Such an inmate was looked up to by the country
gentlemen with a degree of adoration. They felt a conscious pride in
recollecting that the boast of England was a native of their vicinity, and they
were by no means deficient in gratitude, when they saw him who had left them an
adventurer, return into the midst of them in the close of his days crowned with
honours and opulence. The reader is acquainted with his works; he has probably
dwelt upon them with transport; and I need not remind him of their excellence.
But he is perhaps a stranger to his personal qualifications. He does not know
that his productions were scarcely more admirable than his conversation. In
company he seemed to be the only person ignorant of the greatness of his fame.
To the world his writings will long remain a kind of specimen of what the human
mind is capable of performing; but no man perceived their defects so acutely as
he, or saw so distinctly how much yet remained to be effected. He alone appeared
to look upon his works with superiority and indifference. One of the features
that most eminently distinguished him was a perpetual suavity of manners, a
comprehensiveness of mind, that regarded the errors of others without a particle
of resentment, and made it impossible for any one to be his enemy. He pointed
out to men their mistakes with frankness and unreserve: his remonstrances
produced astonishment and conviction, but without uneasiness in the party to
whom they were addressed: they felt the instrument that was employed to correct
their irregularities, but it never mangled what it was intended to heal. Such
were the moral qualities that distinguished him among his acquaintance. The
intellectual accomplishments he exhibited were principally a tranquil and mild
enthusiasm, and a richness of conception which dictated spontaneously to his
tongue, and flowed with so much ease, that it was only by retrospect you could
be made aware of the amazing variety of ideas that had been presented.
    Mr