out his materials. The light which recent historians have thrown upon those times, and the present more domestic tendency of general study, unfits us to appreciate the magnitude and merit of the task; and it would be an interesting inquiry, how far the example of Warton has excited the ambition of more recent aspirants to attempt for the history what he has done for the literature of this country.
In person, Warton was at one time short, slim, and handsome; but, as he advanced in years, attained that rotundity of figure, which was the prevailing type of a resident fellow in the past century, and of which a few scattered specimens remain to shame the more wearied workers of a different age. Though silent and shy in company, he was all mirth and hilarity among his associates an inveterate punster, when such word-bandying gave the reputation of wit; the life of the common room; without a tincture of vulgar pretension, but always ready to communicate the results of his application when the conversation turned upon his peculiar studies. His manners, however, were not graceful, he was negligent in his dress; and Johnson, with expressive coarseness, compared his manner of speaking to the gobble of a turkey-cock. Though fond of society, and enjoying an extensive circle of acquaintance, he seldom visited beyond the walls of his College. He rose early, devoted a portion of every day to study, and under the guise of indolence, whether sauntering by the Cherwell, or lounging in the Bodleian, his mind was ever active, methodising and classifying the acquirements of the morning's labour.
Biography, which usually delineates imaginary beings and not men, has not disdained in this instance to record that the Poet-Laureate had some tastes not entirely in unison with his position and functions. He enjoyed his
