Lord Warburton

“ I have tried and can do nothing, yet I cannot heartily concur with Dr Warburton." Warburton's emendation is substantially the same as the MS. corrector's—and therefore we have Dr Johnson's verdict against its admissibility. His own interpretation is unquestionably right, although he gave it with great hesitation. No change whatever is required. The passage is perfectly plain if we take "to be" as standing for "in being." "That I had no angry wit in being a lord." It is the pleasure and pride of my life to cherish a savage disposition ”

“ Glory was the bright star that ever shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onward—his country's glory and his own. 'My lord!' he once exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, 'I am sure that I can save this country, and that no one else can.'"—Lord Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. iv., p. 77.
[109] At this period commenced the brilliant era justly called Mr. Pitt's Administration, in which he became the soul of the British councils, conciliated the good-will of the king, infused a new spirit into the British nation, and curbed the united efforts of the house of Bourbon. ”

“ Warburton published in 1744, under the title of ‘Remarks on several occasional Reflections,’ a defence of his portentous volumes, ‘The Divine Legation of Moses,’ and in the preface he commented in a ‘free footing’ on Akenside's poem of the ‘Pleasures of Imagination.’ The poet's offence was a note in the third book of the ‘Pleasures,’ reviving and maintaining the doctrine of the third Lord Shaftesbury that ridicule is the test of truth. ”

“ Warburton married thrice: first (on 4 Oct. 1574) , Margaret, sole daughter of George Barlow of Dronfield Woodhouse, Derbyshire; secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Butler of Bewsey, Warrington, Lancashire; thirdly, Alice, daughter of Peter Warburton of Arley, Cheshire. By his second and third wives he had no issue; by his first wife he had two daughters, Elizabeth—who married Sir Thomas Stanley of Alderley, ancestor of the present Lord Stanley of Alderley—and Margaret, who died in infancy. ”

“ On almost every other part of the British frontiers, parties of the Indians, and their almost equally savage French allies, swarmed among the woods, concealed in ambush during the day, and by night busied in their bloody work.
In the mean time, the season had become too far advanced for the commencement of any important enterprise; the English colonies were divided in spirit, and all efforts for the general good were perpetually thwarted by jealousy and parsimony. Lord Loudon, with his armament, had not reached New York till the end of July ”

“ Despite these concessions to the king's Hanoverian interests, nothing could overcome the personal dislike of his majesty to Pitt, and to his brother-in-law Lord Temple. The appointment of the Duke of Cumberland to command the British force on the Continent gave opportunity for the manifestation of this royal hostility. The duke refused to undertake his duties while such an anti-Hanoverian as Pitt remained as virtual head of the ministry. The king's love for his son, and hatred of his gifted servant, combined to prompt him to the decided step of dismissing the great minister from his councils. ”

“ That SECRET PRINCIPLE which directed Warburton in all his works, and which we have attempted to pursue, could not of itself have been sufficient to have filled the world with the name of Warburton. Other scholars have published reveries, and they have passed away, after showing themselves for a time, leaving no impression; like those coloured and shifting shadows on a wall, with which children are amused; but Warburton was a literary Revolutionist, who, to maintain a new order of things, exercised all the despotism of a perpetual dictator. ”

“ He was a member of the Political Economy Club from its foundation in 1821 till his death in 1858; he was one of the founders of the London University, and served on its first council; and he represented Bridport, Dorset, in successive Parliaments from 1825 to 1841. It is often asserted that a recluse, bookworm, or scientist cares for nothing outside his own four walls or lower than the starry heavens. In this case never was saying more completely falsified. Mr Warburton was unusually public-spirited, a prominent Parliamentarian, and a lucid writer. ”

“ Warburton frowned.
"Rebel, sir?"
"Rebel, Mr. Warburton. I have served under his Majesty."
"The Carstares were ever Tories, Master Jack, true to their rightful king."
"My dear Warburton, I owe nought to the Stuart princes. I was born in King George the First's reign, and I protest I am a good Whig."
Warburton shook his head disapprovingly.
"There has never been a Whig in the Wyncham family, sir."
"And you hope there never will be again, eh? What of Dick? Is he faithful to the Pretender?"
"I think Mr. Richard does not interest himself in politics, sir." ”

“ Warburton sees with the strong clear vision with which Heaven has endowed him, but with this there are always blended recollections of the past, and something—though dashed in unconsciously—of poetic feeling. He brings to his work of observation an accomplished mind, and well-trained and healthful faculties. We are proud to claim him as a countryman, and are content that his book shall go all the world over, that other countries may derive a just impression of our national character. ”

“ Warburton has rightly observed, in his “Divine Legation,” p. 203, that “Systems, Schemes, and Hypotheses, all bred of heat, in the warm regions of Controversy, like meteors in a troubled sky, have each its turn to blaze and fly away.”
[145]
It seems, even by the confession of a Warburtonian, that his master was of “a human size;” for when Bishop Lowth rallies the Warburtonians for their subserviency and credulity to their master, he aimed a gentle stroke at Dr. Brown, who, in his “Essays on the Characteristics,” had poured forth the most vehement panegyric. ”

“ Warburton entered the Royal Artillery in 1861, took part in the Abyssinian War of 1867-68, and then joined the Bengal Staff Corps. He served with distinction in the expedition against the Utman Khel in 1878 and in the Afghan War of 1878-80. Very soon after the British government had made permanent arrangements for keeping open the Khyber Pass, Warburton was appointed to take charge of it as political officer. ”

“ The king observed that Pope made Warburton a bishop; ‘True, Sir,’ said Johnson, ‘but Warburton did more for Pope, he made him a Christian;’ alluding no doubt, to his ingenious comments on the ‘Essay on Man.’ His Majesty then talked of the controversy between Warburton and Lowth, which he seemed to have read, and asked Johnson what he thought of it. Johnson answered, ‘Warburton has most general, most scholastic learning; Lowth is the more correct scholar. ”

“ Thus he exults in the true tone, and with all the levity of a sophist. It is well that a true feeling of religion does not depend on the quirks and quibbles of human reasonings, or, what are as fallible, on masses of fanciful erudition.
[162]
Warburton lost himself in the labyrinth he had so ingeniously constructed. This work harassed his days and exhausted his intellect. Observe the tortures of a mind, even of so great a mind as that of Warburton’s, when it sacrifices all to the perishable vanity of sudden celebrity. Often he flew from his task in utter exhaustion and despair. ”

“ Warburton was a man of sound sense and judgment and of high personal integrity, though he did continue at Bridport to 1832 the pernicious practices initiated in previous elections. In the House of Commons he was assiduous in his duty, often spending twelve consecutive hours in his place. He worked with Joseph Hume, and after 1832 found fresh colleagues in Charles Buller, Grote, and Sir William Molesworth. The medical reformers selected him as their advocate. ”

“ That was the goal of more than one subaltern. The English novelist is to be blamed for this ambition. But Warburton could speak French with a certain fluency, and his German was good enough to swear by; so it will be seen that he had some ground upon which to build this ambition.
Heigho! The old homestead was gone; his sister dwelt under the elder brother's roof; the prodigal was alone.
"But there's always a fatted calf waiting in Washington," he laughed aloud. "Once a soldier, always a soldier. I suppose I'll be begging the colonel to have a chat with the president. ”

“ A tourist hat sat jauntily on the fine light brown hair, that color which has no appropriate metaphor. (At least, I have never found one, and I am not in love with her and never was.) Warburton has described to me her eyes, so I am positive that they were as heavenly blue as a rajah's sapphire. Her height is of no moment. What man ever troubled himself about the height of a woman, so long as he wasn't undersized himself? What pleased Warburton was the exquisite skin. He was always happy with his comparisons, and particularly when he likened her skin to the bloomy olive pallor of a young peach. ”

“ He tugged, and Pirate fell into a trot. He was mastered.
After this Warburton did as he pleased; Pirate had learned his lesson. His master put him through a dozen manoeuvers, and he was vastly satisfied with the victory. In the heat of the battle Warburton had forgotten all about where and what he was; and it was only when he discerned far away a sunbonnet with fluttering strings peering over the stone wall, and a boy in leggings standing on top of the wall, that he recollected. A wave of exhilaration swept through his veins. He had conquered the horse before the eyes of the one woman. ”

“ We have before, in another work, had the satisfaction of exposing the folly of this fungus of a legislator, when he attempted to impose upon the fasting mechanics and labourers of this country, a religious fast-day, or a general propitiation to Heaven for all the sins and crimes which have been committed generally and individually, since the time that fast-days went out of fashion! We did then hope that we should have heard no more of him; but in Mr. Warburton's Anatomy Bill being brought in, we were again enlightened by the sagacity and profundity of his remarks. Mr. ”

“ Indeed, human life is too short to enable the general reader to do more than skim cursorily over a work of such proportions. Warburton's theory was novel and startling; and perhaps few even of the Deistical writers themselves evoked more criticism and opposition from the orthodox than this doughty champion of orthodoxy. But Warburton was in his element when engaged in controversy. ”

“ Warburton of November 15th, 1850. I then called on Mr. Warburton to report progress. He was in high spirits, and now thought we should succeed.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied that, as he was going into the country, he must postpone seeing me till after his return; but that he would take the correspondence with him and read it meantime. On the same day (December 19th) I received a letter from my brother Frederic, who had gone at my request to Manchester to see Mr. Cobden relative to any opposition that might be looked for from the economists. ”

“ You must be the celebrated Dr. Warburton, aut Erasmus aut Diabolus.” Warburton, though so furious a controversialist in print, was very easy and good-humoured in company, and sometimes entertaining.
Mr. Burke, who avowed he knew little of art, though he admired it and knew many of its professors, was acquainted with Blakey the artist, who made the drawing for the frontispiece to Warburton’s edition of Pope’s works. ”

“ He guided Pirate close to the wall, and stopped him, looked down into the girl's wonder-lit eyes and smiled cheerfully. And what is more, she smiled faintly in acknowledgment. He had gained, in the guise of a groom, what he might never have gained in any other condition of life, the girl's respect and admiration. Though a thorough woman of the world, high-bred, wellborn, she forgot for the moment to control her features; and as I have remarked elsewhere, Warburton was a shrewd observer. ”

“ He had also undertaken to edit Warburton's works, a task which he completed in 1788 (London, 7 vols: 4to) . 'A Discourse by way of General Preface,' giving an account of Warburton's life and an estimate of his genius which was little less than an unqualified eulogy, was not issued until 1794, and Warburton's correspondence with himself, 'Letters from a late Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends,' Kidderminster, 1808, 4to (2nd and 3rd editions, London, 1809, 8vo) , was first published after Hurd's death. Hurd died unmarried on 28 May 1808, and was buried in Hartlebury churchyard. ”

“ This English has so many words that mean so many things, that of all languages I speak it with the least fluency. But it is my deep regret, Monsieur, to refuse your kind invitation. I am dining with friends."
"Well, then, breakfast to-morrow at eleven," Warburton urged, for he had taken a fancy to this affable Russian.
"Alas! See how I am placed. I am forced to leave for Washington early in the morning. We poor diplomats, we earn our honors. But my business is purely personal in this case, neither political nor diplomatic." The count drew his gloves thoughtfully through his fingers. ”

“ Hurd, who made some inquiries from Warburton's relations, could only discover that as a boy he had resembled other boys. In 1714 a cousin, William Warburton, became master of Newark grammar school, and Warburton is said to have been then placed under him. If so, it was for a very short time, as on 23 April 1714 Warburton was articled for five years to John Kirke, an attorney, of East Markham, Nottinghamshire. He served his time with Kirke, and, while acquiring some knowledge of law, developed a voracious appetite for miscellaneous reading. ”