a good dish; and every man whatever is more or less a cook, in
seasoning what he himself eats. 'Your definition is good,' said Mr
Burke, 'and I now see the full force of the common proverb. "There is
REASON in roasting of eggs".' When Mr Wilkes, in his days of
tumultuous opposition, was borne upon the shoulders of the mob. Mr
Burke (as Mr Wilkes told me himself, with classical admiration,)
applied to him what Horace says of Pindar,

... numerisque fertur
LEGE solutis.


Sir Joshua Reynolds, who agrees with me entirely as to Mr Burke's
fertility of wit said, that this was 'dignifying a pun'. He also
observed, that he has often heard Burke say, in the course of an
evening, ten good things, each of which would have served a noted wit
(whom he named) to live upon for a twelvemonth.

I find, since the former edition, that some persons have objected to
the instances which I have given of Mr Burke's wit, as not doing
justice to my very ingenious friend; the specimens produced having, it
is alleged, more of conceit than real wit and being merely sportive
sallies of the moment, not justifying the encomium which they think
with me, he undoubtedly merits. I was well aware, how hazardous it was
to exhibit particular instances of wit, which is of so airy and
spiritual a nature as often to elude the hand that attempts to grasp
it. 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 of whom it is applied, the previous
introduction, and a thousand minute particulars which cannot be easily