Hastings  the  merit  of  exhibiting  either  of  these  descrip-
tions of  greatness ;  even  of  the  latter  ?  He  saw  nothing
great,  nothing  magnanimous,  nothing  open,  nothing  di-
iect  in  his  measures,  or  in  his  mind.  On  the  contrary,
he  had  too  often  pursued  the  worst  objects  by  the  worst
means.     His  course  was  an  eternal  deviation  from  recti-


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC


182  ON  IMPEACHMENTS.
x  tude.    He  either  tyrannized  or  deceived;  and  was  by
turns  a  Dionysius  and  a  Scapin.     As  well  might  the
writhing  obliquity  of  the  serpent  be  compared  to  the  swift
directness  of  the  arrow,  as  the  duplicity  of  Mr.  Hast-
jngVs  ambition  to  the  simple  steadiness  of  genuine  mag-
nanimity.    In  his  mind   all   was  shuffling,  ambiguous,
dark,  insidious,  and  little;  nothing  simple,  nothing  un-
mixed, all  affected  plainness,  and  actual  dissimulation.
A  heterogeneous  mass   of  contradictory  qualities,  with
nothing  great  but  his  crimes,  and  even  those  contrasted
by  the  littleness  of  his  motive,  which  at  once  denoted
both  his  baseness  and  his  meanness ;  and  marked  him  for
a  traitor,  and  a  trickster ;  nay  in  his  stile  and  writing,
there  was  the  same  mixture  of  vicious  contrarieties.   The
most  groveling  ideas  he  conveyed  in  the  most  inflated
language,  giving  mock  consequence  to  low  cavils,  and  ut-
tering quibbles  in  heroics ;  so  that  his  compositions  dis-
gusted the  mind's  taste  as  much  as  his  actions  excited  the
soul's  abhorrence.     Indeed,  this  mixture  of  character
seemed  by  some  unaccountable,  but  inherent  quality,  to
be  appropriated,  though   in   inferior   degrees,  to  every
thing  that  concerned  his  employers.     He  remembered  to
have  heard  an  honorable  and  learned  gentleman  (Mr.
