Evidence: |
'The fault of the great author, whose letters to his friend you have been reading, is, that Tully is wholly concerned for the fame of Cicero; and that for fame and self-exaltation sake. In some of his orations, what is called his vehemence (but really is too often insult and ill manners) so transports him, that a modern pleader... would not be heard, if he were to take the like freedoms... Cicero's constitutional faults seem to be vanity and cowardice. Great geniuses seldom have small faults. You have seen, I presume, Dr Middleton's "Life of Cicero". It is a fine piece; but the Doctor, I humbly think, has played the panegyrist, in some places in it, rather than the historian. The present laureat's performance on the same subject, of which Dr Middleton's is the foundation, is a spirited and pretty piece... You greatly oblige me, Madam, whenever you give me your observations upon what you read'. |