BURKE. 237 other,-that, if we may trust history, a hasty, partial enu- meration of the numbers who have lost their lives in pub- lic wars, more than equals the whole existing population of the earth. Turning from the external to the internal po- lity of governments, he shews that all are alike wayward, ignorant, selfish, and tyrannical, waging an eternal war with the happiness of our species. From all which he infers that we have done wrong in forming political com- munities and enacting laws, and that we should have rested satisfied with the simple relations of natural society. As must be expected, the picture is overcharged, and sometimes the portrait verges upon caricature; yet the author has shewn great art in avoiding almost all exagge- rations but what naturally resulted from the nature of the attack. Soon after the "Vindication of Natural Society," ap- peared the celebrated Essay on the "Sublime and Beau- tiful." This work is too well known to require an analysis of the system. The investigation was new, and though far from being completely successful, has at least furnished some important suggestions. Johnson considered it a model of philosophical criticism:-"We have (he said) an example of true criticism in Burke's Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful. There is no great merit in shew- ing how many plays have ghosts in them, or how this ghost is better than that, you must shew how terror is impressed on the human heart." The publication of this work formed a distinguished epoch in the life of Burke. He speedily became univer- sally known and admired. The ignorant and superficial, from the subject, believed him to be a man of taste; the learned and the wise, from the execution, knew him to be a man of taste and profound philosophy. His acquaint- ance was immediately courted by the most distinguished literary characters. Mr. (afterwards Sir Joshua) Reynolds and Dr. Johnson were among the first who formed an in- timate connection with him; and the latter in particular
