Like other great masters of a
decorative style, he frequently becomes pompous and grandiloquent. His thought,
too, is obscured, where we would expect great clearness of statement,
accompanied by a dignified simplicity; and occasionally we feel that he forgets
his subject in an anxious effort to make an impression. Though there are
passages in his writings that justify such observations, they are few in number,
when compared with those which are really masterpieces of their kind.
Some great crisis, or threatening state of affairs, seems to furnish the
necessary condition for the exercise of a great mind, and Burke is never so
effective as when thoroughly aroused. His imagination needed the chastening
which only a great moment or critical situation could give. Two of his greatest
speeches--Conciliation, and Impeachment of Warren Hastings--were delivered under
the restraining effect of such circumstances, and in each the figurative
expression is subdued and not less beautiful in itself than, appropriate for the
occasion.
Finally, it must be observed that no other writer of English prose has a better
command of words.
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