7 
him to Dr. Johnson, Mr. Burke, Mr. Chrache- 
roide, and Mr. Dyer. On being introduced to 
Burke he was so much surprised by the resem-H 
blance which that gentleman bore to the chief 
of the Benedictine monks at Parma, that when 
he spoke he could scarcely persuade himself he 
was not the same person. This resemblance 
was not accidental; the Protestant orator was, 
indeed, the brother of the monk.. j 
It always appeared to Mr. West that there- 
was about Mr. Burke a degree of mystery, con-.' 
nected with his early life, which their long 
intercourse, su-bsequent to the introduction at 
Dr. Markham's,,never tended to explain. He 
never spoke of any companions of his boyhood, 
nor seemed to have any of those pleasing recol- 
lections of the heedless and harmless -days of 
youth, which afford to most men of genius some 
of the finest lights and breaks of their fancy; 
and his writings corroborate the observation, 
For, although no prose writer ever wrote more 
like a poet than this celebrated man, his 
imagery is principally drawn from ggnera] 
B 4-