Note 15 — POLITICAL ESSAYS, WITH SKETCHES OF PUBLIC CHARACTERS (continued 2)

We only wish to add one thing, which is, to protest against the self-importance of such expressions as the following, which occur often in Vetus’s letters:—‘The men I speak of were’ those, &c. ‘This sentiment never prevailed with the better sort.’ This is an affectation of the worst part of Burke’s style, his assumption of a parliamentary tone, and of the representation of the voice of some corporate body. It was bad enough in him; in Vetus it is intolerable.