of repetition, recurring again and again to the same topic or view of the subject, till he has made the impression complete; he rarely goes back to the same ground, which, in the language of an eminent writer, he has 'utterly wasted by the tide of fire he has rolled along it.' He completes his work as he goes on. He has a preternatural quickness of apprehension, which enables him to see at a glance what costs other minds the labour of an investigation. It is this that makes ordinary business easy to him, and hence he has been heard to say that he could never make what some men call speeches-that his were all matters of mere detail in business. He is not only quick, but sure. And though he has fire, yet it is of that kind that he has rarely the heat of passion to plead or regret. As the head of a party, he has none of its prejudices to plead, having no person to serve; and he has few, if any, peculiarities of a personal character; no 'mental idiosyncrasies,' as Lord Brougham would say, to indulge, which produce capricious fancies and crotchets. His faculties are always unclouded and unstunted, ever to be depended on; and his judgment secures him success and adherents.” Aged, broken in health, afflicted with the recent fearful convulsions of Methodism in England, Jabez Bunting still holds on his undeviating course. His faculties are yet vigorous; he is still the great counsellor of his denomination, and though incapable of moving to and fro in its field as he has for more than half a century, he is nevertheless still its guiding mind. |