If the reason should afterwards be sought, why the greatest geniuses

who have been incorporated into that body have sometimes made the

worst speeches, I answer, that it is wholly owing to a strong

propension, the gentlemen in question had to shine, and to display a

thread-bare, worn-out subject in a new and uncommon light. The

necessity of saying something, the perplexity of having nothing to

say, and a desire of being witty, are three circumstances which

alone are capable of making even the greatest writer ridiculous.