The subject of the present article is one of the ablest and most accomplished men of the age, both as a writer, a speaker, and a converser.  He is, in fact, master of almost every known topic, whether of a passing or of a more recondite nature.  He has lived much in society, and is deeply conversant with books.  He is a man of the world and a scholar; but the scholar gives the tone to all his other acquirements and pursuits.  Sir James is by education and habit, and we were going to add, by the original turn of his mind, a college-man; and perhaps he would have passed his time most happily and respectably, had he devoted himself entirely to that kind of life.  The strength of his faculties would have been best developed, his ambition would have met its proudest reward, in the accumulation and elaborate display of grave and useful knowledge.  As it is, it may be said, that in company he talks well, but too much; that in writing he overlays the original subject and spirit of the composition, by an appeal to authorities and by too formal a method; that in public speaking the logician takes place of the orator, and that he fails to give effect to a particular point or to urge an immediate advantage home upon his adversary from the enlarged scope of his mind, and the wide career he takes in the field of argument.

To consider him in the last point of view, first.  As a political partisan, he is rather the lecturer than the advocate.  He is able to instruct and delight an impartial and disinterested audience by the extent of his information, by his acquaintance with general principles, by the clearness and aptitude of his illustrations, by vigour and copiousness of style; but where he has a prejudiced or unfair antagonist to contend with, he is just as likely to put weapons into his enemy’s hands as to wrest them from him, and his object seems to be rather to deserve than to obtain success.  The characteristics of his mind are retentiveness and comprehension, with facility of production:  but he is not equally remarkable for originality of view, or warmth of feeling, or liveliness of fancy.  His eloquence is a little rhetorical; his reasoning chiefly logical:  he can bring down the account of knowledge on a vast variety of subjects to the present moment, he can embellish any cause he undertakes by the most approved and graceful ornaments, he can support it by a host of facts and examples, but he cannot advance it a step forward by placing it on a new and triumphant ’vantage-ground, nor can he overwhelm and break down the artificial fences and bulwarks of sophistry by the irresistible tide of manly enthusiasm.  Sir James Mackintosh is an accomplished debater, rather than a powerful orator:  he is distinguished more as a man of wonderful and variable talent than as a man of commanding intellect.  His mode of treating a question is critical, and not parliamentary.  It has been formed in the closet and the schools, and is hardly fitted for scenes of active life, or the collisions of party-spirit.