_Burnet_.--In addition to the opinions expressed in favour of or
opposed to Burnet's "History," (No. 3. p. 40., and No. 8. p. 120.),
I may also refer to Dr. King's _Anecdotes_; he says,
"I knew Burnet; he was a furious party-man, and easily imposed
on by any lying spirit of his own faction; but he was a better
pastor than any man who is now seated on the Bishop's bench."
Dryden's chastisement of Burnet--"the noble Buzzard"--in his _Hind and
Panther_ must be familiar to your readers. It was given as "adequate
retaliation" for the Bishop's censure of the immorality of Dryden's
plays. Applied to Burnet's _Sketches of Characters_, Dryden says:
"His praise of foes is venomously nice,
So touch'd, it turns a virtue to a vice."
Scott's note on this passage well merits perusal.