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He was indeed a man of extraordinary parts, a pleasant wit, a great understanding, which pierced into and discerned the purposes of other men with wonderful sagacity, whilst he had himvultum clausum, that no man could make a guess of what he intended. He was of a temper not to be moved, and of rare dissimulation, and could comply when it was not seasonable to contradict, without losing ground by the condescension; and if he were not superior to Mr. Hambden, he was inferior to no other man in all mysterious artifices. There need no more be said of his ability, than that he was chosen to cozen and deceive a whole nation, which was thought to excel in craft and cunning; which he did with notable pregnancy and dexterity, and prevailed with a people, that could not otherwise be prevailed upon than by advancing that idol Presbytery, to sacrifice their peace, their interest, and their faith, to the erecting a power and authority that resolved to persecute Presbytery to an extirpation; and, in process of time, very near brought their purpose to a pass.

CLARENDON.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLE.

THE duke of Argyle was a man of very considerable parts and wit, though by no means so great as appeared from a most happy and imposing mode of speaking in public, where a certain dignity and vivacity, joined to a most captivating air of openness and sincerity, generally gave his

arguments a weight, which, in themselves, they frequently wanted; and many would go away charmed with his speeches, and yet be extremely at a loss afterwards to discover that strength of reasoning which they imagined at the hearing to have influenced them so highly in his favour. To style him inconsistent is by much too gentle an appellation; for, though from the time he first had a regiment, being under twenty years of age, through the whole course of his great employments, he was never known to sell a place, or even to make those advantages which were universally esteemed allowable and blameless; yet he was in his own person a most shameless prostitute to power, and extremely avaricious: he indeed would sell nothing but himself, which he continually did, with every circumstance of levity, weakness, and even treachery.

GLOVER.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

He was an honourable man, and a sound Whig. He was not, as the Jacobites and discontented Whigs of his time have represented him, and as ill informed people still represent him, a prodigal and corrupt minister. They charged him in their libels and seditious conversations as having first reduced corruption to a system: such was their cant. But he was far from governing by corruption: he governed by party attachments. The charge of systematic corruption is less applicable to him, perhaps, than to any minister

who ever served the crown for so great a length of time. He gained over very few from the opposition. Without being a genius of the first class, he was an intelligent, prudent, and safe minister. He loved peace; and he helped to communicate the same disposition to nations at least as warlike and restless as that in which he had the chief direction of affairs. Though he served a master who was fond of martial fame, he kept all the establishments very low. The land tax continued at two shillings in the pound for the greater part of his administration. The other impositions were moderate. The profound repose, the equal liberty, the firm protection of just laws during the long period of his power, were the principal causes of that prosperity which afterwards took such rapid strides towards perfection; and which furnished to this nation ability to acquire the military glory which it has since obtained, as well as to bear the burdens, the cause and consequence of that warlike reputation. With many virtues, public and private, he had his faults; but his faults were superficial. A careless, coarse, and over familiar style of discourse, without sufficient regard to persons or occasions, and an almost total want of political decorum, were the errors by which he was most hurt in the public opinion; and those through which his enemies obtained the greatest advantage over him. But justice must be done.

The

prudence, steadiness, and vigilance of that man, joined to the greatest possible lenity in his character and his politics, preserved the crown to

VOL. II.

A A

178

ELEGANT EXTRACTS.

this royal family; and with it, their laws and liberties to this country.

When I was young a general fashion told me I was to admire some of the writings against that minister; a little more maturity taught me as I observed one fault in much to despise them. He his general proceeding. He never manfully put forward the entire strength of his cause. temporised, he managed; and adopting very nearly the sentiments of his adversaries, he opposed their inferences. This, for a political commander, is the choice of a weak post. His adversaries had the better of the argument, as he handled it, not as the reason and justness of his cause enabled him to manage it.

BURKE.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, THE DUKE OF CUMBER-
LAND, LORD GRANVILLE, LORD MANSFIELD, AND
MR. PITT, COMPARED.

His

LORD GRANVILLE was most a genius of the five :
he conceived, knew, expressed, whatever he
pleased. The state of Europe and the state of
literature were equally familiar to him.
eloquence was rapid, and flowed from a source
of wit, grandeur, and knowledge. So far from
premeditating, he allowed no reflection to chasten
it. It was entertaining, it was sublime, it was
He em-
hyperbole, it was ridiculous, according as the
profusion of ideas crowded from him.
braced systems like a legislator, but was capable
of none of the details of a magistrate. Sir Robert

Walpole was much the reverse: he knew mankind, not their writings; he consulted their interests, not their systems; he intended their happiness, not their grandeur. Whatever was beyond common sense, he disregarded. Lord

Mansfield, without the elevation of Lord Granville, had great powers of eloquence. It was a most accurate understanding, and yet capable of shining in whatever it was applied to. He was as free from vice as Pitt, more unaffected, and formed to convince, even where Pitt had dazzled. The duke of Cumberland had most expressive sense, but with that connexion between his sense and sensibility, that you must mortify his pride before you could call out the radiance of his understanding. Being placed at the head of armies without the shortest apprenticeship, no wonder he miscarried: it is cruel to have no other master than one's own faults. Pitt's was an unfinished greatness: considering how much of it depended on his words, one may almost call his an artificial greatness: but his passion for fame and the grandeur of his ideas compensated for his defects. He aspired to redeem the honour of his country, and to place it in a point of giving laws to nations. His ambition was to be the most illustrious man of the first country in Europe; and he thought that the eminence of glory could not be sullied by the steps to it being passed irregularly. He wished to aggrandize Britain in general; but thought not of obliging or benefiting individuals. Lord Granville you loved till you knew him; Sir Robert Walpole the more you knew him; you would have loved the Duke, if you had not feared him. Pitt liked

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