,

particularly as he was often seen at the castle of Dublin, and in company with the placemen and pensioners of that kingdom. These visits, however, were nothing more than the relaxations of a man of pleasure and fashion.

In this tower of Ireland, Mr. Fox, among other places went to see the Lake of Killarney, near which stood the mansión of Sir Boyle Roche, gentleman usher of the castle, and whose talents at making bulls were so notorious, that every whimsical blunder of that description was placed to his account. Sir Boyle took a pride in escorting the orator, and shewing him all the curiosities of that part of the country. In the course of their peregrinations, he took him to a lofty mountain by the side of the lake, to the top of which the traveller is conducted by a circuitous road. At the summit is a small lake, which, from the popular idea that it cannot be fathomed, has acquired the appellation of the Devil's Punch-Bowl, and the water of which is excessively cold. Mr. Fox arriving on the brink, rather heated, stripped and plunged in, but this indulgence had nearly cost him his life; a severe indisposition was the result of his imprudence.

Mr. Fox was never at any pains to conceal his vices and his foibles from the public, and it cannot therefore appear surprizing, if he occa sionally received a gentle hint on that subject. At a masquerade at the Pantheon, in March 1778, a newspaper was distributed among the company, entitled the American Gazette, pub

lished by order of Congress. One of these was Le put into the hands of Mr. Fox, who turned his eye first to the following paragraph of resolutions, passed by that assembly-"That no plan of reconciliation will be regarded, unless Lord Chatham is made premier; Lord Camden lordchancellor; the Rev. John Horne, lord chief justice; the Hon. Charles Fox, archbishop of Canterbury, and collector of the duties on cards and dice.

His antipathy to the Jews was so notorious, that, on the publication of Mademoiselle d'Eon's poetical Epistle to Lord Mansfield, which, at first, appeared without any name, it was ascribed by many to Mr. Fox on account of the severity with which the children of Israel were treated in it. His own countenance, it was at the same time observed, was so strongly Judaic, that, had a stranger been asked at his Jerusalem levee which of the chosen race present had most of the blood of Jacob in his veins, Mr. Fox would have been pointed out as the man.

Just after the prorogation of parliament in 1778, Mr. Fox being one morning at Almack's, after losing all his money, and a short slumber, he started up, and sent for his valet :-" Egad," said he "I shall be too late-my motion is to come on to day." Almack set him right, and told him he need not be in such a perturbation of spirits, as the parliament was prorogued. "Well, that may be," replied Charles, "I must raise supplies then without the committee. of ways and means.'

During the whole American war, Mr. Fox successively protested against every measure of hostility directed against the colonies; and when he found that they had entered into treaties of commerce and amity with the kings of France and Spain, and that consequently both these powers were bound in gratitude and good faith to assist them, as well against the resentment of Britain, as the endeavours of the ministry to destroy their connexion. Mr. Fox de clared, that the duty of England, after the bloody transactions her unjust policy had occasioned, was to endeavor to secure a large share of their commerce, by a perpetual alliance on a federal foundation.

In the session of 1776, finding that all attempts to prevent the continuance of the war were unavailing, the manner of conducting it next became a subject of animadversion. In the discussion of this point in the House of Commons, Fox took the lead. The Americans, he contended, had been successful in the preceding campaign; their success must have been owing either to the weakness or inadequacy of the ministerial plans, or to the misconduct or misfortune of the British naval and military commanders. He therefore moved an inquiry, as the means of fixing the blame, if there were any. "Admitting," said he, "the coercion of America to be right, the question now is about the means. The means have not hitherto answered the end; we must inquire to what this has been owing, that we may apply better means,

or apply them with greater vigour. If we wish SUC to subdue America, let us see how it is to be done; and for that purpose, what has till now prevented our progress." The necessity of this inquiry Mr. Fox pressed with such force, that the ministry could not give him a direct answer, but were obliged to elude the question by the common place expedient, that this was not the proper time for an inquiry. Indeed, whenever Fox chose the right side, and exerted the whole force of his mind in support of it, evasion was the most prudent mode of opposition to his arguments.

On the arrival of the news of the melancholy catasrophy of Burgoyne's expedition, Mr. Fox proposed a number of motions for inquiry into the state of the forces in America, from the commencement of the war, and of the losses that had been sustained. His object was to demonstrate, that the men and money employed in the contest had been thrown away, and that the reduction of America by force was an object not to be attained. This proposal was opposed by administration, who alledged that it would be imprudent to expose the number of our forces. Mr. Fox asserted, that twenty thousand men had already perished in the contest, but the minister replied, that not more than twelve hundred had been slain. Ever prompt in the application of a just and critertion, when truth was his object, Mr. Fox moved for an account of all the men sent to America, and of all that still remained, when the difference

would be the amount of the loss sustained: but the minister declined to furnish this information, on the ground of inexpediency.

In the dispute between Admiral Keppel and Sir Hugh Pallier-a dispute kindled entirely by the artifice of opposition, Mr. Fox, as might naturally be supposed, was extremely active in supporting the former, who was his relation and partizan. Sir Hugh, in justice to his own character, was obliged to call for a court-martial on his commander and himself, and they were both honourably acquitted of any misconduct in the indecisive action which took place be tween them and the French fleet, in July 1779. This dispute excited the utmost animosity not only in the navy, but throughout the whole nation; and during these commotions, Sir Hugh resigned his situation as lieutenant-general of the marines, together with his seat in parliament, to accommodate a timid ministry overawed by a powerful opposition. The courtmartial having pronounced his conduct highly meritorious and exemplary, the minister soon af terwards conferred on him the appointment of governor of Greenwich Hospital on the death of Sir Charles Hardy. This step was considered by Mr.Fox as a measure of so much criminality, so incongruous to the sense and derogatory to the honour of the nation, that it drew from the relative of Admiral Keppel a torrent of indignant oratory, and a motion of censure on the appointment.

Mr. Fox has been heard to say, that all private aversions he sincerely and solemnly dis