Posthumous Memoirs of His Own Time, Volume 1R. Bentley, 1836 - Great Britain |
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administration appeared asserted attached Baron Benfield British British peerage Bulow Burke cabinet chancellor character coalition conduct constituted court crown debate Duchess Duke Dundas Earl East India Bill East India Board election elevation eloquence eminent England Erskine exchequer excited exertions fact favour fortune Fox's France friends George the Third Hastings high bailiff honour house of commons house of peers individuals Irish Jenkinson Junius king Lady late less letter London Lord Mulgrave Lord North Lord Sackville Lord Shelburne Lord Whitworth Louis majesty manner Marie Antoinette measure ment mind minister ministerial nearly never nevertheless nobleman occasion opposition parliament parliamentary pecuniary peerage peers person Pitt Pitt's political possessed present prince Prince of Condé princess principles propositions queen rank received reign respecting Rolliad royal scarcely seat sent Sheridan sovereign talents thousand pounds throne tion took place treasury bench voted Westminster Zell
Popular passages
Page 182 - With unexpected legions bursts away, And sees defenceless realms receive his sway; Short sway ! fair Austria spreads her mournful charms, The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms; From hill to hill the...
Page 198 - Tis not to make me jealous, To say — my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company, Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well; Where virtue is, these are more virtuous: Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw The smallest fear, or doubt of her revolt; For she had eyes, and chose me...
Page 357 - ... and regulated on permanent and equitable principles, for the mutual benefit of both countries.
Page 37 - Nor did he, while thus chastising his adversary, alter a muscle of his own countenance ; which, as well as his gestures, seemed to participate, and display the unalterable serenity of his intellectual formation. Rarely did he elevate his voice, and never except in subservience to the dictates of his judgment, with the view to produce a corresponding effect on his audience. Yet he was always heard, generally listened to with eagerness, and could obtain a hearing at almost any hour. Burke, who wanted...
Page 119 - Octavius rises to debate! Mild and more mild he sees each placid row Of country gentlemen with rapture glow ; He sees, convulsed with sympathetic throbs, Apprentice peers and deputy nabobs ! Nor rum contractors think his speech too long, While words, like treacle, trickle from his tongue...
Page 264 - ... of a wholesale upholsterer for this house, to furnish it, not with the faded tapestry figures of antiquated merit, such as decorate, and may reproach, some other houses, but with real, solid, living patterns of true modern virtue. Paul Benfield made (reckoning himself) no fewer than eight members in the last parliament. What copious streams of pure blood must he not have transfused into the veins of the present ! But what is even more striking than the real services of this new-imported patriot,...
Page 29 - Nature, which cast him in her coarsest mould, had not bestowed on him any of the external insignia of high descent. His person, large, muscular, and clumsy, was destitute of grace or dignity, though he possessed much activity. He might indeed have been mistaken for a grazier or a butcher, by his dress and appearance ; but intelligence was marked in his features, which were likewise expressive of frankness and sincerity.
Page 90 - Erskine having one day dined there, found himself so indisposed as to be obliged to retire after dinner to another apartment. Lady Payne, who was incessant in her attentions to him, enquired, when he returned to the company, how he found himself?
Page 87 - In his person Erskine combined great elegance of figure and manner. His movements were all rapid, appropriate to, and corresponding with, the texture of his mind. Intelligence flashed from his eyes, and his features, regular, prepossessing, as well as harmonious, bespoke him of no vulgar extraction. He was slender, finely proportioned, and of a just stature. The tones of his voice, though sharp, were full, destitute of any tinge of Scottish accent, and adequate to every professional purpose or exigency....