which had penetrated these recesses, and the hand which had beckoned me to leave these calm and rural haunts, to behold a new and brilliant order of things in the powerful kingdom of France, were recognized by me as heralds of friendship and beneficence; but his active benevolence manifested on this occasion filled me with grateful surprize.

Reader! such a character was Mr. Fox! To raise up the neglected, and to aid those whom scanty means might keep pining at home, or languishing in obscurity, was his bright characteristic. The practical homage paid to the Deity by this great and Christian character, was to cheer the afflicted, and elevate the oppressed.

Still I left Wales with regret, for I had experienced that happiness is not to be found in crowds, and that the glare of Grandeur dazzles, but neither warms nor enlivens; sincerity is a humble flower, which rarely flourishes near it, and without that I had learnt to prefer retirement to all the bustle and pomp of Courts.

At

To visit the brilliant scenes opening before me in the society of such an exalted, (because benevolent and humane) as well as so great a man, as Mr. Fox, afforded, however, a very animating prospect. Hesitation would have been folly; and I hastened, (after crossing the channel to Ireland for a short time) to join the beloved inhabitants of St. Anne's Hill, and to offer there my gratitude and duty for this new act of unremitting friendship. this moment, though all is cheerful and lovely around me, in my native and honoured country, and although I feel no want of what renders life comfortable, to those who can be happy amidst the never-fading delights of nature, and the simple but sclid enjoyments which retirement and the country yield, yet I recur with pain to those times, when St. Anne's Hill possessed its illustrious master, and the remembrance of them saddens all the charming scenes around me.

When I arrived at St. Anne's Hill, I found the family nearly ready for the journey. Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Mr. (now Lord) St. John, and myself, formed the intended party; and on

the morning of the 29th of July, 1802, we set out in a travelling coach for France.

The delightful country, through which we passed, was in great beauty, and England, which under its government well administered, would have been the bulwark of liberty, and the asylum of the unfortunate, seemed to me never more deserving the appellation of the Garden of the world. We passed through a great part of that most favored portion of it, Kent, and rested one night at Lord Thanet's. Every thing that politeness and hospitality could prepare awaited us at this su perb mansion. To me, however, there is always something triste in the large domains and palaces of great men in the country; there is a void, a want of happy and independent human beings, which deprives the most beautiful and sublime scenery of its charm; and the solitude created, being very different from that where all is free and unbounded, as on mountains, in glens or vallies, or on the sea-shore, produces languor, and gives an idea of confinement and inaction, instead of that repose of nature so grateful to contem

D

us all.

plative minds. On the following morning, the delightful aspect of Kent, so verdant, and adorned with such neat and excellent enclosures, with its varying grounds of unrivalled beauty, and its hop plantations, emulating the appearance of vineyards, enchanted The view above Hythe struck Mr. Fox particularly, and with great reason, for seldom does one behold a more fascinating picture than it presents. It made so strong an impression on him, that from France he afterwards wrote to a friend following him, to call his attention to a scene, which had so much delighted him.

On our arrival at Dover, crowds were assembled to behold the celebrated person, whose oratory and political exertions had so long and so powerfully been exercised, in favour of a misguided people. They followed him to the shore, and testified a strong interest respecting him. The gale which wafted us over was pleasant and favorable, and the white cliffs of Dover, and the sandy beach and banks of the coast of France, were strikingly contrasted at the same time.. Mr. Fox

enjoyed the scene much. I had, indeed, observed on our leaving St. Anne's, a freshness and juvenility in his mind, which had raised him still higher in my opinion. He might have been taken for a person newly entering into the scenes of life, so cheerful, so pleased, and so very much alive as he was to the most minute objects in nature. At times, however, the grandeur and extent of his genius shewed itself. There was perfect dignity, too, in his manner, united to the greatest simplicity. During our whole subsequent tour, he preserved this kind of demeanour and manners-adding to it a solicitude that every one with him should be happy, should enjoy, and not lose. any thing interesting, beautiful, or curious.