PREFACE.

IN laying before the public a work, purporting to consist of memoirs, or biographical sketches, of a considerable part of the life of the late Right Honourable Charles James Fox, I have no claim to approbation for a complete and entire work, as my acquaintance with that illustrious character did not commence till the evening of his days. Consequently, I have not attempted to give a full account of his actions, or life: others may hereafter accomplish that task; mine is at present a less important and less extensive one.

I knew Mr. Fox, however, at a period when his glories began to brighten,-when a philosophical and noble determination had, for a considerable time, induced him to renounce the captivating allurements and amusements of fashionable life, and when resigning himself to rural pleasures, domestic retirement, and literary pursuits, he became a new man, or rather, more justly may I say, he returned to the solid enjoyment of a tranquil, yet refined, rural life, from which he had been awhile withdrawn, but had never been alienated.

The more we consider the nature of Mr. Fox's education, (which, according to modern views, might be deemed by many an excellent one, but had too much of incite

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