could be more opposite to his real character; the fact is, sincerity was his nature; reserve, contracted by long exile from society, was the result of his misfortunes.

"He was brought up at Westminster school, and took his degrees in the University of Dublin; but the early avocations of a military life, and perhaps a want of taste and disposition for classical studies, prevented his advances in literature, so that in fact he was not so well read as people of his rank and condition ought to be, and indeed generally are; but he knew his weakness in this particular, and, though a willing hearer when these topics were in conversation, never ventured beyond his knowledge. In the modern history of nations, and particularly of his own, he was uncommonly correct; of the memoirs of illustrious persons, interesting anecdotes and events, he had a fertile stock in memory, and with singular precision of facts and dates; of many considerable affairs within his own time he had personal knowledge, many others (and several of a curious and secret nature) he had collected from the best authorities; he had a happy talent for relating, and having always been given to inquiry and research, possessing withal a very retentive memory, he may fairly be accounted one of the very best companions of the age, though he had neither the advantages of literature, the brilliancy of wit, nor any superior pretensions to a fine taste in the elegant arts it is therefore much to be lamented, that these pleasant and engaging qualifications for society were so sparingly displayed; and that habit had so contracted his circle, that he could not afterwards, without violence to his nature, extend and enlarge it.

"This was constant matter of regret to me through the whole course of my intimacy with him; and I lamented that any man, possessing such a fund of information, with a benevolence of soul that comprehended all mankind, a temper most placid, and a heart most social, should suffer in the world's opinion by that obscurity, to which his ill-fortune, not his natural disposition, had reduced him; for I am verily persuaded that his bitterest defamers, even the anonymous slanderers that raked into the very dregs of infamy and pollution to asperse his character, would have repented had they known him.

"He was so little used to receive justice from mankind, that perhaps he was over grateful for common approbation; and praise, if by chance he ever met it, seemed to take his senses by surprise: if there has been any one therefore, who for selfish purposes assailed his temper by flattery, it was a base and cowardly act;

because when we attack a man upon that weak quarter which his misfortunes have left undefended, it is aiming our blows at a wound, when we cannot conquer by fair fighting. I state this not so much for the purpose of applying the observation to him, as in general mitigation for human weakness, when a persecuted character has been too rigidly condemned for taking shelter in the soothing flattery of a favourite.

"He had enough of that good-natured companionable vanity, which delights in doing what it does well, to be very sufficiently communicative of what he knew; but he was incapable of laying traps for discourse, or putting other people's conversation aside to make room for his own; as he never obtruded, so he never tired: he possessed to admiration that rare faculty of always saying enough, and not too much, on a subject; his observation was so quick, and his feelings so sensitive, that he could nicely discriminate between the pleasure and the politeness of his company, and he never failed to stop before the former was exhausted.

"In argumentation no man went sooner to the truth, or submitted to conviction with a better grace: though he had the gift of seeing through a question almost at a glance, yet he never suffered his discernment to anticipate another's explanation, or interrupted his argument, how tedious soever: if any one spoke with heat in dispute, or raised his voice above its natural pitch, or if more than one speaker talked at a time, it gave him great pain; these are defects in temper and manners too commonly met with in the world, but to which he never gave occasion, by pushing an advantage too hard upon any one: a single word, or even an offer at interruption stopt him in a moment, though in the middle of a sentence; and this I have seen him bear repeatedly, and in very many different instances, without a symptom of peevishness, taking up his thoughts in the very place where he had left them, and resuming his discourse with perfect complacency. To sift out the truth by discussion seemed his only object for contesting any opinion; and whether that was attained by the result of his own or another's reasoning, was a discovery he had so little desire to arrogate to his own sagacity, that he was very ingenious in shifting it from himself to any other he conversed with; for he was an adept in that art, which tends to put others in humour with themselves, and which I take to be of the true species of politeness, not laying out for admiration by display.

"To his own ideas he was little attached, to words not at all; and in delivering his thoughts generally chose the plainest and

commonest expressions, that could convey their meaning; in this particular he sometimes fell below the dignity of the subject he was speaking upon; for it was a point with him on all occasions, to take the straightest road to his object, rather than a circuitous one, though ever so flowery. I believe he was never guilty, either in public or private, of speaking for fame, or setting off a discourse that means nothing with an air of pomp and mystery; he had a dry way of stripping such declamations to search for facts, and would assert that fine words were not meant to be understood; but was particularly pleased when merchants or men of business explained naturally to his comprehension; and when state measures were to be communicated to any such for their guidance and instruction, he expressed himself in the same natural manner, openly and fairly, without affectation, ambitious only to be thoroughly understood as to what would be done, and what would not be done, so that they might thereupon determine what was most adviseable for their own interests and concerns. In perspicuity he has never been excelled, in proof of which I believe it is not remembered in parliament (and probably not in council), that he was ever called upon a second time to explain what he had left obscure and imperfect; his errors, on the contrary, were the errors of sincerity; and I dare say there have been moments, when his colleagues in office could have forgiven him, if he had been less direct and explicit in reply; but if he was not to be styled a fine speaker, he was a very ready firm debater, and though he never dealt in flowery periods, made no attack upon the passions, no studied declamations, yet he had great judgment and method in his argument, saw the strong and the feeble of a question with much penetration, knew what he ought to press, and where he ought to give way; and in giving measures a facility, by the choice of the best moment for their introduction or prosecution, no man had more skill and address.

"He was generally represented as a proud and distant man, but in fact he had no more pride at heart, than every man of honour carries about him, and which serves to repel every thing that inclines towards meanness with becoming indignation: upon first approaches he had certainly an air of reserve, tempered however with much politeness, for he was a high-bred gentleman, or would have been so esteemed at least in any age but the present, for his manners, it must be owned, were not the manners of the reigning fashion his reserve however, which was more of a pensive than proud complexion, soon wore off in conversation, and

:

he was speedily disposed, from the openness of his own heart, to credit others for the sincerity of theirs: he was so far from a cunning man, that, considering the danger of late times, and the delicacy of the affairs he was engaged in, I doubt if he was always sufficiently cautious: if he had not had a quick insight into characters, he was naturally more direct than would have been safe with respect to himself, or consistent with his situation.

"He had all the requisites of a great minister, unless popularity and good luck are to be numbered amongst them in punctuality, precision, dispatch and integrity, he was not to be surpassed; he was fitted both by habit and temper for business; no man could have fewer avocations, whether natural or artificial, for he was slave to no passion or excess, indulged no humour, unless that of regularity may be called a humour, which he observed to a scrupulous minuteness; and as for his domestic affairs, they were in such a train of order and economy, that they demanded little of his attention: he had studied the finances of the nation, and her resources both in war and peace; had taken uncommon pains to obtain authentic and early intelligence of the councils and operations of foreign states, and readily discerned how the interests of this country were affected thereby. He was of an active indefatigable mind: intemperance never disturbed his faculties; neither avarice nor ambition corrupted them; easy in his private circumstances, and totally void of every wish to accumulate, his zeal for his country, and his application to business, were not subject to be diverted from their proper exertions: a scene of activity was what he delighted in, for he was full of operation and project, and of a spirit so incapable of despondency, that difficulties and dangers, which would have depressed some men, served to animate him.

"In the interchange of confidence with him it was necessary to have no reserve or holding back of circumstances, for he had such power of seeing into the heart of hyprocrisy, and his own was so free from duplicity, that on such occasions you must impart the whole or nothing; when this was fairly done, he was your own to all honest intents, and (humanly speaking) to all time; for he was a steady faithful friend: his mind was so strong, that it could not easily be overburthened by the weight of affairs, so clear that the variety of them was not apt to perplex it: he could shift his attention from one thing to its opposite with singular facility; he wished to do business, not to dwell upon it; and as his punctuality, as I before observed, went with the hand of the

clock to the very point of the minute, he was pleasant to all who served with him, or were dependant on his motions, and their hours of relaxation were hours of security.

"The establishment of his household and domestics was upon a noble scale, in fact it was the model of a liberal economy: he was a friend and father to his servants; their health, their exercises and even their amusements, were objects of his attention, and ■ more orderly and happy family did not exist. When I speak of his bounty and humanity to his poor neighbours and dependants in the counties where he resided, it is with pleasure I insist on so meritorious a part of his character. Charity was in him no less the exercise of the judgment than of the heart, for he gave his relief to the real wants, not to the mere importunities of the needy: money was seldom the vehicle he employed to convey that relief; a constant resource in sickness, casualty, or misfortune, was to be found with him, and it was part of his family establishment to be always provided for such occasions as his eye was ever upon the poor, all their comforts, their industry, and even their morals, passed under his inspection, and were influenced by it; his charity was without ostentation, and the extent of his good deeds could only be computed by the lamentations and number of those who followed his body to the grave.

"The same Providence, that gave him strength to endure, laid afflictions upon him to put that strength to the trial: I am warranted in saying they neither hardened his heart, depressed his spirit, nor soured his temper: it was his countenance, not his tongue, that ever uttered a complaint; his friends were welcomed with the same hospitable smile, and his family enjoyed the same unchangeable serenity under all events; if persecution and unkindness had been capable of relenting, his patience would have moved them to it.

"The cry of the world is not always the opinion of the world, at least not of the wisest part of it; the records are in hand, and the facts cannot be perverted or evaded, by which future times must decide, whether he, who was so chief an actor in those unbappy scenes, and bore such a proportion of the public odium during the war of the colonies, shall receive the praise or censure of posterity: he will not enter upon his share in that unfortunate history, till the whole was in action and hastening to its catastrophe; in the antecedent measures, which have such connexion with the causes and precipitation of the revolt, he has no concern; he properly shares the responsibility of that cabinet of which he