brought into action-before the multipled and aggravated calamities which he foresaw, and was endeavouring to avert, had overspread the political hemisphere-before the errors of his secret rivals, and the machinations of the common enemy, had in every quarter hastened those evils, the presence of which must have wrung with anguish his benevolent and tender heart. Uncorrupted by the fascinations of praise, undismayed by the clamours of slander, sighing for peace to an exhausted world, and bequeathing to posterity an example fitted to impress the purity, simplicity, and grandeur of his own character upon that of his countrymen, he expired amidst the tears of his friends, and the affectionate embraces of his nearest and most beloved relations. "O Fallacem hominum spem fragilemque fortunam, et inanes nostras contentiones: quæ in medio spatio sæpe franguntur, et corruunt, et ante in ipso cursu obruuntur, quam portum conspicere potuerunt. Nam qui annus ab honorum perfunctione primus, aditum Crasso ad summam auctoritatem dabat, is ejus omnem spem, atque omnia vitæ consilia morte pervertit. Fuit hoc luctuosum suis, acerbum patriæ, grave bonis omnibus. Sed ii tamen rempublicam casus secuti sunt, ut mihi non erepta L. Crasso a Diis immortalibus vita, sed donata mors esse videatur. Non vidit "*-but I forbear, not so much from inability to accommodate much of the remaining * Vid. Cicero, de Oratore, lib. iii. par. 2. matter in Cicero to the present times, as from unwillingness to exasperate a set of men who seem to prefer the very harshest discipline of experience to the instructions of sober reason. To close the scene, the funeral of Mr. Fox was attended by persons of the highest distinction for science, learning, 80 political abilities, and hereditary rank. The procession was marked by a deep and solemn silence, which evinced the unfeigned sorrow of all spectators; and his remains were interred in Westminster Abbey, the hallowed repository of departed sages, heroes, patriots, and kings. Away with those politics, and that philosophy, which would steel our hearts against the honest feelings of nature. Why, dear Sir, should we dissemble, or indeed how can we forget what we experienced when the lifeless body of our friend was "committed to the ground" near the grave of a rival who, but a few months before, had fallen from the heights of fame and power into the "valley of the shadow of death?" Was it not melancholy and awe, mingled with a sort of wonder which, restrained and attempered by circumstances, soothed, rather than ruffled the observer, and with solemn reflections upon the appointed end of genius, ambition, and all sublunary glories? Reviewing and cherishing what we then felt during the hallowed rites of burial, why should we hesitate to apply to these extraordinary men some striking words, which, in the last century, were quoted with singular felicity, but with allusions less favourable, at the interment of a celebrated exile * from the country, and the sepulchres 81 of his fathers? "Hi motus animorum, atque hæc certamina tanta, The death of Mr. Fox, accompanied as it was by the sweet remembrance of benefits so recently conferred, or intended to be conferred, on so large a portion of the human race, will ever be interesting to my mind. When contrasted with the toils, disappointments, and unmerited indignities 82 which he had been doomed to endure for many years, it resembles a well-executed drama, in which some distinguished personage has, through a series of sharp trials, preserved his consistency to the close, and meets at last with that justice which had been long withholden from him. In the bosoms of those who attended him in his last moments, it must excite the most serious wishes, that their own end 66 may be like his," and to himself, we trust, it was, in the language of Milton, "a gentle wafting to immortal life." "Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore exstinguuntur magnæ animæ, placide quiescat. Nos Amicos suos ab infirmo desiderio, ad contemplationem virtutum suarum vocet. Is verus honos, ea conjunctissimi cujusque pietas. Id Id quoque Uxori, Nepotique ejus præceperim, sic Mariti, sic Avunculi memoriam venerari, ut omnia facta dictaque ejus secum revolvant, famamque ac figuram animi magis * Bishop Atterbury. VOL. IV. K + Georg. iv. quam corporis complectantur. Non quia interce dendum putem imaginibus quæ marmore aut ære finguntur. Sed ut vultus hominum, ita simulacra vultus imbecilla ac mortalia sunt, forma mentis æterna, quam tenere et exprimere, non per alienam materiam et artem, sed tuis ipse moribus possis."* They who pursue the plain and straight course from which he never swerved, will do just homage to his moral and intellectual excellencies, and will obtain to themselves immortal honour for their sagacity, their fortitude, and their integrity. But they who strike aside into the dark and crooked byepaths which he always shunned, will stand convicted of insulting his memory, of sacrificing patriotism to selfishness, and of heaping disgrace and destruction upon that empire which his principles had adorned, and which his counsels might have preserved. Το you, who feel as I do, the unusual importance of the subjects which I have had occasion to discuss in this letter, no apology can be necessary for the unusual length of it. It is written with that sincerity which becomes a real friend of Mr. Fox, and with which I shall ever be ready to prove myself, dear Sir, Your well wisher, &c. December 6, 1807. Tacit. in Vit. Agric. NOTES. NOTE 1, p. 15. Marcus Antonius, in the only book he ever wrote, professes "disertos se vidisse multos, eloquentem omnino Neminem," and Cicero, who records this observation,* seems in several passages to assent to it. But having described the "varia officia Oratoris," he says, "inventus profecto est ille eloquens, quem nunquam vidit Antonius. Quis est igitur is? Qui et humilia subtiliter, et magna graviter, et mediocria temperate potest dicere." And again, "qui poterit parva summisse, modica temperate, magna graviter dicere."† Surely the foregoing words remind us of the variety which appeared in Mr. Fox's speeches, and the adaptation of his matter to his subject. Yet, as Cicero acknowledges, and very justly, that no speaker really possessed all those qualities in the high degree of excellence which he and Anthony could conceive, and then professes to return, in Platonic language, ad Rei Formam et Speciem, I am content to say, that Mr. Fox only approached the character of a perfect orator. But what did he actually reach? I answer, with very little fear of contradiction from impartial and intelligent critics, that he possessed "Genus dicendi subtile in probando, modicum in delectando, vehemens in flectendo, in quo uno Vis omnis Oratoris est."‡ Or, I would say of Mr. Fox, as Cicero, referring to his own work called Brutus, did of Demosthenes, "Recordor me longe omnibus unum anteferre Demosthenem, qui vim accommodarit ad eam quam sentiam eloquentiam; non ad eam quam in aliquo ipse cognoverim. Hoc nec gravior exstitit quisquam, nec callidior, nec temperatior."§ I see great excellencies in some of *Cicero, Orator. par. 18. Gronov. ↑ Ibid. par. 70, 71. edit. f Ibid. par. 23. |