he seems to have gladly availed himself of an opportunity of declining the proffered honour. His own account of this transaction will be found in the following letter, which he addressed to a gentleman in Norwich (the late E. Norgate Esq.), who was a vigilant promoter of his interests in the latter city: "DEAR SIR, "Queen Anne Street, 5th June 1782. "You have heard, no doubt, from the papers, as well as from a letter or two of mine sent to Norwich, a general account of my transactions, with respect to becoming a candidate for Westminster. In the whole business, from the first mention of it soon after the general election, to the present occasion, I had remained nearly passive; not thinking a seat for Westminster an offer to be declined, if attainable upon easy terms, nor considering it as an object to be pursued through the medium of much difficulty or expence. This intention of leaving matters to their own operation, produced at first by the considerations above mentioned, was confirmed afterwards by another feeling, when, by the management of some particular persons, a resolution was carried at one of the general meetings for putting up Mr. Pitt, in case of a vacancy. After that, propriety required that a renewal of our correspondence should come as a formal invitation from them; and partly in that form it was about to come, that is, as a resolution of the Westminster Committee, without any sort of application from me; when, upoti inquiry into the general sentiments of the people on the question of Parliamentary Reform, by which, though my election could not have been prevented, my situation, upon the whole, would have been rendered unpleasant; and from the reflection that, on a vacancy happening in the meanwhile at Norwich, a person might be chosen who could not afterwards be set aside, I determined not to wait till a resolution of the committee might make refusal more difficult, but to forestal their deliberations, by a letter declining the honour that might be intended me. The reasons assigned in my letter were, the difference of opinion that prevailed in some of the independent interest with respect to myself, destroying that unanimity of choice, without which I should not be ambitious of a seat at Westminster; and my disagreement, signified in pretty explicit terms, with many of the opinions that seemed then to be popular. I should flatter myself, that no part of this transaction can have prejudiced my interest at Norwich, and that the conclusion ought rather to have promoted it. I beg to be remembered to all friends; and I am, dear Sir, Your obedient and faithful Servant, At the date of the preceding letter, Mr. Windham's friends had just attained office, upon the resignation of Lord North and the cabinet which had conducted the American war. The Marquis of Rockingham was placed at the head of the new administration, but his death, which took place on the rst July 1782, and the elevation of Lord Shelburne to the vacant post, induced Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke, with the rest of the Rockingham party, to resign their situations. Mr. Windham's opinion was strongly in favour of this course, as appears by a letter, also addressed to Mr. Norgate, from which the following is an extract: "You feel no doubt at Norwich, as at every other place, a share of the general consternation into which all good men are thrown by the death of Lord Rockingham. There could be no time in which the loss of such a character as his, must not have been severely felt; but now it falls with a weight that crushes. The very existence of that interest which has maintained the cause of the country since the Revolution, is in danger of terminating in his person. The only hope and endeavour must be, in my humble opinion, to keep the troops together, by withdrawing them from action for a time, and leaving the enemy to pursue his operations, till they can have recovered their spirits, and retrieved their losses, sufficiently to make. a new attack. Some of the most considerable amongst them are strongly of that opinion, and urge the immediate resignation of their places, if Lord Shelburne is to be at the head of affairs. Others are of opinion that they should still continue in, in order to complete the good they have begun, and not quit the public service till his conduct shall have driven them from it. The advocates for either opinion are actuated by per fectly honest motives. I am, for my own part, clearly for the sentiments of the former, and think there can be neither credit nor safety to themselves, nor consequently final advantage to the country, in their continuing in office. The danger of continuing is, that they will miss an opportunity of breaking off with credit and effect, and never find another." By the famous coalition of Mr. Fox and his friends with Lord North and the remains of the former ministry, Lord Shelburne, after effecting a general peace, was driven from his post in April 1783. Under the. new ministry, of which the Duke of Portland was the nominal head, Mr. Windham accepted the office of Chief Secretary to the Earl of Northington, then appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. An anecdote, which has been often repeated, is connected with his acceptance of this appointment. On his expressing to his friend Dr. Johnson, some doubts whether he could bring himself to practise the arts which might be thought necessary in his new situation, the Doctor humourously replied, "Don't be afraid, Sir; you will soon make a very pretty rascal." It appears, however, that Mr. Windham's doubts were not ill founded. He yielded up his secretaryship to Mr. Pelham (now Earl of Chichester) in August 1783, about four months after his appointment; and his resignation is ascribed, in a late publication †, to a cer * Boswell, vol. iv. p. 208, 3d edit. + Hardy's Memoirs of the Earl of Charlemont, p. 254. VOL. I. tain distribution of patronage by the Viceroy, in favour of the old court party, which had given a just offence to Lord Charlemont and his friends, who had been the best supporters of the Whigs of the mother-country before they came into office. The writer alluded to relates, that "Mr. Windham, who had served as a bond of union, on the Viceroy's first coming to Ireland, between him and Lord Charlemont, now wisely preferred the county of Norfolk to the Phoenix Park near Dublin, and retired from his situation. Lord Charlemont had long known and esteemed him as an accomplished, amiable man. This secession added much to his (Lord C.'s) chagrin, as might reasonably be expected." In a letter, dated Dublin, 26th August 1782, which at the time found its way anonymously into a newspaper, but which is believed to have been written by a gentleman who had good means of knowing the facts connected with this resignation, it is stated to have been occasioned by a want of "due requisites in Mr. Windham to become a supple and venal courtier." "Some assert," this writer adds, "that his resignation was chiefly owing to a coolness between him and a certain great personage (the Lord Lieutenant). Mr. Windham is a man of deep science, and of great penetration and abilities;-thegreat personage likes a deep bottle to penetrate a cork—and has strong abilities of bearing wine. The one was an enemy to thinking; the other to drinking, and so they parted." The same writer adds an anecdote which ought not to be omitted. It is given in these words: "The |