, and to become
a member of the club, where he had once been a waiter. But he was
the spoiled child of fortune, who would not so easily spare him. The
governor died, and had appointed his secretary his sole executor. Not
that his excellency particularly trusted his agent, but he dared not
confide the knowledge of his affairs to any other individual. The estate
was so complicated, that Warren offered the heirs a good round sum
for his quittance, and to take the settlement upon himself. India so
distant, and Chancery so near--the heirs accepted the proposition.
Winding up this estate, Warren avenged the cause of plundered provinces;
and the House of Commons itself, with Burke and Francis at its head,
could scarcely have mulcted the late governor more severely.

A Mr Warren, of whom no one had ever heard except that he was a nabob,
had recently returned from India and purchased a large estate in the
north of England, was returned to Parliament one of the representatives
of a close borough which he had purchased: a quiet, gentlemanlike,
middle-aged man, with no decided political opinions; and, as parties
were then getting very equal, of course very much courted. The throes of
Lord North's administration were commencing. The minister asked the new
member to dine with him, and found the new member singularly free from
all party prejudices. Mr Warren was one of those members who announced
their determination to listen to the debates and to be governed by the
arguments. All complimented him, all spoke to him. Mr Fox declared that
he was a most superior man; Mr Burke said that these were the men who
could alone save the country. Mrs Crewe asked him to supper; he was
caressed by the most brilliant of duchesses.

At length there arrived one of those fierce trials of strength, which
precede the fall of a minister, but which sometimes from peculiar
circumstances, as in the instances of Walpole and Lord North, are
not immediate in their results. How would Warren vote? was the great
question. He would listen to the arguments. Burke was full of confidence
that he should catch Warren. The day before the debate there was a
levee, which Mr Warren attended. The sovereign stopped him, spoke to
him, smiled on him, asked him many questions: about himself, the House
of Commons, how he liked it, how he liked England. There was a flutter
in the circle; a new favourite at court.

The debate came off, the division took place. Mr Warren voted for