the
minister. Burke denounced him; the king made him a baronet.

Sir John Warren made a great alliance, at least for him; he married the
daughter of an Irish earl; became one of the king's friends; supported
Lord Shelburne, threw over Lord Shelburne, had the tact early to
discover that Mr Pitt was the man to stick to, stuck to him. Sir John
Warren bought another estate, and picked up another borough. He was
fast becoming a personage. Throughout the Indian debates he kept himself
extremely quiet; once indeed in vindication of Mr Hastings, whom he
greatly admired, he ventured to correct Mr Francis on a point of fact
with which he was personally acquainted. He thought that it was safe,
but he never spoke again. He knew not the resources of vindictive genius
or the powers of a malignant imagination. Burke owed the Nabob a turn
for the vote which had gained him a baronetcy. The orator seized the
opportunity and alarmed the secret conscience of the Indian adventurer
by his dark allusions, and his fatal familiarity with the subject.

Another estate however and another borough were some consolation for
this little misadventure; and in time the French Revolution, to Sir
John's great relief, turned the public attention for ever from Indian
affairs. The Nabob from the faithful adherent of Mr Pitt had become even
his personal friend. The wits indeed had discovered that he had been a
waiter; and endless were the epigrams of Fitzpatrick and the jokes of
Hare; but Mr Pitt cared nothing about the origin of his supporters. On
the contrary, Sir John was exactly the individual from whom the minister
meant to carve out his plebeian aristocracy; and using his friend as
a feeler before he ventured on his greater operations, the Nabob one
morning was transformed into an Irish baron.

The new Baron figured in his patent as Lord Fitz-Warene, his Norman
origin and descent from the old barons of this name having been
discovered at Herald's college. This was a rich harvest for Fitzpatrick
and Hare; but the public gets accustomed to everything, and has an easy
habit of faith. The new Baron cared nothing for ridicule, for he was
working for posterity. He was compensated for every annoyance by the
remembrance that the St James's Street waiter was ennobled, and by his
determination that his children should rank still higher in the proud
peerage of his country. So he obtained the royal permission to resume
the surname and arms of his ancestors, as w