er
selling Hayes, took a longing to return there. After considerable
negotiation with Mr Thomas Walpole the purchaser, he obtained it
again, and we hear no more of his madness.

The session was one of continual intrigues, constant exhibitions of
subtlety amongst the leaders of the party, which at this distance of
time are only ridiculous, and intricate discussions, which are now
among the lumber of debate. Townshend, if he gained nothing else,
gained the freedom of the city for his conduct on the East India and
Dividend bills, for which, as Walpole says, "he deserved nothing but
censure." A contemptuous epigram appeared on the occasion by "somebody
a little more sagacious"--that "somebody" probably being Walpole
himself:

"The joke of Townshend's box is little known,
Great judgment in the thing the cits have shown;
The compliment was an expedient clever,
To rid them of the like expense for ever.
Of so burlesque a choice the example sure
For city boxes must all longing cure,
The honor'd Ostracism at Athens fell,
Soon as Hyperbolus had got the shell."

It is scarcely possible to think that an epigram of this heavy order
could have been praised by Walpole, if his criticism had not been
tempered by the tenderness of paternity.

We then have a character of a man embalmed in the contempt poured upon
him by Junius--the Duke of Grafton. Though less bitter, it is equally
scornful. "Hitherto," says Walpole, "he had passed for a man of much
obstinacy and firmness, of strict honour, devoid of ambition, and,
though reserved, more diffident than designing. He retained so much of
this character, as to justify those who had mistaken the rest. If he
precipitated himself into the most sudden and inextricable
contradictions, at least he pursued the object of the moment with
inflexible ardour. If he abandoned himself to total negligence of
business, in pursuit of his sports and pleasures, the love of power
never quitted him; and, when his will was disputed, no man was more
imperiously arbitrary. If his designs were not deeply laid, at least
they were conducted in profound silence. He rarely pardoned those who
did not guess his inclination. It was necessary to guess, so rare was
any instance of his unbosoming himself to either friends or
confidants. Why his honour had been so highly rated I can less
account, except that he had advertised it, and that obstinate young
men are apt to have high notions, be