member of administration with whom my chief intercourse
officially existed, was the same manly and kind-natured individual to
whom I had formerly been indebted for so much civility; and, as if
proud of his own work, his civility now took the form of friendship.
Ill news came from abroad; and I expressed my impatience of remaining
with the pen in my hand, when I should have worn my sword. To all my
suggestions on the subject, the good-humoured answer was, that my
services were still necessary at home. At length, on my making a
decided request that I should be permitted to return to my regiment,
he told me in confidence that the campaign was probably at an end;
that the British commander-in-chief was about to return; and that, in
fact, the strength of England would be turned to the naval war. At the
close of one of those conversations, fixing his keen grey eye upon me,
he said, "Pray, what think you of Parliament?" My answer was, "That
mediocrity was more contemptible there than any where else; while
success was more difficult."

"You mean such success as Pitt's: you mean victory. But you must get
these Greek and Roman notions out of your head. An English House does
not want orators. One on a side is quite enough. They are like the
gold plate on a sideboard; it is well to show that we have such
things, for the honour of our establishment; but no one thinks of
making use of them at table. Pitt is an exception; he is equal to
every thing; an incomparable man of business. Burke, or some other man
of metaphor, compared him to the falcon; which, however high it may
soar, always follows the prey with its eye along the ground. But two
Pitts, if nature could be prolific of such magnificent monsters, would
absolutely perplex us. What could be more confusing than to have two
suns shining at the same time?"

"But is Fox nothing?" I asked.

"A great deal," was the answer. "He is the finest talker, I suppose,
in the world. The first of babblers."

"Of babblers!" I involuntarily repeated.

"Yes; for what is babbling but speaking in vain, pouring out endless
speculations without a purpose or the hope of a purpose, indulging a
remarkably powerful and productive mind with the waste of its own
conceptions, pouring out a whole coinage of splendid thoughts with no
more expectancy of practical result than if he poured the mint into
the Thames? You may rely upon it that such is the opinion of the
House, as it will be yours when you get t