may probably find it somewhat more intelligible, if I
take the other side of the picture, and tell you what he was not. He was
not a man of fawning and servility. He did not rest his ambitious
pretensions upon any habitual adroitness, upon the arts of wheedling,
and the tones of insinuation. He rested them upon the most solid
talents, and the most brilliant accomplishments. He did not creep into
the closet of his sovereign uncalled, and endeavour to make himself of
consequence by assiduities and officiousness. He pleaded for years, in a
manly and ingenuous manner, the cause of the people in parliament. It
was by a popularity, great, and almost without exception, that he was
introduced into power. When defeated by the undermining and contemptible
art of his rivals; when convinced that it was impossible for him, to
employ his abilities with success in the service of his country, he
retired. And it was only by the personal intreaties of his sovereign,
and to assist him in that arduous and difficult situation, in which
those who ought to have served, deserted him, that he once again
accepted of office. He accepted it, for the temporary benefit of his
country, and till those persons, who only could come into administration
with efficiency and advantage, should again resume their places. He made
way for them without a struggle. He did not pretend to set practical
impotence, though accompanied with abilities incomparably the superior,
against that influence and connexion by which they were supported. Of
consequence, my lord, his memory will always be respected and cherished
by the bulk of mankind.

I do not mean to propose him to your lordship for a model. I never
imagined that your talents qualified you for the most distant
resemblance of him; and I wished to convince you how inferior they were.
Beside, my lord, he did not act upon the Machiavelian plan. His system
was that of integrity, frankness, and confidence. He desired to meet his
enemies; and the more extensive the ground upon which he could meet
them, the better. I was never idle enough to think of such a line of
conduct for your lordship. Go on then in those crooked paths, and that
invisible direction, for which nature has so eminently fitted you.
Intrench yourself behind the letter of the law. Avoid, carefully avoid,
the possibility of any sinister evidence. And having uniformly taken
these precautions, defy all the malice of your enemies. They may
threaten, but th