ch Fox displayed in
public life, but also on the simplicity and kindness of his nature, and
the spell which, in spite of grievous faults, he seemed able to cast,
without effort, alike over friends and foes.

One of the earliest, and certainly one of the closest, friendships of
Lord John Russell's life was with Thomas Moore. They saw much of each
other for the space of nearly forty years in London society, and were
also drawn together in the more familiar intercourse of foreign travel.
It was with Lord John that the poet went to Italy in 1819 to avoid
arrest for debt, after his deputy at Bermuda had embezzled 6,000_l._
Moore lived, more or less, all his days from hand to mouth, and Lord
John Russell, who was always ready in a quiet fashion, in Kingsley's
phrase, to help lame dogs over stiles, frequently displayed towards the
light-hearted poet throughout their long friendship delicate and
generous kindness. He it was who, in conjunction with Lord Lansdowne,
obtained for Moore in 1835 a pension of 300_l._ a year, and announced
the fact as one which was 'due from any Government, but much more from
one some of the members of which are proud to think themselves your
friends.' Moore died in 1852, and when his will was read--it had been
made when Lord John was still comparatively unknown--it was discovered
that he had, to give his own words, 'confided to my valued friend, Lord
John Russell (having obtained his kind promise to undertake the service
for me), the task of looking over whatever papers, letters, or journals
I may leave behind me, for the purpose of forming from them some kind of
publication, whether in the shape of memoirs or otherwise, which may
afford the means of making some provision for my wife and family.'
Although Lord John was sixty, and burdened with the cares of State, if
not with the cares of office, he cheerfully accepted the task. Though it
must be admitted that he performed some parts of it in rather a
perfunctory manner, the eight volumes which appeared between 1853 and
1856 of the 'Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore'
represent a severe tax upon friendship, as well as no ordinary labour on
the part of a man who was always more or less immersed in public
affairs.

[Sidenote: 'DON CARLOS']

Lord John also edited the 'Correspondence of John, fourth Duke of
Bedford,' and prefaced the letters with a biographical sketch. Quite
early in his career he also tried his hand at fiction in '