the well-ordered motto of the knighthood of St. Patrick extend beyond the shield of that chivalry, and for

ever encircle both countries-Quis separabit?"

WHEN

HEN I first had the happiness of knowing Mr. Fox, he had retired, in a great measure, from public life, and was inclining towards the evening of his days. A serene and cloudless magnanimity, respecting the pursuit of power, raised him to an enviable felicity. His habits were very domestic, and his taste for literature peculiarly strong, as well as peculiarly elegant. His love for a country life, and all its simple and never-fatiguing charms, was great. His temper disposed him to enjoy, and never to repine. Had his great powers been employed for the benefit of mankind, in literary composition, and researches after knowledge (instead of being exhausted in useless debates, when the issue of the contest was always anticipated, and when prejudice and interest gave to a declaiming minister a superiority, which reason, poured forth with all the energy and variety of a Demosthenes, could never obtain), the world, and Europe in particular, would have reaped advantages, which his country blindly rejected; and that great mind, which made little impression upon a disciplined oligarchical senate, would more efficaciously have operated upon the philosophers, the statesmen, and the patriots of Eu

pursuits of ambition, or to the mean and universal passion, avarice; and when their characters accordingly become rigid, and unproductive of new sentiments, Mr. Fox had all the sensibility and freshness of youth, with the energetic glow of manhood in its prime. Knowledge of the world had not at all hardened or disgusted him. He knew men, and he pitied rather than condemned them. It was singular to behold such a character in England, whose national propensity favours philosophic reasoning rather than the sensibility of genius. When I first be. held St. Anne's Hill, the impression was the most agreeable I had ever received. Every thing recalled to my mind the stories of Greece and Rome. I saw a man of a noble family, eminent for his genius and talents-an orator of unrivalled pow. ers-the friend of liberty-the encourager of the fine arts-the clas sical scholar-I saw him retired to the lovely rural spot he had chosen, and said within me, "This is a cha"racter of antiquity; here is ge"nuine greatness." I entered his modest mansion, and found the picture of a youthful mind realised.

"St. Anne's Hill is delightfully situated; it commands a rich and extensive prospect; the house is embowered in trees, resting on the side of a hill: its grounds declining gracefully to a road, which bounds them

at

at bottom. Some fine trees are grouped round te house, and three remarkably beautiful ones stand on the lawn; while a profu-ion of shrubs are distributed throughout with taste and judgment. Here Mr. Fox was the tranquil and happy possessor of about thirty acres of land, and the inmate of a small but pleasant mansion. The simplicity and benignity of his manners speaking the integrity and grandeur of his character, soon dispelled those feelings of awe which one naturally experiences on approaching what is very exalted.

"I speak of the year 1798, when coercion had become the systematic means of compressing the public mind, but which, by many, was believed to be an artful mode of strengthening ministerial power by that goading vigor, which drives men to warmth and violence, in expressing their feelings in favour of the law and constitution. The vindication of that system stands to this day wholly upon assertion. The unhappy country to which I have the honor and misfortune to belong, was then suffering under this reign of terror. An enthusiastic party aimed at a visionary republic. The example of republican France had heated their imaginations, and led their understandings astray. A wise statesman, by proper concession to all, and a just restoration of rights to Catholics, might have disarmed the nascent conspiracy, and arrayed Ireland, far more powerfully than in 1782, in favour of Great Britain; but the same narrowness of mind, and poverty of genius, which coerced at home, under the joint ministry of Lord Grenville and Mr Pitt, tyrannized in Ireland, under the direction of unprincipled men, in whose eyes a nation's happiness was trifling, compared with the gratification of their inordinate ambi

tion. Having at this period formed no very decided opinions on politics, and in particular upon Irish affairs, I approached the great statesman (who in retirement mourned over those miseries which he clearly foresaw, but could not prevent), with sentiments of admiration and respect, which progressively increased, till that melancholy hour when, several years afterwards, I saw him breathe his last.

"When I first visited St. Anne's Hill, the summer was yet young, and all the freshness of nature was upon that beautiful spot: its sloping glades were unparched by autumnal suns; the flowers and shrubs were redolent with sweets, and the full choir of birds, which burst from every tree and shady recess, filled the heart with gladness, and with that reviving sentiment of pleasure, which at that period is felt by minds of sensibility. The rich expanse of cultivated country; the meadows, corn, woods, and villages, till the sight caught the far distant smoke of London; the graceful Thames, winding below that hill, which was the interesting residence of England's greatest character, gave a magical, but not delusive, effect to all I saw. This picture of serenity and rural happiness, when the rash and imperious councils of the English Cabinet were every where producing discord, and laying the foundation of French aggrandizement, was sufficiently striking to impress the imagination in a most powerful manner; and the long series of calamities which followed-blood, devastation, and torture, in Ireland ;suspension of constitution in England;-overthrow of ancient continental kingdoms, and the unchecked and fearfully augmenting power of regenerated France, subsequently gave to the feelings of

that

that moment a prophetic stamp, which has been confirmed to a de gree that is astonishing, even to those who, in the commencement of his crusade, dreaded the effects, and foretold many of the consequences. of Mr. Pitt's measures.

"This period of retirement, abstracting the anguish he must have felt for the miseries of the world, wa-, I am satisfied, the happiest period of Mr. Fox's life. Assuredly the only proper part for a truly great man, if he cannot advantageously influence the councils of his country, is, in complete retirement to devote himself to the cultivation of his mental powers, and to wait for that sentiment of conviction arising in the people, which ultimately, under a free constitution, becomes irresistible. It was upon this principle Mr. Fox acted, and would, I am persuaded, have continued to act, had not the powerful ties of friendship, which bound his susceptible heart, drawn him again into the fatal vortex of politics. In what degree it is to be regretted, that this inestimable man should ultimately, by his return to parliamentary warfare, and final accession to power, along with Lord Grenville, have injured his health, and somewhat diminished the lustre of his reputation, the future historian will mark with care - his friends with deep but fruitless sorrow-and the public, through a long course of calamity opening before them--will hereafter unavailingly acknowledge!

"The domestic life of Mr. Fox was equally regular and agreeable. In summer he rose between six and seven; in winter before eight. The assiduous care, and excellent management, of Mrs. Fox, rendered his rural mansion the abode of peace, elegance, and order, and had long

procured her the gratitude and esteem of those private friends, whose visits to Mr. Fox, in his retirement at St. Anne's Hill, made them witnesses of this amiable woman's exemplary and endearing conduct. I confess I carried with me some of the vulgar prejudices respecting this great man! How completely was I undeceived! After breakfast, which took place between eight and nine in summer, and at a little after nine in winter, he usually read some Italian author with Mrs. Fox, and then spent the time preceding dinner at his literary studies, in which the Greek poets bore a principal part.

"A frugal but plentiful dinner took place at three, or half past two, in summer, and at four in winter; and a few glasses of wine were followed by coffee. The evening was dedicated to walking and conversation till tea-time, when reading aloud, in history, commenced, and continued till near ten. A light supper of fruit, pastry, or something very trifling, finished the day; and at half past ten the family were gone to rest; and the next and suc ceeding dawn ushered in the same order and elegance, and found the same content, the same happiness, and the same virtuous and useful life.

"A life so sacred, such serene repose
Seemed Heaven itself."

Alas! those scenes are for ever closed; that heart which throbbed with every fine feeling is cold;--those private virtues which made St. Anne's Hill so delightful, those public ones, which might have benefited mankind, are lost. It is with pain and reluctance I go on; but the dictates of friendship and truth ought to be obeyed. One small record, unraixed with, and

uncontrolled by, party motives, shall afford to posterity, if it survive, some means, though imperfect, of appreciating the private character of the most illustrious, but often the most calumniated, of public men in the eighteenth century. No monument yet marks a nation's gratitude towards him; and the all-prevailing ascendancy of the system which Lord Bute, Lord North, and Mr. William Pitt, successively defended and propagated, has stifled every parliamentary expression of respect and veneration, for the memory of CHARLES JAMES Fox; whilst a successful skirmish, or a dubious battle, unites all parties in conterring hon urs and rewards! Nor do I think it is one moment to be admitted, that so unfortunate a politician, as his parliamentary rival, could have been Mr. Fox's coadjutor in office: their principles were diametrically opposite the one was a practical lover of arbitrary power, and in his own person exercised it too long for the glory of his sovereign, or the happiness of his people. The other was a sincere friend to a limited monarchy, the only species of government recognized by the British constitution, was a benevolent statesman of the first order, and was an undaunted advocate for Jiberty, whether civil rights, or freedom of conscience were concerned. Ministries formed of repugnant and conflicting materials cannot be permanent or efficient. Every department ought to be filled by men of whom the statesman, who undertakes to conduct the affairs of a nation has the selection, and on whose principles, as well as talents, he can rely. The disorder which otherwise takes place from the counteraction of the inferior servants of government is of the worst kind, paralysing every grand measure of the head

of the ministry, and even controlling his intentions.

"The great genius of Mr. Fox, to have been efficient, should have reigned supreme in the management of public affairs. Mr. Pitt, under the wholesome restraints, and instructed by the enlightened inind of that great man, might have conducted a subordinate department with benefit to his country; but as to co-operation with him, on any system of co-ordinate power, the plan must have been detrimental to the public service, as long as it was attempted, and certainly would have been degrading to Mr. Fox. The more I have considered, the more am I persuaded, that his own conception of retirement was the true rule of conduct to follow; and being one of the most disinterested of men, and having no impatience to attain power, it would have been as easy as wise in him to have adhered to it.

"At the period to which I allude, he was beginning to turn his attention to an historical work, and our readings after tea were directed to the furtherance of this grand and useful object. Happy were those evenings, when the instruction of the historian-the pointed remarks of the statesman-and all the ease and happiness of domestic society were united. The occasional visits of men of talents and high character sometimes pleasingly interrupted the evening's employment; but I have never seen Mr. Fox more perfectly happy than when we were quite alone. He was so utterly divested of a wish to shine, or of any appetite for flattery, that he in no manner required, what is called, company, to enliven or animate him. A lover of nature, and consequently an enemy to art, he held, I think, above every quality, sin

cerity and unaffectedness; and, being also of a character singularly domestic and amiable, he found in his little circle all he wished and wanted. To his other attainments he had added a very considerable knowledge of Botany; and, without making it a primary object, enjoyed every pursuit connected with Agriculture, in a bigh degree.

"About the end of the year 1799, Mr. Fox met with an accident of a

An

most alarming nature. He was very fond of shooting, and as he was following that amusement one day in the neighbourhood of Chertsey, in company with Mr. William Porter, of that town, his gun burst in his hand. The explosion having shattered it much, he wrapped it up, and returned to St. Anne's. As no surgeon in the country would undertake so delicate a charge upon his own responsibility, Mr. Fox was advised to go instantly to town carly dinner was provided, the chaise ordered, and, accompanied by Mrs. Fox, he very shortly set out for London. Mr. Porter told me that he manifested no impatience or apprehension, though the anguish he suf fered must have been excessive; all the anxiety he testified was lest Mrs. Fox should be agitated and alarmed. On his way to town he composed the following verses, which display a tenderness of disposition, and an exquisiteness of feeling, rarely met with (unhappily for the world)

in those statesmen who rule mankind.

"How can I at aught repine,
While my dearest Liz is mine?
Can I feel or pain or woe,
While my Liszy loves me so?
Where's the sorrow, that thy smile
Knows not sweetly to beguile?
Sense of pain, and danger fies
From the looks of those dear eyes:
Looks of kindness, looks of love,
That lift my mortal thoughts above.

While I view that heavenly facey
While I feel that dear embrace,
While I hear that soothing voice,
Tho' maim'd or crippled, life's my choice;
Without them, all the fates can give
Has nought would make me wish to live;
No, could they foil the power of time,
And restore youth's boasted prime,
Add to boot, fame, power, and wealth,
Undisturb'd and certain health;
Without thee, 'twou'd nought avail,
The source of every joy would fail;
But lov'd by thee, by thee caress'd,
In pain and sickness I am bless'd."

"Though many estimable, and subsequently very elevated characters, visited at St. Anne's Hill, I never liked it so well, as when we were quite alone. There was a per

fect originality of character in Mr. Fox, that made his society always. of most other men. new, and always preferable to that Professional

caut, and party ideas in general, give a monotony to the minds of distinguished members of society. Accustomed to view things constantly in one way, and not seeking for new ideas, but rather occupied in advancing of defending their old ones, their conversation does not create new sensations, and frequently wearies rather than deMr. Fox himself was so little obtrusive in this respect, that lights. I recollect feeling a good deal of embarrassment at first, on observing how frequently he was inclined. to silence, waiting for others to be. gin a conversation. I soon discovered, however, that he was pleased at its originating with another; and, so great was his benevolence, as well as unbounded his capacity, that whatever was started, in the smallest degree interesting, useful, or natural, received illustration and indulgent investigation from him. How well do I recollect the mornings when he came down to breakfast-how benignant and cheerfulhow pleased with every thing-how

free