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"his church with victory. The schism disappears; the east and west are re-united ;"and Asia, after a long night, sees the day re"turn to her. The land consecrated by the

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cross of Christ, and watered by his blood, is "delivered from those who profaned her, and is "invested with new glories.-Finally, the chil"dren of Abraham, scattered over the earth, and 66 more numerous than the stars of the heavens, are collected from the four winds, and come in "crowds to adore the Christ, whose side they "pierced on the cross.

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"This is sufficient: you will rejoice to hear "this is the last of my letters; and the last of my enthusiastic flights, with which you will. "be importuned.

"FR. DE FÉNÉLON."

When the negotiations of Lisle seemed to promise peace, a friend of the Reminiscent offered. to Mr. Burke his congratulations upon this circumstance, as the probable termination of the revolution." The termination of the revolution! "to be sure!" exclaimed Mr. Burke: "The re"volution over! Why, Sir, it is not begun! As yet, you have only heard the first music; you'll see the actors presently; but neither you nor "I shall see the close of the drama."

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The late Mrs. Boscawen asked Lord Mansfield, "when he thought the French revolution "would end?"-"Madam," he replied, "I don't

"know that it has yet begun; it is an event "without precedent, and therefore without prog"nostic."

XII. 7.

Lord Thurlow.

WE return to a view of the parliamentary history of our times.

Mr. Hume's Essay on Eloquence has been deservedly praised: but it appears to contain some passages which are open to observation.

He mentions that "there were about half a "dozen speakers in the two houses, who, in the judgment of the public, had very near the same

pitch of eloquence; and that no man pre"tended to give any one the preference above "the rest." This might be true when Mr. Hume wrote; but certainly has never been the case in our time. Beside Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, we had about a dozen speakers, as lord Mansfield, lord Camden, lord Thurlow, lord Loughborough, lord Ashburton, and lord Littleton, in the house of Lords; and Mr. Dundas, colonel Barré, governor Johnson, Mr. Grey, Mr. Windham, Mr. Whitbread, and Mr. Sheridan, in the house of commons: all were eminent and distinguished speakers, but no one thought of comparing any with Mr. Pitt or Mr. Fox. Those great rivals were allowed, by the universal voice of the British public, a splendid pre-eminence.

Perhaps the speakers next in eminence to

these, were lord Thurlow, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Dundas, afterwards created lord Melville, and Mr. Grattan.

At times, lord Thurlow was superlatively great. It was the good fortune of the Reminiscent, to hear his celebrated reply to the duke of Grafton, during the inquiry into lord Sandwich's administration of Greenwich hospital. His grace's action and delivery, when he addressed the house, were singularly dignified and graceful; but his matter was not equal to his manner. He reproached lord Thurlow with his plebeian extraction, and his recent admission into the peerage.Particular circumstances caused lord Thurlow's reply to make a deep impression on the Reminiscent. His lordship had spoken too often, and began to be heard with a civil but visible impatience. Under these circumstances, he was attacked in the manner we have mentioned. He rose from the woolsack, and advanced slowly to the place, from which the chancellor generally addresses the house; then, fixing on the duke the look of Jove, when he grasps the thunder;— "I am amazed," he said, in a level tone of voice, "at the attack which the noble duke “has made on me. Yes, my lords," considerably raising his voice, "I am amazed at his

grace's speech. The noble duke cannot look "before him, behind him, or on either side of him, without seeing some noble peer, who owes his seat in this house to his successful "exertions in the profession to which I belong,

"Does he not feel that it is as honourable to owe. "it to these, as to being the accident of an acci

dent? To all these noble lords, the language "of the noble duke is as applicable and as insulting as it is to myself. But I don't fear to meet "it single and alone.

No one venerates the

-

peerage more than I do, but, my lords, I "must say that the peerage solicited me,-not "I the peerage. Nay more,-I can say and "will say, that, as a peer of parliament,—as speaker of this right honourable house, as keeper of the great seal,-as guardian of his majesty's conscience,—as lord high chancellor "of England,--nay, even in that character alone, "in which the noble duke would think it an "an affront to be considered,-but which cha"racter none can deny me;—as a MAN, I am at "this moment as respectable; I beg leave to "add,-I am at this time, as much respected, as "the proudest peer, I now look down upon." The effect of this speech, both within the walls of parliament and out of them, was prodigious. It gave lord Thurlow an ascendancy in the house, which no chancellor had ever possessed; it invested him in public opinion, with a character of independence and honour; and this, although he was ever on the unpopular side of politics, made him always popular with the people *.

* It was often mentioned, that, at the council board, he showed an equal mixture of waywardness and timidity. Mr. Pitt is reported to have said of him, "that he proposed "nothing, objected to every thing, and acquiesced in any thing."

On many other occasions, his lordship appeared to advantage; but, speaking generally, it was only on great occasions that he signalized himself. He was a kind of a guarda costa vessel, which cannot meet every turning and winding of a frigate that assails her, but, when the opportunity offers, pours a broad-side which seldom fails of sinking the assailant.

His lordship, however, possessed a weapon, which he often brought into action with great skill and effect. He would appear to be ignorant upon the subject in debate, and, with affected respect, but visible derision, to seek for information upon it, pointing out with a kind of dry solemn humour, contradictions and absurdities, which he professed his own inability to explain, and calling on his adversaries for their explanation. It was a kind of masked battery, of the most searching questions and distressing observations; it often discomfited his adversary, and seldom failed to force him into a very embarrassing position of defence: it was the more effective, as, while he was playing it off, his lordship shewed he had the command of much more formidable artillery.

It is remarkable that, though both lord Mansfield and lord Thurlow spoke most slowly and deliberately, yet their periods were strangely confused, and often ungrammatical; while lord Ashburton, whose volubility was marvellous, and was the despair of short-hand writers, never offended against grammar: his periods, though