X'jgi. CHARACTERISTICAL SKETCHES—LORD NORTH. 203 



He yielded to the flattering feduftion, and was un~ 

 done. 



What is paft, cannot be recalled: but' it is not incu- 

 rious to contemplate in imagination, the difference be- 

 tween the prefent fttuation of Lord North, and that ia 

 which he would now have been placed, had he chofen 

 to leave to another the conduft of the operations of war, 

 when he found that war was unavoidable. — He would 

 have been called upon bj the unanimous voice of the 

 nation, to refume the reins of government in peace,' 

 and would have been now idolized by a whole people, 

 as their guardian angel, inftead ot being buffeted, abuf- 

 ed, and maltreated, as he now is, by every puny fcrib- 

 bler, who chinks he difplays his own prowefs, by fpurn- 

 ing at the man to whom lie formerly looked up with 

 adoration and refpeft. The lion being no longer the 

 king of the forell, the afs dares ftrike him in fafety. 



As an orator. Lord North, while in power, had no 

 equal in the Houfe of Commons : Nor did this proceed 

 entirely from the fuperior refpect with wliich men lifl- 

 ened to the words of the man who had the power of 

 dil"pof;ng of emoluments j a circumllance v/hich adds in- 

 finite force to arguments on all occafions. While his 

 mind was at eafe, he v/as enabled to exert all his fa- 

 culties in their fullell force ; and there is to be found 

 in his fpeeches at that time, more real attic wit, feafon- 

 cd with good humour, aiid conclufive reafoning, than 

 is perhaps to be found any where elfe in the records of 

 parliament. — Since his difmilTion from office, however, 

 the falling off, in thefe refpeds, has been great and 

 ftriking. — On fome occalions, his realoning, lince then, 

 has been indeed clear and conclufive ; but the wit, the 

 good hun.our, the elegance, which gave to his fpeech- 

 es their former zeft, are now looked for in vain ; and 

 no man, v/e are affured, can be more fenlible of this 

 defccl, than the noble Lord himfelf. 



No part of Lcrd North's oratorial powers could ever 

 be afoibtd to ihc manner in which thefe orations were 



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