586 
nute transactions of his department. About the end 
—v—" of May 1806, his health was visibly affected, and his 
disorder was to be of a ical nature. 
On the 7th of August, he underwent the operation of 
tapping ; and, for several days after, was considered to 
be im a very hazardous state. He requested to be re- 
moved to his residence at St Ann’s Hill; but with dif- 
fieulty reached the house of the Earl of Devonshire, at 
Chiswick, where a second ing was performed on 
the Soth ‘of August. After the operation, he expe- 
rienced a temporary revival ; but, in.a few days, every 
hope of his recovery vanished, and his friends were 
permitted to take their leave of him. During his ill- 
ness, he is said to have expressed an anxious wish that 
he might live to witness the abolition of the slave trade; 
and he left it as his dying charge to his political friends, 
that they should persevere in their efforts for the ac- 
complishment of that glorious object. In his last mo- 
ments, he put the hand of Mrs Fox into that of Lord 
Holland, and then, om his own upon theirs, “ God 
bless you,” he said, “I die in : I pity you.” 
These are reported to have been the last words which 
he uttered ; and he expired on the 13th of September 
1806, in the 59th year of his age. 
At a time when even Mr Fox's nearest relatives and 
warmest friends have declared that insuperable objec- 
tions exist to a memoir of his life, it is no easy to 
offer even an obscure and unpretending sketch of his cha- 
racter ; and, were there not some approved and experi- 
enced guides to point out the leading marks, we should 
never have attem the outlines of such a portrait. 
Mr Fox, in his Pie was rather under the mid- 
die stature ; and, though celebrated for agility in his 
youth, was of a ulent habit during the greater part 
of his life. His chest was capacious, his shoulders 
broad, his hair dark and thick, his complexion dusky, 
his eye-brows black and bushy, and his countenance, 
especially in the course of argument, peculiarly ani- 
mated and expressive. 
In his political life, he had been so constantly and 
eagerly en in compassing the overthrow of mi- 
nistry, that he will bly appear, to every indiffer- 
ent observer, more in the character of a determined 
-leader, than of an enlightened statesman ; and pec 
yet it may be doubted whether his ardent attachment 
to the political body of which he was the head, did not 
as much from the warmth of his friendship, as 
the spirit of party. This consideration may at 
least account as honourably as most others for the un- 
questionable fact, of his having consented, in the‘course 
of his public career, to join every one of those whom 
he had systematically opposed ; and which, though it 
will not exempt him from the charge of inconsistency, 
po Mcce a his name from the more heavy re 
of insincerity. He was almost uniformly the undaunt- 
ed champion of constitutional freedom; and. it can 
scarcely be doubted, that his resolute resistance to the 
slightest encroachments of government may have often 
acted as a salutary restraint. Yet, in some instances, 
he was opposed not merely to the popular cause, as in 
the case of Mr Wilkes, but even to the principles of li- 
berty, as in those of the Regency Bill, and the admis- 
sion of the Chief Justice into the cabinet. As a speak- 
er in Parliament, Mr Fox stands in the first rank ; and, 
though originally ar, of Mr Burke, he soon dis- 
played more comm ing oe He was more ve- 
hement in manner, more forcible in —— more 
consummately master of the science of debate. He 
FO X. 
sometimes hesitated in the commencement of a speech, Foxe. ; 
frequently indulged in digressions, and 
even in repetitions, or gave loose to a flow of penal 
declamation, instead of senatorial -; but he 
was always fluent when his ‘were roused, and 
was able, with the utmost skill, to tread back his step 
when hard pressed, without ante ie from an ; 
untenable position, or to return unnecessary 
digression. Whatever became of lis subject, he bent 
his whole force to trample down his enemy ; and exer- 
cised a degree of talent in parliamentary warfare 
has never rivalled: He was equally aa. 
perplex his adversary by ingenuity, to overawe him by 
violence, or to overwhelm him with a torrent of elo- 
wentabuse. He is acknowledged to have been 
liarly successful in reply, never failing to take advan. 
tage of the concessions or ctions of his oppo- 
nents, and to turn upon them with their own weapon, 
« T knew him,” says Mr Burke, in a papi wats 
subsequently to their tion, “w was 
teen; since which time, he has risen by slow 
ety 
4 
mimo wi 
* 
orig 
ccorayn 
life, Mr Fox’s reel attractive ; 
he was at all times plore the sl of 
ly cnatadiateon’ but even: somewhat inactive in con- 
versation. His superiority was never felt, but in th 
instruction which he imparted, or in the attenti which 
his generous preference usually directed to the more 
when it was not repressed’ by modesty ah sen 
was delightful. The try, perhaps, of no m a 
wit had so unl It 
it. His literature was various and elegant. In pe § 
etry, from the vulgarity snd ersten cf 
refuge in 
business. His own verses were and leasing, 
might have claimed no loi se Pion Shh 
the French call Vers de Socicté, He died polit 
conversation, and never sly took any p 7 
; part in i 
Perhaps a meas more s dyads 
pression e by amiable ‘his character, 
han Ghe wondsiot Ie Backs, whe, in January 1797, 
them had — a 
pipes ne, a left os doubt of their heart. 
sincerity. From these ities of his private, as 
well as from his public character, it probably arose, 
: 
* 
4 
