WALPOLE. 



871 



of the largest of American trees, and yields to none 

 in the majesty of its appearance. The nuts are 

 often served upon table. The shell is very hard, 

 and the kernel is divided by firm woody partitions, 

 but has a sweet and agreeable flavour, though in- 

 ferior to the European. The wood is very strong 

 and very tenacious, when thoroughly seasoned is 

 not liable to warp and split, and remains sound a 

 long time, even when exposed to the influence of 

 heat and moisture : the grain is sufficiently fine to 

 admit a fine polish, and it is, besides, secure from 

 the attacks of worms. It is chiefly employed in 

 cabinet-making wherever it abounds. By selecting 

 pieces immediately below the first ramifications, 

 the furniture is sometimes rendered extremely 

 beautiful, from the accidental curlings of the grain ; 

 but, as the colour soon changes to a dusky hue, 

 wild cherry is frequently preferred. It is employed 

 for the stocks of muskets, and is said to make ex- 

 cellent naves for wheels. At Philadelphia, coffins 

 are exclusively made of it. 



The butternut (J. cinerea) is a much smaller 

 tree than the preceding, rarely exceeding fifty feet 

 in height, with a trunk ten or twelve inches in 

 diameter. The fruit is elongated, covered exter- 

 nally with a viscid, adhesive substance; and the 

 nut is hard, very rough externally, and deeply and 

 irregularly furrowed. The nuts are sometimes 

 brought to market. The wood is light, of a red- 

 dish hue, and possesses little strength, but lasts 

 long, and is secure from worms. It is sometimes 

 used in the construction of houses in the country, 

 but never in cities. From its resistance to heat 

 and moisture, it is esteemed for posts and rails, 

 for troughs for the use of cattle, and is preferred to 

 the red maple for corn-shovels and wooden dishes, 

 as it is b'ghter and less liable to split. The bark 

 affords one of the best cathartics known, operat- 

 ing always with certainty, and without pain or irri- 

 tation even in the most delicate constitutions : it 

 is not, however, in general use except in the country. 

 A dark-brown dye is also obtained from the bark, 

 which is employed in the country for woollens ; 

 but that afforded by the black walnut is preferred. 

 By piercing the trunk early in the spring, sugar may 

 be obtained, but of inferior quality to maple sugar. | 



WALPOLE, ROBERT, earl of Orford, third son 

 of Robert Walpole, esquire, was born at Houghton, 

 his father's seat, in Norfolk, in 1676, and, in 1696, 

 was admitted a scholar of King's college, Cambridge. 

 In 1698, in consequence of the death of his elder 

 surviving brother, he became heir to the family 

 estate, on which he resigned his scholarship. He | 

 was then taken from college by his father, and, in ; 

 the jovial life of a country gentleman, soon lost his 

 inclination for literature. In 1700, he married the ! 

 daughter of Sir John Shorter, lord mayor of Lon- 

 don, and, soon after, succeeded to his paternal estate ; 

 by the death of his father. He was also returned | 

 representative for Castle Rising, and became an ] 

 active member of the whig party. In 1702, he I 

 obtained his election for King's Lynn, which he ! 

 also represented in several succeeding parliaments. 

 In 1705, he was nominated one of the council to 

 prince George of Denmark, as lord high admiral of 

 England ; in 1708 was appointed secretary at war, 

 and, the following year, treasurer of the navy. In 

 1710, he was one of the parliamentary managers in ! 

 the trial of Sacheverel ; but, on the dissolution of j 

 the whig ministry, he was dismissed from all his 

 employments, and, soon after, was voted, by the 

 house of commons, guilty of a high breach of trust, ' 



and notorious corruption in his office of secretary at 

 war ; for which imputed offence he was expelled the 

 house, and committed to the Tower of London. 

 This severity, being a party proceeding, little af- 

 fected his character; so that, in 1714, the borough 

 of Lynn re-elected him ; and he became a formid- 

 able opponent of the tory administration. On the 

 accession of George I., a new whig ministry was 

 formed ; and Walpole, who had previously ingrati- 

 ated himself with the family of Hanover, was ap- 

 pointed paymaster of the forces, treasurer of Chel- 

 sea hospital, and a privy counsellor. Being nomi- 

 nated chairman of the secret committee formed to 

 inquire into charges against the late ministers, he 

 drew up and moved the impeachment of lord Bol- 

 ingbroke, the earl of Oxford, the duke of Ormond, 

 and the earl of Strafford. In the subsequent year, 

 1715, he displayed so much energy and vigour in 

 support of government during the rebellion, that he 

 was raised to the important posts of first lord of 

 the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. In 

 the course of the two following years, a disunion 

 took place in the cabinet on the question of sup- 

 plies, to enable George I. to vindicate his purchase 

 of the duchies of Bremen and Verden against 

 Charles XII. of Sweden ; and Mr Walpole resigned. 

 On the day of his resignation, he brought in the 

 sinking fund bill, which he subsequently rendered 

 nugatory by misapplication. In the next session, 

 he became a strenuous opposer of measures which, 

 had he been in place, he would as certainly have 

 supported, and mainly contributed to the rejection, 

 by the commons, of the peerage bill of 1719. He 

 was the opposer, in 1720, of the South sea scheme 

 for liquidating the national debt, on which subject 

 he wrote a pamphlet. At length the earl of Sun- 

 derland, finding his ministry involved in great dif- 

 ficulties, made overtures to Walpole, who resumed 

 his former post of paymaster of the forces. His 

 reputation as a financier induced all eyes to be 

 directed towards him on the occurrence of the un- 

 precedented disasters arising from the bursting of 

 the South sea bubble ; and lord Sunderland being 

 obliged to retire, on account of his being implicated 

 in the affairs of that company, Walpole resumed 

 his post of first lord of the treasury, and premier. 

 He was indisputably a most serviceable minister to 

 the house of Brunswick, and mainly contributed to 

 the discomfiture of the plots and intrigues of the 

 Jacobite party in favour of the Pretender. His 

 general policy was principally characterized by the 

 desire of preserving peace abroad, and avoiding sub- 

 jects of contention at home. He was an able fin- 

 ancier, and certainly exerted himself, with consi- 

 derable success, to improve the trade and revenues 

 of the country, although the introduction of the 

 excise scheme forms a very dubious claim to ap- 

 plause. A pursuit of useful rather than of splendid 

 objects, joined to a sincere zeal for the Protestant 

 succession, formed the leading principles of his go- 

 vernment ; and the means which he employed were 

 prudence, vigilance, and a degree of corruption not 

 greater than what was practised by many of his 

 predecessors, but more general and systematic. 

 Walpole is the reputed author of the saying, that 

 " All men have their price ;" but his biographer, 

 archdeacon Coxe, asserts that the words were "all 

 those men," speaking of a particular body of his op- 

 ponents. He was an artful rather than an eloquent 

 speaker, and discerned, as if by intuition, the pre- 

 valent humour of the house, and pressed or receded 

 accordingly. He was particularly clear in financial 



