" The Druid" as a Politician. 303 



breathe and words that burn,' at his side, 

 might be seen arm in arm with Charles Fox, 

 the English Demosthenes, wending their way 

 by the light of a flambeau to their symposium 

 in Gerrard Street, and perchance hailing the 

 timid but self-sufficient Oliver Goldsmith, or 

 the scoffing, licentious Gibbon, bound on the 

 same errand, as they passed along the Strand. 

 David Garrick was drawing tears and laughter 

 by turns, as he wooed the sister Muses on the 

 stage of Old Drury. It was Lord Carlisle's 

 wont, when the interests of the West Riding 

 or of the Abolitionists did not claim his hours, 

 to stand by the piano and listen to the voice of 

 Wilberforce, as sweet and powerful in song 

 as it had been when heard to the cost of the 

 Coalition Ministry by assembled thousands of 

 Yorkshiremen, from the platform in York 

 Castle Yard. The high-souled Windham and 

 the witty Sheridan could nightly command 

 the applause of a listening senate, and Charles 

 James Fox, forsaking his loved Newmarket, 

 and aided by the Duchess of Devonshire's 

 eyes, won his ever-memorable Westminster 

 election, and after being chaired in pomp 

 behind banners surmounted with the Prince's 



