1802.] Eulogy on the late Duke 
whether to his relations and nearer friends, 
or even to any individual of his fpecies, 
was the ruling paffion of his life. 
He died, it is true, ina ftate of celibacy, 
but if they may be called a man’s children 
whofe concerns are as dear to him as his 
own—to proteét whom from evil is the 
daily object of his care—to promote whofe 
welfare he exerts every faculty of which 
he is poffeft; if fuch, I fay, are to be ef- 
teemed our children, no man ‘had ever a 
more numerous family than the Duke of 
Bedford. L 
Private friendfhips are not, I own, a 
fit topic for this Houfe, or any public af- 
fembly ; but it is difficult for any one who 
had the honour and happinefs to be his 
friend, not to advert (when {peaking of 
fuch a man) to his conduét and behaviour 
in that interefting charaéter. In his 
friendfhip, not only he was difinterefted 
and fincere, but in him were to be found 
united all the charatteriftic excellencies 
which have ever diftinguifhed the men 
moft renowned for that moft amiable of all 
virtues. Some are warm, but volatile 
and inconftant; he was warm too, but 
fteady and unchangeable. Never once was 
he known to violate any of the duties of 
that facred relation. Where his attach- 
ment was placed, there it remained, or ra- 
ther there it grew; for it may be more 
truly faid of this man than of any other 
that ever exifted, that if he loved you at 
the beginning of the year, and you did 
nothing to forfeit his efteem, he would 
love you ftill more at the end of it. Such 
was the uniiormly progreffive fate of his 
affeétions, no lefs than of his virtue and 
wifdom. 
It has happened to many, and he was 
certainly one of the number, to grow 
wifer as they advanced in years. Some 
have even improved in virtue, but it 
has generally been in that elafs of virtue 
only which confifts in refifting the allure- 
ments of vice, and too often have thefe 
advantages been counterbalanced by the 
Jofs, orat leaft the diminution, of that open- 
nefs of heart, that warmth of feeling, that 
readinels of fympathy, that generofity of 
fpirit, which have been reckoned among 
the charaéteriftic attributes of youth. In 
this cafe it was far otherwife ; endued b 
nature with an unexampled firmnefs of 
charaéter, he could bring his mind to a 
more complete ftate of difcipline than any 
man I ever knew. But he had, at the 
fame time, fuch a comprehenfive and jult 
~ view of ‘all moral quettions, that he weil 
knew to diftinguifh between thoie incli- 
Hations, which, if indulged, muft be- pers 
-~Montunix Maa, No. 35. 
of Bedford, by Mr. Fox. 
ni¢ious, and the feelings which, if culti- . 
vated, might prove beneficial to mankind. 
All bad propenfities therefore, if any ~ 
fuch he had, he completely conquered and 
fuppreffed, while, on the other hand, no 
man ever ftudied the trade by which he 
was to get his bread—the profeffion by 
which he hoped to rife to wealth and hoe 
nour—-nor eyen the higher aris of po try 
or eloquence, in purfuit of a fancied ime 
mortality, with more zeal and ardour than 
this excellent perfon cultivated the noble 
are of doing good to his fellow-creatures. 
In this purfuit, above all others, diligence 
is fure of fucce(s, and accordingly it would 
be difficult to find anexample of any other 
man to whom fo many individuals are in~ 
debted for happinefs or comfort, or to — 
whom the Public at large owe more effen- 
tial obligation. 
So far was he from flackening or grow- 
ing cold in thefe generous purfuits, that 
the only danger was, let, notwithfanding 
his admirable good fenfe, and that remark- 
able fobernefs of character, which diitin- 
guifhed him, his munificence might, if he - 
had lived, have engaged him tn expences 
to which even his princely fortune would 
have been found inadequate. Thus the 
only ¢ircuinftance like a failing in this 
great character was, that, while indulging 
his darling paffion for making himfelt ufe- 
ful to others, he might be too regardlefs 
of future confequences to himfelf and fas 
mily. . The love of utility was indeed his 
darling, his ruling paffion. Even in his 
recreations (and he was by no means na- 
turally averfe to fuch as were fuitable to 
his ftation in life) no lefs than in his graver 
hours, he fo much loved to keep this 
grand objeti in view, that he feemed, by 
degrees, to grow weary of every amule- 
ment which was not, in fome degree, con- 
need with it. Agriculture he judged 
rightly to be the moft ufeful of all {ciences, 
and, more particularly, in the prefent ftate 
of affairs he conceived it to be the depart- 
ment in which his fervices to his country 
might be moft beneficial: To agricul- 
ture, therefore, he principally applied him- 
felf, nor can it be,doubted but with his 
great capacity, Agtivity, and energy, he 
muft have attained his objeét, and made 
himfelf eminently ufeful in that mott im- 
portant branch of political economy. OF 
the particular degree of his merit in this 
tefpeét, how much the Public is already 
indebted to him—how much benefit it may 
fill expect to derive. from the effets of 
his unwearied diligence and {plendid exe 
ample, is a queftion upon which many 
Members: of this Houfe can form a much 
mare 
253 
