DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

whose fortune he had dissipated, and whose annuity he endeavoured, though vainly, to take from her by legal means, were in harmony with his empty and insipid declarations on behalf of liberties and rights for which he cared but little, and against corrup- tion in which he was the first to engage. That he took to the thriving trade of patriotism, ; which Dr. Johnson wittily defined as ‘the last refuge of a scoundrel,’ may have been due to his no longer possessing the means of supporting his ex- pensive tastes and mode of living. But we may argue as we like; we may blush at his licentiousness ; we may rob him to any extent of all initiative in the reforms which he heralded; yet, his name will always be gratefully associated with those reforms, and inspire the same charm that fas- cinated the scholars, historians, and philosophers, as i well as the men and women of fashion of the day—a charm produced by good temper allied with pluck, and by geniality combined with wit. His wit was so remarkable that wagers were made and actually : won, that from the time he quitted his house in the West End till he reached the Guildhall, no one would address or leave him without a smile or a hearty laugh. Although the events which brought him to the front were not directly his own making or the result of a conscientious policy, yet they cannot possibly be SSS =a PO a