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in the judicial department of that settlement . The learned and eloquent recorder of Bombay , came into public life under the peculiar patronage of Mr . Fox , and his friends . He advocated their measures , and was the follower of their fortunes . But
hope deferred makes the heart sick , " Probably despairing of any , * tide in the affairs of men , ' which might carry tis friends into power , he made his peace with Mr . Pitt , a statesman whom , he had often justly denounced as the friend of war , and the foe of reformation . At length this
gentleman had his reward in an appointment , lucrative and honourable , yet by one of political taste , and talents , in danger of being tegared as a splendid banishment . It was natural for such a person , on receiving the intelligence of Mr . Fox * s death , to recollect former attachments and to
express in a manner worthy of the subject , the esteem and affection , Which a familiar intercourse with that great man , could hardly have failed to inspire , "MR . POX united in a tnost
rejnaarka"ble degree , the seemingly repugnant characters of the mildest of inert , and the most vehement of orators . In private life he was gentle , modest , placable ; kind , of simple manners , and so averse from parade and dogmatism , as to be not only unostentatious , but even somewhat
inactive in conversation . His superiority was never felt , but in the instruction which he imparted , or in the attention which his generous preference usual y * directed to the more obscure members of the
company The simplicity of his manners tbt&s far from excluding that perfect urbanity , and amenity which flowed Still more from the mildness of his nature , than from familiar intercourse -with the most polished society of Emope . His conversation when it
isv ^ s not re pressed by modesty , or indolence , "was delightful . The pleasantry perhaps of no man af wit had s <* unlaboured an appearance . It ae ^ med rather to escape from his mind , than to be produced by it . He $ * ad lived on the most intimate terms wnh iill his contemporaries * distin-
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guished by wit , politeness , or p ^ ijp * sophy , or learning , or the talents of public life . In the course of thim years , he had known almost ever * man in Europe , whose intercourse could strengthen , or enriclv , or polish
the mind . His own literature was various and elegant . In classical erudition , which , by the custom of England , is more peculiarly called learning , he was inferior to few professed scholars . Like all men of ge *
nius , he delighted to take refuge in poetry , from the vulgarity and irri . tation of business . His own verse * were easy and pleasing , and might have claimed no low place among those which the French call vert dt
siciete . The poetical character of his mind was displayed in his extraordinary partiality for tha poetry of the two most poetical nations , or at least languages , of the west , those of the Greeks , and of the Italians . He dis *
liked political conversation and never willingly took any part in it . To speak of him justly as an orator , WouJd require a long essay . Every where natural , he carried into public something of that simple and negligent exterior ^ which belonged to him
in private . When he began to speak , a common observer , might have thought him awkward ; and even a consummate judge , could Only have been struck with the exquisite justness of his ideas , and the transparent simplicity of his manners . But
no sooner had he spoken for some time , than he was changed into another being . He forgot himself , and every thing around him . He thought only of his subject . Mis geiiius warmed , and kindled , as he went on . He darted fire into his
aiHjience . Torrents of impetuous and irresistible eloquence swept along their feelings and conviction He cer ? tainly possessed above all moderns that union of reason , simplicityy and « s * - bemenccy which formed the prince of orators . He was the most
Remosthancan speaker , since Demosthenes * * I knew him . ' says Mr . BvRKE ,. in a pamphlet written after their unhappy difference , ' when he was nineteen 5 since which time he has risen , by slow de £ reei , to be ihemost brilliant , and ac-
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506 Character of Mr . Fox .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1807, page 506, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2384/page/54/
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