THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES JAMES FOX. CHAPTER I. FROM THE BIRTH OF CHARLES JAMES FOX, 1749, TO HIS ENTRANCE SIR STEPHEN Fox, the father of the first Lord Holland, and the grandfather of Charles James Fox, held several subordinate offices in the reigns of Charles II. and William III. He was of humble origin, owed his introduction at Court to Lord Percy, his promotion to Lord Clarendon, his favour with Charles II. to his punctuality in business, and his rise in the world under different sovereigns to his diligence and integrity. He married a second time at the advanced age of seventy-seven; and by his second marriage had two sons, who were made peers by the titles of Ilchester and Holland. He was by principle a Tory, and by affection a Jacobite. Henry Fox, the first Lord Holland, was a man of great parts, loose morals, more fond of money than of power, warm in his domestic attachments, jovial in his manners, an able debater, a corrupt politician. Devoted to the party of Sir Robert Walpole, he was, by the favour of the Duke of Newcastle, made Secretary of State, with the lead of the House of Commons. But he was not entrusted with the patronage, and he thought himself unequal to the double task of managing the House of Commons and conducting public affairs in a difficult time. He therefore withdrew to the less conspicuous but lucrative office of Paymaster of the Forces, which in time of war yielded thirty, forty, and even fifty thousand pounds in one year to its fortunate possessor. He married, against the will of her father, Lady Caroline Lennox, the daughter of the Duke of Richmond. The Duke's repugnance to this connexion has been attributed to family pride, but other reasons may have weighed with him. For Henry Fox had not only been embarrassed in his circumstances, but by his notorious want of principle, as well as of fortune, must have alarmed the parents of a young lady who was among the noblest and fairest of the land. After following Mr. Pitt for some years as Paymaster, Mr. Fox was fixed upon by Lord Bute as the ablest leader he could find to defend the peace of Paris. In order to do this he deserted the Duke of Cumberland, with whom he was then connected, and again became Secretary of State. He has been accused of an extent of corruption and intimidation with a view to obtain a majority for the peace unequalled in the history of the House of Commons. But this is probably an exaggeration. He stipulated for a with the rank of earl as the reward of his success; peerage a barony was given him, but the earldom was withheld. When Lord Bute, being reproached by Mr. Fox with this breach of faith, said, "It was only a pious fraud," Lord Holland quickly replied, "I perceive the fraud, my Lord, but not the piety." Lord Holland was forced by the Grenville ministry to resign the pay office; the rest of his life was passed in some favcur with the Court, but in no ostensible position in office, or in the House of Lords. A singular remark is quoted of his dying hours, which at least shows composure and good humour: "If Mr. Selwyn calls again," he said to his servant, "let him in; if I am alive, I shall be very glad to see him, and if I am dead, he will be very glad to see me." Charles James Fox, the third son of Lord Holland, was born in Conduit-street, on the 24th of January, 1749 (N.S.). He became very early the favourite child of his father, who was accused of spoiling him by indulgence, "There's a clever little boy for you," writes Lord Holland when he was little more than two years and a half old, and had made one of those intelligent remarks with which lively children at that age are so apt to delight their parents. When he was little more than three, his father ́ ́writes, "I never saw Charles so well as he is now; I grow immoderately fond of him." His father seems to have thought it no part of his duty to rebuke his faults, or correct his temper. "Charles is dreadfully passionate, what shall we do with him?" said Lady Caroline to Mr. Fox. "Oh, never mind," replied Mr. Fox, "he is a very sensible little fellow, and will learn to curb himself." It happened very fortunately that this conversation was overheard by his son Charles, who, repeating it long afterwards, added, "I will not deny that I was a very sensible little boy, a very clever little boy, and what I heard made an impression on me, and was of use to me afterwards." But his overhearing this conversation was mere accident. It would have been of still more use to him if his mother had been encouraged to check the passionate. temper she deplored. When he was seven years old, Lord Holland writes to his mother, "I found Charles very well, very pert, and very argumentative." When he was eight years old he was sent to a private school kept by a M. Pampelonne, at Wandsworth. When he was between nine and ten, in the autumn of 1758, he was placed at Eton, and remained there, or rather belonged to the school, till the summer of 1764. There can be no doubt that at Eton he laid the foundations of that grammatical knowledge, and that classical taste which pervaded so agreeably his great speeches, and which gave him so much delight in his retirement from public affairs. Six years of reading, even occasionally interrupted, to a boy of Charles Fox's quickness of parts and excellent memory must have been invaluable. He was assisted in his studies by Mr. Francis, the translator of Horace. Mr. Francis was much connected with Lord Holland; and those who believe his son, Sir Philip Francis, to have been Junius, attribute to this connexion the comparative mercy with which Lord Holland is treated. Charles was not allowed to pursue his studies without interruption. Before he was fourteen he was taken by his father to Paris and Spa, where he was introduced to the gaming table, the fatal source of much subsequent vice and misery. He appears to have been at Paris likewise in the following spring. According to family traditions he was indulged in all his youthful passions, and when he showed any signs of boyish modesty and shame, was ridiculed for his bashfulness by his injudicious and culpable father. In his correspondence with Gilbert Wakefield, Mr. Fox mentions that his reading at school was principally confined to the Eton books of Extracts. In the collection called "Musæ Etonenses" there are two very elegant elegiac exercises by Charles Fox, of which one was written in the fifth form; the other in the sixth. This seems, on first consideration, a very small contribution to the classical poetry of Eton; but the fact is accounted for by the rules. and usages then prevalent in the school. These rules and usages are explained in a letter to me from the learned and accomplished Provost of Eton,* of which the following is an extract: "Mr. Fox left school very shortly, I believe a month or two, after he reached the sixth form. Now the verses of this collection were, as a general rule, selected from what are called 'play exercises;' that is, the exercises of sixth-form boys, which were sent to the Provost on the Tuesday of 'regular weeks,' in order to give a claim for 'play,' or no school after twelve o'clock on the following Thursday. ""Regular weeks' used to be, owing to saints' days and other occasional interruptions of the usual course, in fact rather the exception than the rule; and consequently, a very clever boy who did not remain at school long after he reached the sixth form, might leave Eton without ever having received this distinction. "Fifth-form exercises were sent up for good,' that is, sent as a distinction, to the Head Master whenever they might deserve it, without any reference to the accidents of the week." On his return to Eton from Spa, after having been a member of a brilliant and dissipated society, he was laughed at by the boys and soon after flogged by the master. At this time Lord Holland wrote to Mr. Campbell of Cawdor (the first Lord Cawdor) in the following terms: "My son Charles really deserves all that can be said of his parts, as * Dr. Hawtrey. |