mentary capacity and position. He had a noble
presence, singularly graceful and charming manners, and a high personal
character. A combination between such a man as Pulteney and such a man
as Wyndham could not but be formidable even to the most powerful
minister.

Shippen, the leader of the Jacobites--"honest Shippen," as Pope calls
him--we have often met already. He was a straightforward, unselfish
man, absolutely given up to his principles and his party. He was well
read and had written clever pamphlets and telling satirical verses.
His speeches, or such reports of them as can be got at, are full of
striking passages and impressive phrases; they are speeches which even
now one cannot read without interest. But it would seem that Shippen
often marred the effect of his ideas and his language by a rapid,
careless, and imperfect delivery. He appears to have been one of the
men who wanted nothing but a clear {290} articulation and effective
utterance to be great Parliamentary debaters, and whom that single want
condemned to comparative failure. Those who remember the late Sir
George Cornewall Lewis, or, indeed, those who have heard the best
speeches of Lord Sherbrooke, when he was Mr. Robert Lowe, can probably
form a good idea of what Shippen was as a Parliamentary debater.
Shippen was nothing of a statesman, and his occasional eccentricities
of manner and conduct prevented him from obtaining all the influence
which would otherwise have been fairly due to his talents and his
political and personal integrity.

[Sidenote: 1729--The Hessians]

Pulteney's party had in Parliament the frequent, indeed for a time the
habitual, assistance of Wyndham and of Shippen. Outside Parliament
Bolingbroke intrigued, wrote, and worked with the indomitable energy
and restless craving for activity and excitement which, despite all his
professions of love for philosophic quiet, had been his life-long
characteristic. The _Craftsman_ was stimulated and guided much more
directly by his inspiration than even by that of Pulteney. The
_Craftsman_ kept showering out articles, letters, verses, epigrams, all
intended to damage the ministry, and more especially to destroy the
reputation of Walpole. All was fish that came into the _Craftsman's_
net. Every step taken by the Government, no matter what it might be,
was made an occasion for ridicule, denunciation, and personal abuse.
Not the slightest scruple was shown in the management of the