family and friends, never
hankering after the power he had lost, never even revisiting London,
and finding his richest solace in literature and simple agricultural
pleasures--the pattern of a lofty and cultivated nobleman.

The resignation of Townsend enabled Walpole to take more part in
foreign negotiations; and he exerted his talents, like Fleury in
France, to preserve the peace of Europe. The peace policy of Walpole
entitles him to the gratitude of his country. More than any other man
of his age, he apprehended the true glory and interests of nations.
Had Walpole paid as much attention to the intellectual improvement of
his countrymen, as he did to the refinements of material life and to
physical progress, he would have merited still higher praises. But he
despised learning, and neglected literary men. And they turned against
him and his administration, and, by their sarcasm and invective, did
much to undermine his power. Pope, Swift, and Gay might have lent him
powerful aid by their satirical pen; but he passed them by with
contemptuous indifference, and they gave to Bolingbroke what they
withheld from Walpole.

Next to the pacific policy of the minister, the most noticeable
peculiarity of his administration was his zeal to improve the
finances. He opposed speculations, and sought a permanent revenue from
fixed principles. He regarded the national debt as a great burden, and
strove to abolish it; and, when that was found to be impracticable,
sought to prevent its further accumulation. He was not, indeed, always
true to his policy; but he pursued it on the whole, consistently. He
favored the agricultural interests, and was inclined to raise the
necessary revenue by a tax on articles used, rather than by direct
taxation on property or income, or articles imported. Hence he is the
father of the excise scheme--a scheme still adopted in England, but
which would be intolerable in this country. In this scheme, his grand
object was to ease the landed proprietor, and to prevent smuggling, by
making smuggling no object. But the opposition to the Excise Bill was
so great that Sir Robert abandoned it; and this relinquishment of his
favorite scheme is one of the most striking peculiarities of his
administration. He never pushed matters to extremity. He ever yielded
to popular clamor. He perceived that an armed force would be necessary
in order to collect the excise, and preferred to yield his cherished
measures to run the dang