ere puzzled and surprised at the impending changes.

In the first of the following letters there is an account of a
curious academic discussion at Brooks's on the theory of government,
in which Fox took part. Those who listened to him hardly realised
that presently he would be the most important member of a new
government. It would not be easy to find a clearer picture of Fox at
that extraordinary time than is given to us in these letters; the
apprehension and the affection felt by his friends, the contrast
between his social bonhomie and his political fervour is
conspicuously presented. We understand his greatness better when we
see him moving among his contemporaries, good-natured, indifferent
to what was said or thought of him, telling his opinions without
hesitation--a giant among political and intellectual dwarfs.

Again in the midst of the gambling, the supper parties, and the
gaieties of the town, there is the continual sombre shadow of an
important constitutional change--a system and a Cabinet were falling
under the deep resentment of the country. Neither the King, the
Ministry, or its supporters appeared to appreciate that, even in an
age when public opinion was chaotic and often hardly audible, there
must come a time when a day of reckoning was certain for a
Government which had discredited and injured its country.

We see the apprehensions, the personal expectations, the
littlenesses of political society. Then comes the final crash when,
after twelve years of opposition, the Whigs take office, watched
half with fear and half with contempt by those who had been unable
to understand the forces which had produced this inevitable result.

(1782,) Jan. 8, Tuesday.--I did not go to bed this morning till
seven, and got neither drunk, or gamed. The Duke of Rutland,(191)
Charles Fox, Belgiosio (Belgiojoso), Gen. Smith, and I supped at
Brooks's, but it was pure conversation between Charles, the Duke,
and I which lasted so long. Our chief and almost only topic was that
of Government, abstractedly considered, and speculations about what
would be the best for this country; Charles's account of his own
principles in that respect; his persuasion about mine; his Grace's
lessons from Lord Chatham, and commonplace panegyric upon that
unparalleled statesman, and the utility to the public derived from
paying his debts and maintaining his posterity. The principal is,
that hereafter people in employment will be indifferent a