hat period in Italy, and he was sent for by express to lead
the party in the assault on office. He immediately turned his face to
England, and arrived on the 24th of November, four days after the
meeting of Parliament, which had, however, immediately adjourned to
the fourth of the following month, for the purpose of ascertaining the
health of his majesty. On this occasion Burke addressed to Fox a long
and powerful letter, marking out the line which the parties should
take, giving his opinion with singular distinctness, and expressing
himself in the tone of one who felt his authority. He begins--"My dear
Fox, If I have not been to see you before this time, it was not owing
to my not having missed you in your absence, or my not having much
rejoiced in your return. But I know that you are indifferent to every
thing in friendship but the substance, and all proceedings of ceremony
have, for many years, been out of the question between you and me." In
allusion to the probable formation of a new ministry, he observes--"I
do not think that a great deal of time is allowed you. Perhaps it is
not for your interest that this state of things should continue long,
even supposing that the exigencies of government should suffer it to
remain on its present footing; but I speak without book. I remember a
story of Fitzpatrick in his American campaign, that he used to say to
the officers who were in the same tent, before they were up, that the
only meals they had to consider how they were to procure for that day,
were breakfast, dinner, and supper. I am worse off; for there are five
meals necessary, and I do not know at present how to feel secure of
one of them. The king, the prince, the Lords, the Commons, and the
People." He then urges a bold line of policy--the public examination
of the physicians, the acting independently of the ministers, and a
movement on the part of the prince worthy of his station; but which,
unhappily for the Whigs, was neither adopted by Fox, nor was
consistent with the courtly indolence of the future king. "Might it
not be better," says Burke boldly, "for the prince at once to assure
himself, to communicate the king's melancholy state by a message to
the Houses, and to desire their counsel and support in such an
exigency? It would put him forward with advantage in the eyes of the
people; it would teach them to look upon him with respect, as a person
possessed of the spirit of command; and it would, I am persuaded,