alleging the conduct or the
acquittal of Hastings.

There are some men, whom no position can render ridiculous, and there
are some quite the reverse: of the latter class was Ferguson of Pitfour.
Ferguson's notion of the essential quality of a Lord Advocate was
tallness. "We Scotch members," said he, "always vote with the Lord
Advocate, and we therefore require to see him in a division. Now I can
see Mr Pitt, and I can see Mr Addington, but I cannot see the Lord
Advocate." His lordship evidently not rising to Ferguson's regulation
size of a statesman.

One evening as Ferguson was taking his dinner in the coffee-room, some
one ran in, to say, that "Pitt was on his legs." Every one rose to leave
the room, except Ferguson. "What!" said they, "won't you go to hear Mr
Pitt?" "No," he replied, "Why should I? do you think Mr Pitt would go to
hear me?"

At a dinner given by Dundas, at Wimbledon, where Addington, Sheridan,
and Erskine were present, the latter was rallied on his not taking so
prominent a part in the debates as his fame required. Sheridan said
(with a roughness unusual with him,) "I tell you how it happens:
Erskine, you are afraid of Pitt, and that's the flabby part of your
character."

This piece of candour, however, was probably owing to the claret. But
Erskine's comparative taciturnity in the House may be accounted for on
more honourable terms. Erskine was no poltroon: he was the boldest
speaker at the bar. But the bar was his place, and no man has ever
attained perfection in the two styles of oratory. It is true, that
distinguished barristers have sometimes been distinguished in the House
of Commons, but they have not been of the race of orators; they have
been sharp, shrewd, bitter men, ready on vexatious topics, quick in
peevish speech, and willing to plunge themselves into subjects whose
labour or license is disdained by higher minds. But Erskine was an
_orator_, vivid, high-toned, and sensitive; shrinking from the
common-place subjects which common-place men take up as their natural
portion; rather indolent, as is common with men of genius; and rather
careless of fame in the senate, from his consciousness of the
unquestioned fame which he had already won at the bar.

Of Fox some pretty anecdotes are told, substantiating that eminent man's
character for courtesy. One day, as Addington was riding by the grounds
of St Ann's Hill, he was seen over the palings by Fox, who called out to
him to stop, invit