capital. Herefordshire and Worcestershire were in a flame. The city
of London, though not so directly interested, was, if possible, still
more excited. The debates on this question irreparably damaged the
government. Dashwood's financial statement had been confused and absurd
beyond belief, and had been received by the House with roars of
laughter. He had sense enough to be conscious of his unfitness for the
high situation which he held, and exclaimed in a comical fit of despair,
"What shall I do? The boys will point at me in the street, and cry,
'There goes the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever was!'"
George Grenville came to the rescue, and spoke strongly on his favorite
theme, the profusion with which the late war had been carried on. That
profusion, he said, had made taxes necessary. He called on the gentlemen
opposite to him to say where they would have a tax laid, and dwelt on
this topic with his usual prolixity. "Let them tell me where," he
repeated in a monotonous and somewhat fretful tone. "I say, sir, let
them tell me where. I repeat it, sir; I am entitled to say to them, Tell
me where." Unluckily for him, Pitt had come down to the House that
night, and had been bitterly provoked by the reflections thrown on the
war. He revenged himself by murmuring, in a whine resembling
Grenville's, a line of a well-known song, "Gentle shepherd, tell me
where." "If," cried Grenville, "gentlemen are to be treated in this
way"--Pitt, as was his fashion, when he meant to mark extreme contempt,
rose deliberately, made his bow, and walked out of the House, leaving
his brother-in-law in convulsions of rage, and everybody else in
convulsions of laughter. It was long before Grenville lost the nickname
of the Gentle Shepherd.

But the ministry had vexations still more serious to endure. The hatred
which the Tories and Scots bore to Fox was implacable. In a moment of
extreme peril, they had consented to put themselves under his guidance.
But the aversion with which they regarded him broke forth as soon as the
crisis seemed to be over. Some of them attacked him about the accounts
of the Pay Office. Some of them rudely interrupted him when speaking, by
laughter and ironical cheers. He was naturally desirous to escape from
so disagreeable a situation, and demanded the peerage which had been
promised as the reward of his services.

It was clear that there must be some change in the composition of the
ministry. But scarcely any,