. But the Peers,
although readily agreeing to vote the two parodies blasphemous and
breaches of Privilege, resolved, on the motion of Lord Mansfield,
to adjourn all further questions until the day after the next, so
as to give Wilkes the opportunity, if he desired it, of alleging
any matter in denial or defence.

LORD THURLOW.

With all his faults and shortcomings there was that in Thurlow
which overawed and daunted his contemporaries, and of which the
impression is not wholly lost even on posterity. It was a saying
of Mr. Fox, that no man ever yet was so wise as Thurlow looked.
His countenance was fraught with sense; his aspect stately and
commanding; his brow broad, massy, and armed with terrors like
that of the Olympian Jove, to which indeed it was often compared.
His voice loud, sonorous, and as rolling thunder in the distance,
augmented the effect of his fierce and terrible invective. Few
indeed were they who did not quail before his frown; fewer still
who would abide his onset in debate. Perhaps no modern English
statesman, in the House of Lords at least, was ever so much
dreaded. In parliament, as at the bar, his speeches were home
thrusts, conveying the strongest arguments or keenest reproofs in
the plainest and clearest words. His enemies might accuse his
style of being coarse, and sometimes even ungrammatical, but they
could never deny its energy or its effect. In private life Thurlow
was remarkable for his thorough knowledge of the Greek and Latin
writers; and no less for his skill in argument and brilliant
powers of conversation. While yet at the bar, Dr. Johnson said of
him to Boswell: "I honor Thurlow, sir; Thurlow is a fine fellow;
he fairly puts his mind to yours." And after he became Chancellor,
the same high authority added: "I would prepare myself for no man
in England but Lord Thurlow. When I am to meet him, I should wish
to know a day before." Unless with ladies, his manner was always
uncouth, and his voice a constant growl. But beneath that rugged
rind there appears to have lurked much warmth of affection and
kindliness of heart. Many acts of generous aid and unsolicited
bounty are recorded of him. Men of learning and merit seldom
needed any other recommendation to his favor. Thus, on reading
Horsley's "Letters to Dr. Pries