appreciation of the peculiarities of our mixed constitution;
with a natural dignity of manner that commanded instant respect; with a
clear persuasive power of oratory that never failed to win the sympathy
of all to whom it was addressed; with a voice that in earlier days had
been compared to the note of the nightingale; with almost every
intellectual and physical gift which nature could confer, and with every
gift gratefully received and assiduously improved, William Murray stood
at the threshold of his career and waited calmly for his opportunity. It
is sufficient to say that the opportunity came. Twelve years after Murray
was called to the bar, he was appointed Solicitor-General by the
Government which had risen upon the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole, and
which knew how to estimate the value of so rare an acquisition.

The success of Murray in the House of Commons justified the reputation
which the new Solicitor-General had already attained at the bar. His
first speech, as member for Boroughbridge, fixed his position. He
maintained it for fourteen years, when he quitted the lower house upon
his elevation to the bench. When Murray accepted office under the
Pelhams, another much more ardent and unscrupulous politician already in
the House of Commons was writhing under the vexation of neglect. The
Solicitor-General had met the ambitious youth before, and the
recollection of their last parting was hardly likely to insure a cordial
or a friendly recognition. Murray's first task in Parliament was to
defend the employment of Hanoverian troops, 16,000 of whom had recently
been taken into British pay. Pitt, at the head of the "Boys," as Walpole
called the burning patriots whose services he had himself respectfully
declined, and hounded on by the Jacobites and Tories, denounced the steps
as "illegal, unconstitutional, a sacrifice of British to electoral
interests, and a prelude to the introduction of despotism into this
country." Pitt was created to denounce, Murray to defend. Overwhelming
as the torrent of declamation and invective might be which Pitt knew so
well how and when to pour forth, the barrier set up against it by the
calm dignity, the perfect reasoning, the marvelous self-government, the
exquisite tones, and conciliatory manner of Murray, was more than
sufficient to protect him against submersion. A division taking place
upon the Hanoverian question, Government found themselves in a large
majority. Murray was pronou