CHAP. His kind ness to a Curate. His ora tory. On one occasion, a considerable living fell vacant in the Chancellor's gift, which was solicited by Queen Charlotte, and promised to her protégé. The curate who had served in the parish some years, hearing who was likely to succeed, modestly applied for the Chancellor's intercession, that on account of his large family he might be continued in the curacy. The expectant rector calling to return thanks, Thurlow introduced the case of the curate, which he represented with great strength and pathos; but the answer was, "I should be much pleased to oblige your Lordship, but unfortunately I have promised it to a friend." Thurlow.— "Sir, I cannot make this gentleman your curate, it is true; but I can make him the rector, and by G-d he shall have the living as he cannot have the curacy." He instantly called in his secretary, and ordered the presentation to be made out in favour of the curate, who was inducted, and enjoyed the living many years.* Of his oratory I have given the most favourable specimens I could select,―using the freedom sometimes to correct his inaccuracies of language; for even the printed reports justify Mr. Butler's remark, that "though Lord Thurlow spoke slowly and deliberately, yet his periods were strangely confused, and often ungrammatical."† It argues little for the discrimination and taste of those to whom they were addressed, that they were listened to with profound attention, and produced a deep effect, though chiefly made up of "sound and fury;" while Edmund Burke acquired the nickname of the "Dinner-bell," by delivering the finest speeches for depth of thought and beauty of diction to be found in our parliamentary records. Thurlow himself appears always to have had a great contempt for his audience in the House of Peers, and to have reckoned with daring confidence on their ignorance. Of this we have a striking instance in the Memoirs of Bishop Watson, who, having informed us that in a speech the Right Reverend * This anecdote I have from a nephew of the Chancellor. How he settled the matter with the Queen I have not heard, but we may suppose that her Majesty highly approved of this equitable decision. Reminisc. i. 142. CLXI. vantage taken by him of the ignorance of his au Prelate made during the King's illness in 1788, respecting CHAP. the "right" of the Prince of Wales to be Regent, he quoted a definition of "right" from GROTIUS, thus proceeds: "The UnscrupuChancellor in his reply boldly asserted that he perfectly well lous adremembered the passage I had quoted from Grotius, and that it solely respected natural, but was inapplicable to civil rights. Lord Loughborough, the first time I saw him after the debate, assured me that, before he went to sleep that night, he had looked into Grotius, and was astonished to find that the Chancellor, in contradicting me, had presumed on the ignorance of the House, and that my quotation was perfectly correct. What miserable shifts do great men submit to in supporting their parties!"* dience. am's de scription of his manner of speaking in the House of Lords, We have the following very striking representation of Lord his oratory from a skilful rhetorician: "He rose slowly Brough from his seat; he left the woolsack with deliberation; but he went not to the nearest place like ordinary Chancellors, the sons of mortal men; he drew back by a pace or two, and standing as it were askance, and partly behind the huge bale he had quitted for a season, he began to pour out, first in a growl, and then in a clear and louder roll, the matter which he had to deliver, and which, for the most part, consisted in some positive assertions, some personal vituperation, some sarcasms at classes, some sentences pronounced upon individuals, as if they were standing before him for judgment, some vague mysterious threats of things purposely not expressed, and abundant protestations of conscience and duty, in which they who keep the consciences of Kings are somewhat apt to indulge.” † Butler, who had often heard him, ascribes to him a Another finesse, which I should not have discovered from the printed description reports of his speeches, for his apparent ignorance I by Butler should judge wholly unaffected, and he seems to me always to aim direct blows against his adversary: "He would appear to be ignorant of the subject in debate, and with affected respect, but visible derision, to seek for information upon it, pointing out with a kind of dry solemn humour, contradictions and absurdities which he professed his own Life of Watson, 221. + Lord Brougham's Characters, i. 94. CLXI. CHAP. inability to explain, and calling upon his adversaries for their explanation. It was a kind of masked battery, of the most searching questions and distressing observations; it often discomfited his adversary, and seldom failed to force him into a very embarrassing position of defence: it was the more effective, as, while he was playing it off, his Lordship showed he had command of much more formidable artillery." Thurlow never an author. cal taste by him in retirement. Lord Thurlow does not figure in Horace Walpole's list of noble and royal authors - never, as far as I know, having taken the trouble even to publish a pamphlet or a speech. Although he knew nothing of political economy, or of any science, he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with His classi- the classics, Latin and Greek. These studies were the decultivated light of his old age. When living in retirement at Dulwich, he found some consolation for the loss of power and of political excitement, in superintending the classical education of his nephews, who lived under his roof, and to whom he was Translation very tenderly attached. For their instruction and amuseby him ment he would sometimes himself attempt to translate into English verse favourite passages of the ancient authors they were reading. As a curious specimen of his poetical powers I am enabled to lay before the public the following translation of a chorus, from the Hippolytus of Euripides: † from Euripides. "Oh, could I those deep caverns reach, Where me, a winged bird, among The feather'd race Some God might place! *He is said to have been very fond of music, and to have understood the theory of it perfectly, although the soothing charm usually imputed to it does not seem to have operated upon him. The learned reader will recollect that the guilty love of Phædra for Hippolytus had been disclosed to him by the Nurse, and that the heroine, on account of the repulse she met with, had declared her determination to hang herself. I subjoin the original Chorus: Ἠλιβάτοις ὑπὸ κευθμῶσι γεννοίμαν, Ινα με πτερούσσαν ὄρνιν Θεὸς ἐν ποταναῖς ἀγέλῃσιν θείη. ̓Αρθείην γὰρ ἐπὶ πόντιον κῦμα Ηριδανουθ ̓ ὕδωρ. *Ενθα πορφύρεον σταλάσσουσιν Εἰς οἶδμα πατρὸς τριτάλαιναι Κόραι, Φαέθοντος οἴκτῳ, δακρύων Τὰς ἠλεκτροφαεῖς αὐγάς. Ἑσπερίδων δ ̓ ἐπὶ μηλόσπορον ἀκτὰν And rising could I soar along Where, in their father's ruddy wave, The sailor's further course impedes, Fixing, which Atlas there sustains ! And Spring's ambrosial near the dome Ι. White-wing'd bark of Cretan wood, From her happy home our Queen II. Dire both omens; when her flight Ανύσαιμι των Αοιδαν, Ιν ̓ ὁ ποντομέδων πορφυρέας λίμνης Ναύταις οὐκ ἔθ ̓ ὁδὸν νέμει, σεμνὸν νοῦ τὸν ̓́Ατλας ἔχει Κρῆναί τ ̓ ἀμβροσίαι χέονται CHAP. CLXI. CHAP. His trans lation of the "Battle of the Frogs and the Mice." III. For unhallow'd passion rent, And, with sore misfortune prest, IV. Round her milk-white neck she'll tie, Her unspotted chaste renown- There is likewise extant, in his handwriting, a translation of the whole of the BATPAXOMTOMAXIA, "or Battle of the Frogs and the Mice," the merit of which may be judged of by the following extract: BLADDER-CHEEK, his Ranish Majesty, having vauntingly begun the dialogue, — "Him CRUMB-CATCH answer'd quick in vocal sounds, Why, friend, my birth demand, so known to men, To Gods, and to the fowl who wing the sky? My name is Crumb- Catch, and I am the son Of Nibble-Biscuit, my great-hearted sire ; Lick-Mill's my mother, King Gnaw-Gammon's child. With figs, and nuts, and ev'ry sort of food. But how make me thy friend, unlike in kind? But these two chief I fear in all the earth, BLADDER-CHEEK, Smiling to all this, replied: Χαλεπᾷ δὲ ὑπέραντλος οὖσα Συμφορά, τεράμνων ̓Απὸ νυμφιδίων κρεμαστὸν “Αψεται ἀμφὶ βρόχον Λευκά καθαρμόζουσα δέρᾳ, Δαίμονα στυγνὸν καταιδεσθεῖ σα, τάν τ' εὔδοξον ἀνθαιρουμένα Φάμαν, ἀπαλλάσσουσά Τ' ἀλγεινὸν φρενῶν ἔρωτα. Eur. Hip. 732. |