peacock hangings of Mrs. Montagu. And there the ladies, whose lips more persuasive than those of Fox himself, had carried the Westminster election against palace and treasury, shone round Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire."

In the same year which chronicles the birth of Hastings, there was born in Virginia, on the banks of the Potomac, then a portion of the inheritance of the British crown, the man whose wonderful genius and sagacity mainly contributed to secure the independence of the North American continent and to consolidate its flourishing republic. It is no marvel that the memory of George Washington, in whose character, courage, wisdom, patriotism, and benevolence were so conspicuous, should be held in such reverence and affection by the citizens of the United States.

In 1749-51, we find Fox, Erskine, Ellenborough, Grattan, Curran, Windham, Eldon, and Sheridan.

1757-58-59. Romilly, Whitbread, Pitt, Wilberforce, and Lord Grenville. The year '58 gave us the great Nelson.

1762-64. Perceval and Tierney, Abbott (Lord Tenterden), Earl Grey, Lord Plunkett, and Sir James Mackintosh.

1769-70-72. Castlereagh, Wellington, Huskisson, Scarlett, Canning, Liverpool, Lyndhurst.

1778-79-81-82, record the births of these renowned lawyers, Brougham and Denman, Cottenham, Sugden, and Campbell; and 1779-82, of two prime ministers and two Chancellors of the Exchequer, Lords Melbourne and Goderich, Lords Lansdowne and Althorp.

1784 gave us Palmerston, Aberdeen; 1788, Sir Robert Peel; and 1792, the three leading members of the committee of four to whom Earl Grey's cabinet intrusted the preparation of the details of the Reform Bill, Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Lord Durham.

CHAPTER VIII.

WAR TIMES AND HOME DISTURBANCES.

THE accession of the Addington ministry in 1801, and the truce which followed, made the sanguine suppose that the ambition of Napoleon was satisfied, and that his designs on Great Britain were at an end. A few months sufficed to show how hollow the truce had been, and to awaken in the minds of the people a universal dread of invasion. The first Militia Act for raising a force in Scotland had been recently passed, and when the war broke out afresh in 1803, every place of importance became a camp, and every able-bodied man a soldier. Then, assuredly, we were a military nation. Under the gowns of grave judges and professors side arms and uniforms were concealed. The professions of law and medicine were numerously represented; and nervons patients, unprepared for the change of

costume, were said to have been alarmingly affected by it.

He came but valour so had fired his eye,
And such a faulchion glitter'd on his thigh,
That, by the gods, with such a load of steel,
I thought he came to murder, not to heal.

I was in Edinburgh in 1804-5, when the volunteers were called out under the command of Colonel Hope, who was also Lord Justice Clerk; and although we were told amusing stories of the rawness of these amateur troops, the force was not to be despised, as the French despot would have discovered had he attempted to possess himself of our shores. I did hear that there were some singularly awkward heroes in the corps at Portobello, and that the drill-serjeant had to call to his aid an unusual amount of patience. Drilling them on the sands there, his orders, "eyes right" or eyes left," fell heedlessly upon their ears, and in despair other words were added. Eyes right, "look at the sea," eyes left, "look at Portibelly." Stupidity itself could offer resistance, with success, no longer.

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After our triumph at Waterloo the militia was disbanded, and the slumbers of men were no more disturbed by horrid dreams of French invasion, nor were their daily vocations interrupted by parades and reviews.

Some years previous to this our ancient maritime prestige was again established. Admiral Duncan, in command of the North Sea squadron, had defeated the Dutch at the battle of Camperdown, and captured and destroyed their fleet. The triumph of Nelson in the bay of Aboukir, and his glorious and crowning victory of Trafalgar, proved that the combined naval armaments of France and Spain were unequal to cope successfully with the "wooden walls of old England."

The century had been ushered in in presence of stirring events and with gloomy prospects. The war on the Continent had thus far been conducted to the advantage of France, and a strong party desired peace. Mr. Pitt resigned. Mr. Addington succeeded him as premier, and concluded the "Peace of Amiens." The new minister lacked vigour to conduct the war, which had meanwhile been renewed, and in 1804 Mr. Pitt formed his second administration. The battle of Austerlitz dissolved that coalition between Russia and Austria which he had been the means of forming, and the proud spirit of the great minister bowed under the disaster, to the prevention of which all his energy and genius had been directed.

Fox, under the nominal premiership of Lord Grenville, became his successor, and the sweets of