[10]
better chance than John de Witt, or the Earl of Chatham. This seems to be Mr. Fox's opinion. He puts on a fine dress sometimes from duty, but never from inclination.—The Earl of Shelburne cannot deem a shining coat in itself a thing of any consequence, but he thinks it is an instrument by which the multitude may pay their homage of amaze. I have heard him apologize to the House of Lords for 'presuming to come undressed;' and I dare fay without any Implication of censure upon twenty other noble peers, who needed purification as much as himlelf, at the fame moment. He has the substantial precepts of the Earl of Chesterfield[1] for ever in his eye, and seldom neglects the essential article of a splendid outside.
Mr. Fox seems so averse to the subtilties of life, that he rather deters by distance, than seduces by familiarity.—Every syllable uttered by the Earl of Sheiburne, every gesture of his body, and every motion of his face, are accompanied with a design either to invite the indifferent, to conciliate the hostile, or to flatter the friendly, by an indefatigable assiduity, by a politeness that perseveres, and a smile that never ceases.
- ↑ Les Graces.
