this ebullition of temper was anywhere charged against him as a breach of the privileges of the House of Commons; on the contrary, it appears that those who endeavoured to give the worst colours to the transaction never carried it higher than that it was an undue severity towards the king's servant, and consequently an insult to his Majesty.

"That the chancellor's behaviour was a greater affront to him than to Downing-that a servant should undergo such reproaches in the king's own presence, &c."'—vol. iii. p. 24.

And finally, the proviso inserted by Downing in the bill, without the concurrence or knowledge of any of the responsible servants of the crown,—was only a part of the whole scheme previously prepared for new modelling the Exchequer,' of which the immediate motive was to increase the influence and profits of Downing himself, as one of the Tellers, who would by this scheme receive fees on all the public money, 'make his office the sole receipt, and the rest neither receive nor pay but by his favour and consent (Life, ii. 17).

Mr. Lister often and very properly justifies Lord Clarendon for expressions and proceedings which, however suited to those times, are not quite consistent with our present views of ministerial duties—but this case really needs no such apology; we do not doubt that Lord Liverpool or Lord Grey would, in the cabinet or the closet, have made use of language quite as strong as Lord Clarendon's against any subordinate officer of their government, who, happening to be also a member of the House of Commons, should-in furtherance of a double intrigue to overthrow the vernment and carry a pecuniary job for himself--propose an amendment to the Appropriation Act. Even when there has been no intrigue and no job, we are familiar with instances in which a vote in the House of Commons was visited with much greater and more public severity than Clarendon's reprimand to Downing.

go

If the long and virtuous life, if the purity of his constitutional principles (with reference to the constitution as it then existed) — if even the common sense and experience of this admirable man, did not sufficiently vindicate him from the many bitter charges made by recent Whig writers-the causes, the objects, and the means for and by which he was removed, would be a triumphant justification-they are thus summed up by Mr. Lister: 'But powerful agents, Arlington and Sir William Coventry, laboured diligently on the other side; and baser creatures, the mistress and the panders, Castlemaine and her crew, and Brouncker and May, exercised an undue influence on the facile nature of the king. They successfully appealed to the pride of his weakness, and to the obstinacy of his irre

solution.

The monarch, who was said to have asked forgiveness on his bermagant Castlemaine, who "nearly hectored him out word at be“ hectored out of" his purpose of dismissing us de videst and ablest minister of the crown. The

<must adhere to his intention, because, although it
*. .... avowed, he was thought to have proceeded too
that he should be looked upon as a child if he re-
These arguments son prevailed; and
sing sent Mince with a vant, under the

eceive the great sex from Clarenú
ven up and rugz Charles; upor vin

the 30th of sign manual, ch was acBab. May, he was now

banishment messed against

get reluctant, hur br reasons necessary u met a fatal Priament, aut consequent Hallam savs

of a tress unnot be camisier the

=t, Custification. ALTY goes ainst the acEppear w▲ given 1 2 convenon for the (sude o les bot TAR TI in mi

Commons were proceeding in defiance of all law, on a plea of political expediency; why was not Clarendon to adopt what everybody urged upon him as a measure of political expediency?-to say nothing of the significant hint conveyed in the adoption by the House of Commons of the forms by which Strafford had been murdered. When Seymour appeared with the impeachment at the bar of the Lords, it was found, says Mr. Lister, (after Gray,) that he had, by mistake, carried up the impeachment of Strafford, a copy of which had been lying on the Commons' table as a precedent. We see reason to doubt the fact; but if it was so, such a mistake would have looked very like a menace.

We have now finished our dry and tedious, but, we trust, not unprofitable task, of examining all the cases in which the credit or character of Lord Clarendon have been directly impugned in Mr. Lister's work, omitting an important class in which they are, as we think, imperfectly vindicated. This peculiar object has necessarily made our discussion a series of minute controversies; and the injurious epithets and hostile spirit with which Mr. Lister has assailed characters which we revere, and principles which we approve, may have occasionally given something too much of sharpness to our replies; but these differences cannot prevent our admitting, that, numerous and important as Mr. Lister's errors, both in fact and in taste, undoubtedly are, his work is not altogether without merit: the narrative portion, indeed, is infinitely better than the discussions and investigations' on which he seems to pride himself, and which have afforded the chief objects of our criticism.

If, in a second edition-which, with this view, we hope the work may reach-Mr. Lister could be persuaded to reconsider the evidence on which he has made so many, as we think, unfounded charges-if he would judge for himself the characters of men, with reference to their political constitution and the state of society in their day, with a candour and charity which we believe to be congenial to his own nature-if he would exert as much diligence and ingenuity in explaining the real, as he has thrown away in making fictitious, difficulties-and if, above all, he could screw his courage to the sticking place,' and speak of Lord Clarendon independently and unreservedly as he feels-if, we say, Mr. Lister could be persuaded to make such revision and amendents-his work might be accepted as a useful compilation of all that is known, or, we fear, knowable, of Lord Clarendon, and, so far, a valuable addition to our historical literature. The last chapters of the work, in which Mr. Lister sums up and balances Lord Clarendon's defects and merits as a statesman and as an author, are candid and judicious, conceived with judgment,

and

and written with taste, and have left on our mind an impression
hott of Lord Clarendon and Mr. Lister very different, indeed,
from. the unsatisfactory and even painful sensations which the
sous cantines és genuous, and deprecatory spirit of the former
na misi wink. have excited in every reader.
Vie nav not on this occasion taken any general view of Lord
lavendo = id; 5: Mr. Lister's book, unfortunately, adds little
wins armas o be found in a more condensed form in all
ar biggrzanies, r any general observations on his character,
All in 19 3 long a rich and valued public property to
ar lustration from us, beyond the humble duty of
Prik i rom recent aggression; but we should not do justice

we did not solemnly declare that this, like every
on which we have had occasion to make, has con-
reased our respect and admiration for one-con-
is nonation of qualities—of the most illustrious
sa istorya writer original and unrivalled in his
dadized orator-a respected judge—an upright mi-
s-aza la the most difficult and vicissitudinous times and
dats, maintained the innate dignity of his character, and
ce true patriot, a faithful subject, and an honest man.
Carter should have had enemies, persecutors, and
tel a surprise him—

qui nesciret in armis

shakh "Dades "item VIRTUS crimen civilibus esset.'

INDEX

TO THE

SIXTY-SECOND VOLUME OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.