Peerage of England. ...

Front Cover
F. C. and J. Rivington, 1812

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 417 - He was bred to the law, which is, in my opinion, one of the first and noblest of human sciences; a science which does more to quicken and invigorate the understanding, than all the other kinds of learning put together; but it is not apt, except in persons very happily born, to open and to liberalize the mind exactly in the same proportion.
Page 475 - In truth, Sir, he was the delight and ornament of this house, and the charm of every private society which he honoured with his presence. Perhaps there never arose in this country, nor in any country, a man of a more pointed and finished wit; and (where his passions were not concernedl of a more refined, exquisite, and penetrating a judgment.
Page 464 - Commonwealth man, and was one of the knights of the shire for the county of Northampton, in 1656 ; he was also of Cromwell's council, chamberlain of the court, and high steward of Westminster.
Page 155 - I bade him alight, which with all willingness he quickly granted, and there, in a meadow ancle deep in water at the least, bidding farewell to our doublets, in our shirts began to charge each other, having afore commanded our surgeons to withdraw themselves a pretty distance from us...
Page 416 - Undoubtedly Mr. Grenville was a , first-rate figure in this country. With a masculine understanding, and a stout and resolute heart, he had an application undissipated and unwearied. He took public business, not as a duty which he was to fulfil, but as a pleasure he was to enjoy...
Page 474 - For even then, sir, even before this splendid orb was entirely set, and while the western horizon was in a blaze with his descending glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens arose another luminary, and, for his hour, became lord of the ascendant.
Page 476 - To conform to the temper which began to prevail, and to prevail mostly amongst those most in power, he declared very early in the winter that a revenue must be had out of America. Instantly he was tied down to his...
Page 154 - ... concerning the terms whereon we should fight, as also the place. To our seconds we gave power for their appointments, who agreed we should go to Antwerp, from thence to Bergen-op-Zoom, where in the mid-way but a village divides the States' territories from the archduke's. And there was the destined stage, to the end that having ended, he that could, might presently exempt himself from the justice of the country, by retiring into the dominion not offended. It was...
Page 475 - He stated his matter skilfully and powerfully. He particularly excelled in a most luminous explanation, and display of his subject. His style of argument was neither trite and vulgar nor subtle and abstruse. He hit the house just between wind and water.— And not being troubled with too anxious a zeal for any matter in question, he was never more tedious, or more earnest, than the pre-conceived opinions, and present temper of his hearers required ; to whom he was always in perfect unison. He conformed...
Page 475 - For failings he had undoubtedly - many of us remember them; we are this day considering the effect of them. But he had no failings which were not owing to a noble cause; to an ardent, generous, perhaps an immoderate passion for Fame; a passion which is 1 There is an implicit contrast here with Burke's own parliamentary style and how Parliament sometimes received it. the instinct of all great souls.

Bibliographic information