The Press.
London, England, 1853-05-28 00:00:00

literature.

Memoirs and Correspondence of Charles Jams
Fox. By Lord John Russell. Murray.
(second Notice.]
THE question has been often asked, why a
man of Fox's great talents and high connec-
tions was not more succemsfUl in his political
careee."rhe answer to that inquiry is to be
found in the fact that his modes of life, and
protracted dissipation, created strong preju-
dices against him amongst the people at large.
' To know why he failed as a statesman, we
must know how he lived as a man ; uud, as the
work before us is deficient in artistic form
and graphic felicity, we will take upon our-
selves the task of painting the life of Charles
Fox for a day front the materials in these ye-
lames, and those in our own possession.
Our Oct ure will not bo a fancy one :
no titets or statements shall be made
which we cannot authenticate. We must
of course suppose that we have rescued a
cloak of invisibility while we exercise the pri-
ileges of Asmodetis for—

A OAY WITH CHARLES FOX.
About the noon of a summer's tiny wired
1.047.8), sauntering along that " sweet shady
side of Pall-mall " sung of by Captain Morris,
the Jitney seizes us to visit Mr. Fox, whose
orations we have read with delight, of whose
marvellous talents we have heard such won-
tiers. Accordingly we prtweed to one of the
innumemble remitlenees that he occupied
during the vicissitudes of his career. We find
him living in second-irate lodgings, in the neigh-
bourhood of St..lantes's-street. and the medio-
crity of his abode strikes us 55 contrasting
with the splendour of his fame. Ascending to
his sitting-room, we are face to titee with a
great histories' character, and our breath is in
suspense while with eager curiosity we gaze
in him retirement upon the idolised hero of
Party Winship.
Lounging over his late breakfast sits one
whose personal appearance alone would rivet
the attention. Ills figure in robust manhood
shows none of those trams of dissipation that.
we might have expected front the life of a roys-
toren His swarthy complexion recalls to Us
his niektutute—" Niger'; and the thick and
bushy eyebrows, with something of a saturnine
aspect, mtnuigely blended with the signs of a
passionate temperament, remind us of his
Stuart blood through the Lennox tinnily.*
There is the "Charley Foxy' of White's and
Ahniwk's—the " Mr. Fox' of aristoenttie
Whig coteries—the " Fox "of history's page !
With what an easy, indolent air he sips his
chocolate, while he glances over some piece of
French trash, in which 1111110U114, b4Ol t/10fiti,
MCIMINIMithollt the Faubourg St. Germain, and
pedantry from the law basin are jumbled to•
gether in the friottaire style of French liters-
titre. There is a good-matured look of stride-
lity about (ME statesman that conciliates gisal
will ; and yet that compressed mouth and
beetling brow, with its occasional heavy frown,
tell of one whose temper can be wrathful, and
whose soul can be impassioned with the fire
of genius.
The carelessness of the whole man RM seen
in his character is one of the most true and
signitivant signs of his nature. Here is nn
formal bookcase with variurnia classics and
standard essayists. His books aro as
miscellaneous as his acquaintances. and, like
his other friends. range from giaal to had. A
stray volume of Tacitum is beside the last Ita-
lianl opera—the new " Racing Calendar "is
carelessly tossed over his old Eton copy of
Thucydides. His valet brings in more letters
to him, in addition to the unopened pile
on the table, and we can see that the
asilrainytdof
all that he has to read daunts the man
of ease. The variety of his life is attested by
of his letters. !fere the
tifoirtnemaulP:ll:7kiliyilliaZ of a money-lending usurer.
There is a trumpery letter from a tuft-limiting
democrat, proud of writing " My dear Sir" to
the nephew of the Duke of Richmond. He

• 111.4 mothrr was I wily Oporglns CelOUne Lennox, eldest
flatoghter of Ow m•ronil Nuke of Hichnited. Lord Holland (p. 4,
vol. i.) talks of the nnnnnnnnn at Court Maw a dukes daughter
marrying a rommuner not of illustrious family, hut he mita to
state that the marriage Irns an eklirmost 1447 Cardin. Ful rag
greatigratiddaughter of Wog Charles 11.