George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

[160] then secretary at war, to take the seals and conduct

chap. VII.} 1754.

the House of Commons. The ‘political adventurer,’ who had vigor of mind and excelled in quick and concise replication, asked to be made acquainted with the disposition of the secret service money. ‘My brother,’ said Newcastle, ‘never disclosed the disposal of that money, neither will I. ’ ‘Then,’ rejoined Fox, ‘I shall not know how to talk to members of parliament, when some may have received gratifications, others not.’ He further inquired, how the next parliament, of which the election drew near, was to be secured. ‘My brother,’ answered Newcastle, ‘had settled it all.’

Fox declining the promotion offered him, the inefficient Holdernesse was transferred to the Northern Department; and Sir Thomas Robinson, a dull pedant, lately a subordinate at the Board of Trade, was selected for the Southern, with the management of the new House of Commons. ‘The duke,’ said Pitt, ‘might as well send his jackboot to lead us.’ The House abounded in noted men. Besides Pitt, and Fox, and Murray, the heroes of a hundred magnificent debates, there was ‘the universally able’¹ George Grenville; the solemn Sir George Lyttleton, known as a poet, historian and orator; Hillsborough, industrious, precise, well meaning, but without sagacity; the arrogant, unstable Sackville, proud of his birth, ambitious of the highest stations; the amiable, candid, irresolute Conway; Charles