, one of the most illustrious statesmen of modern times, the second
, one of the most illustrious
statesmen of modern times, the second son of the preceding lord Holland, was born Jan. 13, O. S. 1748. We
have already noticed that lord Holland was an indulgent
father, and it has been said that his partiality to this son
was carried to an unwarrantable length. That his father
might have been incited by parental affection, a feeling
of which few men can judge but for themselves, by the
early discovery he made of his son’s talents, to indulge him
in the caprices of youth, is not improbable; but that this
indulgence was not excessive, may with equal probability
be inferred from the future conduct of Mr. Fox, which
retained no traces of the “spoiled child,
” and none of
the haughty insolence of one to whom inferiors and servants
have been ordered to pay obsequious obedience. Nor was
his education neglected. At Eton, where he had Dr.
Barnard for his master, he distinguished himself by some
elegant exercises, which are to be found in the *' Musce
Etonenses,“and at Hertford college, Oxford, where he
studied under the tutorage of Dr. Newcome, afterwards
primate of Ireland, his proficiency in classical and polite
literature must have been equal to that of any of his contemporaries. The fund indeed of classical learning which
he accumulated both at Eton and Oxford was such as to
remain inexhausted during the whole of his busy and
eventful political career; and while it proved to the last a
source of elegant amusement in his leisure hours, it enabled
him to rank with some of the most eminent scholars of his
time. This we may affirm on the authority of Dr. Warton,
with whom he frequently and keenly contested at the literary club, and on that of a recent publication of his letters
to Gilbert Wakefield, with whom he corresponded on subjects of classical taste and criticism.
From Oxford, where, as was the custom with young
men intended for public life, he did not remain long
enough to accumulate degrees, he repaired to the continent. In his travels it is said that he acquired more of the
polish of foreign intercourse than those who knew him
only in his latter days could have believed, and returned a
fashionable young man, noted for a foppish gaiety of dress
and manner, from which he soon passed into the opposite
extreme. As his father intended him to rise in the political world, he procured him a seat for the borough of
Midhurst, in 1768, before he had attained the legal age;
a circumstance which, if known, appears to have been then
overlooked. Two years afterwards, his father’s interest procured him the office of one of the lords commissioners of
the admiralty; but in May 1772, he resigned that situation,
and in January 1773, was nominated a commissioner of
the treasury. At this time it cannot be denied that his
political opinions were in unison with those of his father,
who was accounted a tory, and were adverse to the turbulent proceedings of the city of London, which at this time
was deluded by the specious pretences to patriotism displayed by the celebrated Wilkes. It was in particular
Mr. Fox’s opinion, in allusion to the public meetings held
by the supporters of
” Wilkes and liberty,“that
” the
voice of the people was only to be heard in the house of
commons." That he held, however, some of the opinions
by which his future life was guided, appears from his
speech in favour of religious liberty, when sir William
Meredith introduced a bill to give relief from subscription
to the thirty-nine articles; and perhaps other instances
may be found in which his natural ingenuousness of mind,
and openness of character, burst through the trammels of
party; and although it must be allowed that the cause he
now supported was not that which he afterwards espoused,
it may be doubted whether he was not even at this time,
when a mere subaltern in the ministerial ranks, more unresirained in his sentiments than at some memorable periods of his subsequent life.