the debates of each affembly from the other, and the various colouring which he has found the art of giving to particular speeches. The characteristic of the one affembly we know is Dignity; the privilege of the other Freedom of Expreffion. To fpeak of the first, when a member thereof endowed with wisdom, gravity, and experience, is made to rife, the stile which Johnson gives him is nervous, his matter weighty, and his arguments convincing; and when a mere popular orator takes up a debate, his eloquence is by him represented in a glare of falfe rhetoric, fpecious reasoning, an affectation of wit, and a difpofition to trifle with fubjects the most interesting. With great judgment alfo does Johnfon adopt the unreftrained oratory of the other house, and with equal facility imitate the deep-mouthed rancour of Pulteney, and the yelping pertinacity of Pitt.

As an illustration of the former part of this pofition, I fhall here give two fpeeches, the one of the lordchancellor Hardwicke on the motion of lord Carteret for an addrefs to his Majefty, befeeching him to remove Sir Robert Walpole from his prefence and councils for ever; and the other of lord Chefterfield on a bill, intitled, An act for repealing ⚫ certain duties on fpirituous liquors, and on licences for retailing the fame, and for laying other duties on fpirituous liquors and on licences for retailing the faid liquors.' That of lord Hardwicke is as follows:

My Lords,

< My Lords,

< Though I very readily admit that crimes ought to be punished, that a treacherous adminiftration of public affairs is in a very high degree criminal, that even ignorance, where it is the confequence of neglect, deserves the fevereft animadverfion, and that it is the privilege and duty of this house to 'watch over the state of the nation, and inform his Majesty of any errors committed by his minifters; yet I am far from being convinced either of the juftice or neceffity of the motion now under con'fideration.

The most flagrant and invidious part of the charge against the right honourable gentleman appears to 'confift in this, that he has engroffed an exorbitant degree of power, and ufurped an unlimited influence over the whole fyftem of government, that 'he difpofes of all honours and preferments, and that he is not only firft but fole minifter.

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'But of this boundless ufurpation, my lords, what proof has been laid before you? what beyond loud 'exaggerations, pompous rhetoric, and specious appeals to common fame? common fame which at leaft may fometimes err, and which though it may 'afford fufficient ground for fufpicion and enquiry,

was never yet admitted as conclufive evidence, 'where the immediate neceffities of the public did 'not preclude the common forms of examination, where the power of the offender did not make it dangerous to attack him by a legal profecution, or ' where the conduct of the accufer did not plainly • difcover

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discover that they were more eager of blood than of justice, and more folicitous to deftroy than to ⚫ convict.

I hope none of these circumftances, my lords, can at present obstruct a candid and deliberate enquiry; with regard to the public, I am not able to discover any preffing exigences that demand a more ' compendious method of proceeding than the establifhed laws of the land and the wifdom of our an<cestors have prefcribed. I know not any calamity that will be aggravated, nor any danger that will < become more formidable by fuffering this queftion to be legally tried.

Nor is there, my lords, in the circumstances of the perfon accufed, any thing that can incite us to a hafty process, for if what is alledged by the noble lords is not exaggerated beyond the truth, if he is univerfally detefted by the whole nation, and loaded ⚫ with execrations by the public voice, if he is confidered as the author of all our miseries, and the fource of all our corruptions, if he has ruined our trade and depreffed our power, impoverished the people and attempted to enslave them, there is at leaft no danger of an infurrection in his favour, or any probability that his party will grow stronger by delays. For, my lords, to find friends in adversity ⚫ and affertors in diftrefs, is only the prerogative of • innocence and virtue.

The gentleman against whom this formidable charge is drawn up, is, I think, not fufpected of any ⚫ intention to have recourfe either to force or flight: he has always appeared willing to be tried by the laws of his country, and to stand an impartial ex⚫amination;

amination; he neither oppofes nor eludes enquiry, < neither flies from juftice nor defies it.

' And yet less, my lords, can I fufpect, that those by whom he is accused act from any motive that may influence them to defire a sentence not fupported by evidence or conformable to truth, or that they can wifh the ruin of any man whose crimes are not notorious and flagrant, that they perfecute from private malice, or endeavour to 'exalt themselves by the fall of another.

'Let us therefore, my lords, enquire before we determine, and fuffer evidence to precede our fentence. The charge, if it is juft, must be by its own nature eafily proved, and that no proof is brought may perhaps be fufficient to make us fufpect that it is not just.

For, my lords, what is the evidence of common 'fame, which has been fo much exalted and so confi'dently produced? Does not every man fee that on 'fuch occafions two questions may be asked, of which 'perhaps neither can eafily be anfwered, and which ' yet must both be refolved before common fame 'can be admitted as a proof of facts?

'It is first to be enquired, my lords, whether the reports of fame are neceffarily or even probably true. A queftion very intricate and diffufive, entangled with a thousand and involving a thoufand diftinctions:-a queftion, of which it may be faid, that a 'man may very plaufibly maintain either fide, and of which, perhaps, after months or years wafted in difputation, no other decifion can be obtained than 'what is obvious at the first view, that they are often true and often falfe, and therefore can only • be

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be grounds of enquiry, not reafons of determina<tion.

But if it appear, my lords, that this oracle cannot be deceived, we are then to enquire after another difficulty, we are to enquire, What is fame?

Is fame, my lords, that fame which cannot err, a C report that flies on a fudden through a nation, of ⚫ which no man can difcover the original? a fudden blast of rumour that inflames or intimidates a people, and obtains, without authority, a general credit? No man verfed in history can enquire whether fuch reports may not deceive. Is fame rather a fettled opinion prevailing by degrees, and for fome time established? How long then, my lords, and in what degree muft it have been established to obtain • undoubted credit? and when does it commence infallible? If the people are divided in their opinions, as in all public questions it has hitherto hap'pened, fame is, I fuppofe, the voice of the majo

rity. For if the two parties are equal in their num⚫bers, fame will be equal, then how great must be the 'majority before it can lay claim to this powerful auxiliary? and how shall that majority be numbered?

These questions, my lords, may be thought, perhaps with juftice, too ludicrous in this place; but in my opinion they contribute to fhew the preca⚫rious and uncertain nature of the evidence fo much • confided in.

• Common fame, my lords, is to every man only ⚫ what he himself commonly hears, and it is in the power of any man's acquaintance to vitiate the evi⚫dence which they report, and to ftun him with clamours, and terrify him with apprehenfions of miferies never felt, and dangers invifible.

• But