The first time Sir Robert (who was now Earl of Orford) met him
in the House of Lords, he threw out this reproach:--"My Lord Bath, you
and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." In which he
spoke the truth of my Lord Bath, but not of himself. For my Lord Orford
was consulted by the ministers to the last day of his life.' King's
_Anec_. p. 43.
[908] See _ante_, i. 431, and iii. 326.
[909] 'Sir Robert Walpole detested war. This made Dr. Johnson say of
him, "He was the best minister this country ever had, as, if _we_ would
have let him (he speaks of his own violent faction), he would have kept
the country in perpetual peace."' Seward's _Biographiana_, p. 554. See
_ante_, i. 131.
[910] See _ante_, iii. Appendix C.
[911] I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strong
satirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting it
lately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus:--'They knew he
would rob their shops, _if he durst;_ they knew he would debauch their
daughters, _if he could;_' which, according to the French phrase, may be
said _rencherir_ on Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I found
it as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkes
received both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire.
Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has more
than once had occasion to observe in the course of this Journal,) are
too fond of a _bon mot_, not to relish it, though we should be ourselves
the object of it.
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