Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/144

 ; Browning's poems; and W. Bridges Adams's essays on social subjects, signed ‘Junius Redivivus,’ whose freedom of tone gave offence in unitarian circles. Hazlitt pronounced Fox superior to Irving as a preacher, and his celebrity was extended beyond metropolitan limits by the publication of two collections of sermons, ‘Christ and Christianity’ and ‘Christian Morality.’ He was, however, drifting further and further away from theology; and during the agitation for reform he took a prominent part as a popular leader, daily addressing open-air meetings in Lincoln's Inn Fields. ‘He was,’ says Francis Place, ‘the bravest of us all.’ In 1834 his domestic difficulties came to the knowledge of leading members of his congregation. He resented their consequent interference; the majority of his congregation stood by him; and the controversy was closed by the secession of the minority in September 1834. No tangible imputation rested upon his personal conduct, but the confidence of many of his most influential supporters had been undermined by the advocacy in the ‘Repository’ of the dissolubility of marriage, and his evident alienation from theology. A separation on account of incompatibility of temper was arranged between him and Mrs. Fox.

Fox was disowned by his brother unitarian ministers, and resigned his office as a trustee of the Williams Library. His freedom from restraint, already irksome, gave him a more independent position in the pulpit. The service, under Eliza Flower's direction, became musical, Fox himself contributing some highly poetical hymns; his addresses ranged widely over the fields of morals and politics, and attracted a very intellectual auditory, including many members of parliament. Twenty-six of these discourses, published between 1835 and 1840 under the title of ‘Finsbury Lectures,’ represent the general topics and tone of his teaching. Discourses on such themes as ‘Morality illustrated by the various Classes into which Society is divided’ alternate with secular subjects, as the coronation, the corn laws, and national education. The tone, however, is invariably lofty. They were usually delivered after a few days' meditation, with slight assistance from a shorthand abstract, but published entirely from the reporter's notes. They gained greatly in delivery from the impressive intonation of the speaker. Rapturous descriptions of Fox's oratory will be found in John Saunders's sketch in the ‘People's Journal’ and in Evans's ‘Authors and Orators of Lancashire.’ Their testimony is confirmed by (1802–1879) [q. v.], writing in 1840, who infers, however, from his statue-like absence of gesture, that he would fail with a popular audience. In 1843 Fox was thrilling enthusiastic popular assemblages. To meet heavy expenses he wrote more than ever, especially upon politics. Bulwer, Talfourd, Macready, and Forster were now among his most intimate friends, and his relations with Mill led Carlyle to believe that he was to be offered the editorship of the ‘London and Westminster Review.’ He transferred the proprietorship and editorship of the unprofitable ‘Repository’ to R. H. Horne in 1836, and for a time chiefly devoted himself to journalism. [q. v.] enlisted him in the ‘Sunday Times,’ and when Harvey became proprietor of the ‘True Sun’ (1835) Fox's contributions raised the circulation from two thousand to fifteen thousand copies. He laboured at the office regularly for five days a week until the end of 1837, when Harvey's sudden relinquishment of his journal terminated the engagement. Fox joined the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ where his politics were much more under restraint. He devoted especial attention to the performances of Macready, of whom he was an intense admirer.

When, in 1840, an address from the Anti-Cornlaw League to the nation was required, Cobden drew up a paper of memoranda, and entrusted the composition to Fox as the person most competent to administer ‘a blister to the aristocracy and the House of Commons.’ The address was followed by a long series of most effective letters to leading public characters published in the ‘League’ newspaper, under the signature of ‘A Norwich Weaver Boy.’ Fox became a leading orator of the league, speaking especially at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. ‘The speech read well,’ says Prentice, ‘but the reader could have no conception of the effect as delivered with a beauty of elocution which Macready on the same boards might have envied.’ His connection with the ‘Morning Chronicle’ ceased about this time, and was followed by an engagement with the ‘Daily News,’ to which, as to the ‘Chronicle,’ he contributed four leaders weekly. When Forster retired in September 1846, Fox followed his example. He further undertook a course of Sunday evening lectures to the working classes at the National Hall in Holborn, commenced in 1844, and continued until 1846; which, after being published first in ‘The Apprentice,’ and afterwards in the ‘People's Journal,’ were collected into four volumes in 1849. They showed the author to be one of the wisest as well as the warmest friends of the working classes. This character, even more than the