Page:Life of Edmond Malone.djvu/202

182 live over again, it was the day when he appeared at the bar of the House of Lords with the censure of the House of Commons in his hand, relative to the conduct of the managers on the impeachment of Mr. Hastings.

“He had from a sense of decorum and propriety absented himself from the debate in the Commons, and went down to the house at an early hour the next day to learn what had been done. He first desired the Resolution to be read to him, then demanded a copy of it; and immediately afterwards determined on the part he should take. This was not to relinquish the prosecution, as Mr. Fox strongly urged him to do on account of the indignity they had suffered from the house, and as Mr. Pitt certainly hoped he would have done. He had but an hour to prepare himself before he appeared at the bar of the House of Lords.

“The second most brilliant day of his life he esteemed the day when he was attacked by his own party in the House of Commons in May, 1791, relative to the French revolution; and was very feebly supported by Mr. Pitt though he pretended to agree with him in sentiment.

“It is remarkable, that many of the persons who have written answers to his book on the French Revolution, were of his particular acquaintance. Mr. Paine had been strongly recommended to him from America, and pretty frequently became a guest at Beaconsfield. He had also shown many civilities to Mr. Thomas Christie, another of his answerers; and to a Mr. Bousefield of the County of Cork, in