Page:Life of William Shelburne (vol 1).djvu/79

Rh which naturally produced a contrast with the manners of the Duke, which were so lofty as to make him generally unpopular. He was supported by the army on the one hand; on the other by Mr. Fox and his party, who were distinguished by their looseness of manners and an avowed disregard of every kind of principle. These circumstances added to other parts of his character and the known predilection of the King, made several people doubt how far his designs might tend, and their suspicions were industriously heightened by the emissaries of Leicester House. The Prince himself was more particularly impressed with them. Thus was laid the foundation of a building, which withstood every attack which the constitution and people of England could devise for thirty years, of so hard a composition as to resist the effects of the greatest misfortunes and the grossest misconduct known in any country except Spain, and not qualified, as when a breach has been made and the assailants entered, it has been but for a moment till they have been expelled again: the Earl of Bute having contrived such a lock to it as a succession of the ablest men have not been able to pick, nor has he ever let the key be so much as seen by which he has held it. His Lordship had the address at this time, to make the Prince feel him his safeguard, his friend, and his comforter, whose counsels were not only to defend him against the Duke and the old Ministry, but against the Whigs in general, whom he represented as having from a levelling republican party degenerated into an aristocratical faction, who kept his grandfather in chains, and were determined to make a mere pageant of the Throne. He had even the dexterity to take the Prince's part occasionally against the Princess herself, being sure of his first hold. All this was greatly facilitated by the Prince's education having at first been totally neglected, and next by both his father's and mother's treatment, which went the length