Of the eloquence of Lord Thurlow, and of his manner in debate, Mr. Butler has given a striking account:—­“At times Lord Thurlow was superlatively great.  It was the good fortune of the Reminiscent to hear his celebrated reply to the Duke of Grafton, during the inquiry into Lord Sandwich’s administration of Greenwich Hospital.  His Grace’s action and delivery, when he addressed the house, were singularly dignified and graceful; but his matter was not equal to his manner.  He reproached Lord Thurlow with his plebeian extraction, and his recent admission into the peerage:  particular circumstances caused Lord Thurlow’s reply to make a deep impression on the Reminiscent.  His lordship had spoken too often, and began to be heard with a civil but visible impatience.  Under these circumstances he was attacked in the manner we have mentioned.  He rose from the woolsack, and advanced slowly to the place from which the chancellor generally addresses the house; then fixing on the duke the look of Jove when he grasps the thunder, ‘I am amazed,’ he said, in a level tone of voice, ’at the attack the noble duke has made on me.  Yes, my lords,’ considerably raising his voice, ’I am amazed at his grace’s speech.  The noble duke cannot look before him, behind him, or on either side of him, without seeing some noble peer who owes his seat in this house to his successful exertions in the profession to which I belong.  Does he not feel that it is as honourable to owe it to these, as to being the accident of an accident?  To all these noble lords the language of the noble duke is applicable and as insulting as it is to myself.  But I don’t fear to meet it single and alone.  No one venerates the peerage more than I do;—­but, my lords, I must say that the peerage solicited me, not I the peerage;—­nay, more, I can say, and will say, that as a peer of parliament, as speaker of this right honourable house, as keeper of the great seal, as guardian of his majesty’s conscience, as lord high chancellor of England, nay, even in that character alone in which the noble duke would think it an affront to be considered—­as a Man, I am at this moment as respectable—­I beg leave to add, I am at this time as much respected, as the proudest peer I now look down upon.’  The effect of this speech, both within the walls of parliament and out of them, was prodigious.  It gave Lord Thurlow an ascendancy in the house which no chancellor had ever possessed:  it invested him, in public opinion, with a character of independence and honour; and this, though he was ever on the unpopular side in politics, made him always popular with the people.”