[5] Life and Reign of George IV.  By W. Wallace, Esq. 3 vols. 1831.

During the trial of Queen Caroline, the wisdom-tempered zeal of Lord Grey ranked him amongst the most efficient, as he was the most eloquent, of her defenders:  his lordship, in conjunction with Lord King, also made successive attempts, by motions, to quash the investigation.

To the administration of the Earl of Liverpool, it need scarcely be added, Earl Grey was thoroughly hostile:  his aversion to the policy of Mr. Canning was equally decided; and the same independent spirit urged him to oppose the measures of the Wellington cabinet, except the memorable measure of Catholic Emancipation, by the proposal of which he had lost office in the year 1810.  His lordship’s eloquent efforts in this cause must be alive in the recollection of the reader.

We are now fast approaching the consummation of one of the grand objects of his lordship’s political life.  By the dissolution of the Wellington cabinet, in 1830, Lord Grey became at the head of the present administration.  His first act was the introduction of the grand measure for parliamentary reform, which, for sixteen months past, has interested the whole population of this mighty empire.  His lordship’s emphatic expressions, on this occasion, are “familiar as household words.”  “He made it a condition on accepting office, that Parliamentary Reform should be introduced as a government measure.  That condition having been assented to by his most gracious sovereign, by this measure he was prepared to stand or fall.”  Gratifying as would be the task, we need not detail the incidents of the last few months of his lordship’s career.  Our eulogium would be poor indeed, while nine-tenths of the journals of our country are perpetuating his good deeds; while his political integrity has become exemplary to every cabinet in Europe; and millions are about to burst forth in “the loud festivity of mirth” to celebrate the virtue of their popular minister.

Earl Grey married in 1794, Mary Elizabeth Brabazon, daughter of Lord Ponsonby, by whom his lordship has had a numerous family:  the eldest son and heir apparent being Viscount Howick, born in 1802.  In our outline of Lord Grey’s public life, the reader may have observed his Lordship’s fondness for the retirement of the domestic circle.  This accords with his recent declaration in parliament:  “he was fond of retirement, and in domestic life he lived happy in the bosom of his family.  Nothing could have tempted him to embark on these stormy seas—­

  Bankrupt of life, but prodigal of ease—­

nothing but an overpowering sense of the duty which he owed to his country.”  Even apart from political distinction, Earl Grey must be considered happy indeed; but honoured in public and cherished in private life, his pre-eminence is proud indeed.  Shakspeare tells of the “divinity” that “doth hedge a king:”  yet who would enjoy more than the consciousness of having been true to his sovereign, his country, and his honour.