to speak, which has never been alleged, that he should not have aimed to enlighten the country through the press?
Lord Charlemont, in writing to Malone (1792), is equally unable to suggest any probable motive for his inactivity—“For the precarious state of my old acquaintance Hamilton, I am most sincerely grieved.[1] There was a man whose talents were equal to every undertaking; and yet from indolence, or from too fastidious vanity, or from what other cause I know not, he has done nothing.” Further conjecture is now vain; we are left but to one derogatory supposition—that having reaped the material fruits of statesmanship in a sinecure place afterwards exchanged for an “equivalent,” he was willing to remain undisturbed by its contests and labours.
In the preliminary notice to the volume it is remarkable that Malone is silent on the connection of the writer with Burke. Neither did he affix his name as editor. Mrs. Burke still survived. Hamilton had formed no family ties. But as the friend of both, he was probably unwilling to revive any unpleasing recollections at Beaconsfield, or on the other hand tell a story of one who, in that instance at least, had exhibited none of the feelings of a high-spirited or liberal man. A few of his remarks appear in the subsequent anecdotes.
With the usual keen eyes of ladies on domestic matters, the Misses Malone discovered in their London
- ↑ An attack of paralysis; yet in 1794 he still wished to remain in the House of Commons! and became dissatisfied by the seat being given to another.
