Mr. Peel is the model of a minister, and improves as a speaker; though,
like most of the rest, he is fluent without the least style. He should
not get so often in a passion either, or, if he do, should not get out
of one so easily. His sweet apologies are cloying. His candour--he
will do well to get rid of that. He can make a present of it to Mr.
Huskisson, who is a memorable instance of the value of knowledge, which
maintains a man under all circumstances and all disadvantages, and will.
In the Lords, I admire the Duke. The readiness with which he has adopted
the air of a debater, shows the man of genius. There is a gruff, husky
sort of a downright Montaignish naivete about him, which is quaint,
unusual, and tells. You plainly perceive that he is determined to be a
civilian; and he is as offended if you drop a hint that he occasionally
wears an uniform, as a servant on a holiday if you mention the word
_livery_.
Lord Grey speaks with feeling, and is better to hear than to read,
though ever strong and impressive. Lord Holland's speeches are like a
_refacimento_ of all the suppressed passages in Clarendon, and the
notes in the new edition of Bishop Burnet's Memoirs: but taste throws a
delicate hue over the curious medley, and the candour of a philosophic
mind shows that in the library of Holland House he can sometimes cease
to be a partisan.
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