Honourable Mr Fox
The colourful Foreign Secretary humbly accepted a lesson in manners from a local tradesman.
1749-1806
King George III 1760-1820
The colourful Foreign Secretary humbly accepted a lesson in manners from a local tradesman.
1749-1806
King George III 1760-1820
Charles James Fox (1749-1806) was a larger-than-life statesman in the time of King George III. He supported the revolutionaries of France and America, frequently changed political sides, kept a mistress (whom he secretly married in 1795), gambled to excess, and campaigned against slavery – a maddening blend of rascal and man of honour.
IT was truly said of Sheridan* — who, with all his improvidence, was generous, and never gave pain — that,
“His wit in the combat, as gentle as bright,
Never carried a heart-stain away on its blade.”
Such also was the character of Fox, who could always be most easily touched on the side of his honour.
The story is told of a tradesman calling upon him one day for the payment of a promissory note which he presented. Fox was engaged at the time in counting out gold. The tradesman asked to be paid from the money before him. “No,” said Fox, “I owe this money to Sheridan; it is a debt of honour; if any accident happened to me, he would have nothing to show.”*
“Then,” said the tradesman, “I change my debt into one of honour;” and he tore up the note. Fox was conquered: he thanked the man for his confidence, and paid him, saying, “Then Sheridan must wait; yours is the debt of older standing.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) was an Irish playwright, theatrical manager, and Secretary of the Treasury in the government of William Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. Bentinck was however running the country in name only; the real power lay with Home Secretary Lord North and Foreign Secretary Charles Fox.
That is, there was nothing down in writing about this debt — a gambling debt, we are invited to assume — so that if Fox were to die suddenly Sheridan could not make a claim for the money against Fox’s estate. Settling up was therefore a matter not of law but of conscience.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did Fox refuse to pay the tradesman’s bill?
His cash was earmarked for another payment.