The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born 1748. Died 1806. Aged 58.] This great orator and popular statesman, like his rival William Pitt, was trained from his youth for political life. He was the son of Henry, first Lord Holland, and received his education at Westminster, Eton, and Oxford. His acquaintance with ancient and modern literature was extensive, his taste highly cultivated, and his literary ability great. Had he not been a politician, he might have won high distinction as a scholar; or, had he not been constitutionally indolent, have reflected lustre upon his public deeds by labours in more classic fields. There was a difference of ten years in the ages of Pitt and Fox; Pitt being the younger man. Both were second sons: both had been sedulously prepared for the great arena by their ambitious fathers. Pitt began his work as a Reformer, but quickly turned aside into the ranks of the Tories. Fox, starting into life under the wing of his Tory parent, spoke and voted against Wilkes; but quickly repenting of his act, threw himself into the arms of the Whigs. And then the battle between the two rare combatants was well fought out unto the end--Pitt dying in harness in 1806, Fox following him the very same year. Fox was a Liberal, as the name was in his time understood by the great Whig families--an aristocrat with popular ideas, sympathizing with progress, but holding fast to the pillar of the constitution, every stone of which he jealously upheld. On every great subject he stood opposed to Pitt; he inveighed bitterly against the war with France, as he had formerly steadily opposed the rupture with the American Colonies. He was a speaker of extraordinary power; his oratory being bold, argumentative, impassioned, and unpremeditated. His followers were attached to his person, and in private life he was beloved, for he had an affectionate and noble nature, clouded by sad weaknesses. He was a desperate gamester, and a lover of pleasure to excess. At St. Ann’s Hill, withdrawn from the heat of conflict and dissipation, to his quiet and beloved garden--to his friends and his books, he was more faithful to himself, and to the good gifts of Providence within him. [By I. Nollekens, R.A.]