"But however the higher and more intellectual class, perhaps London, might estimate him, Addington had a hold on the country of which you do not seem to me to be aware. The country gentlemen were for him almost to a man, and they had then a weight and influence which are now almost forgotten. They disliked the haughty and unbending Pitt and his contemptuous condescension; they hated Canning, who quizzed, satirised, and laughed at them; they held Fox for an irreclaimable Jacobin. The mediocrity of Addington suited their mediocrity... He was with them easy, frank, jovial, loved Port wine as well as the most resolute fox-hunter. To the end he described himself as the sole survivor of the "Port wine faction.""
January 1, 1970