Lord Howick, soon after, by the death of his father, succeeded to the
title of Earl Grey; and by the death of his uncle, Sir Henry Grey, to the
family estate. Ill health, for a time, kept his lordship from public life:
he retired with no place but that of a Governor of the Charter House, and
without pension or sinecure. Upon the resignation of the Duke of Portland,
in 1809, his successor, Mr. Perceval, proposed a coalition with Lords
Grenville and Grey, which was at once rejected by the latter. In the
following year, his lordship "felt it his duty to arraign and to expose
the gross mismanagement of the government, and their repeated and
dangerous misconduct," in Parliament. In the same session, he charged the
lord chancellor (Eldon) with a crime little short of treason, in having
set the great seal, in 1801 and 1804, to commissions for giving the royal
assent to several bills, whilst the King was in a state of mental
infirmity, under medical care, and subject to personal control. The motion
was negatived by a majority of 189 to 64; "but Lord Eldon has not
forgotten the accusation, or forgiven the mover."[4] In 1812, another
attempt was made to bring Lord Grey, with Lord Grenville, into the cabinet;
but this was rejected as promptly as before.

[4] Life and Reign of George IV. by William Wallace, Esq. 3 vols.
1831.

Lord Grey again retired to private life. In 1817, his lordship reappeared,
and moved an amendment to the parliamentary address to the throne, urging
rigid economy, retrenchment, and an inquiry into the state of the nation.
In the same year he brought before the House of Lords, the notable
circular of Lord Sidmouth for the prosecution of libels by magistrates.
"It is a singular fact," observes an acute historical writer,[5] "that
Lord Grey, on this occasion, made an able and erudite law argument; which
all the law lords, including Lord Ellenborough, made vain efforts to