history. Although unlike his father in person he was intellectually his
equal, and might have rivalled his renown had he possessed his firmness
and resolution of character. He was educated at Cambridge, and before
the age of twenty had given evidence of his precocity as the principal
author (after his brother Philip) of the 'Athenian Letters,' a supposed
correspondence between Cleander, an agent of the King of Persia resident
in Athens, and his brother and friends in Persia. Destined to the law
from his childhood, Charles Yorke was called to the bar in 1743, and
rapidly advanced in his profession. Entering the House of Commons as
member for Reigate in 1747, he later succeeded his brother as member for
Cambridge, and one of his best speeches in the House was made in defence
of his father against an onslaught by Henry Fox. But in spite of his
brilliant prospects and great reputation he always envied those who were
able to lead a quiet life, and he thus wrote to his friend Warburton,
afterwards Bishop of Gloucester:

'I endeavour to convince myself it is dangerous to converse with you,
for you show me so much more happiness in the quiet pursuits of
knowledge and enjoyments of friendship than is to be found in lucre or
ambition, that I go back into the world with regret, where few things
are to be obtained without more agitation both of reason and the
passions, than either moderate parts or a benevolent mind can support.'

Charles Yorke was an intimate friend of Montesquieu, the famous author
of the 'Esprit des Lois' and the most far-seeing of those whose writings
preceded and presaged the French Revolution, who wrote, '_Mes
sentiments pour vous sont graves dans mon cour et dans mon esprit d'une
maniere a ne s'effacer jamais_.'

On the formation of a government by the Duke of Devonshire in 1756,