_"Caricature; a Canterbury Tale"_ (Vol. ix., p. 351.).--The inquiry of H.
as to the meaning of a "Caricature," which he describes (though I doubt if
he be correct as to all the personages), appears to me to point to a
transaction in the history of the celebrated "Coalition Ministry" of Lord
North and Fox; in which--
"Burke being Paymaster of the Forces, committed one or two imprudent
acts: among them, the restoration of Powel and Bembridge, two
defaulting subordinates in his office, to their situations. His friends
of the ministry were hardly tasked to bring him through these scrapes;
and, to use the language of Wraxall's _Memoirs_, 'Fox warned the
Paymaster of the Forces, as he valued his office, not to involve his
friends in any similar dilemma during the remainder of the Session.'"