Patriotic enthusiasm in England responded to the gravity of the peril. Thiers writes that "a shudder of terror ran through all classes of English society." The alarm, however, did not arrest the zeal. Three hundred thousand volunteers enrolled themselves at once. As lord warden of the Cinque Ports, Mr. Pitt powerfully contributed to the activity of preparation. He personally took command of a brigade, which occupied the most exposed position upon the coast. His health, always tottering, was at this time seriously influenced by so much fatigue. His niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, had charge of his house; she was young and beautiful, but capricious; without family or fortune. She was received by her uncle, towards whom she always manifested a sincere devotion. After his death, she was unable to content herself in England. She established herself in the East, where she long led the life of a queen of the desert. Strange destiny, and very contrary to the regular habits of the mind and life of Mr. Pitt. With the exception of a single journey to France, he had never quitted England. {401} At the opening of Parliament, on the 22nd of November, Pitt censured some of the measures adopted by the government for the national defence, but he refused to join in the systematic attack that Lord Grenville had prepared, and for which he had allied himself with Mr. Fox. "In all simple and clear questions," said he, "I have decided to sustain the government; if it should omit anything that I believed the state of the country required, or when it shall show feebleness or want of efficiency, I will boldly announce my views; but even then not in a spirit of opposition, for I will only speak after being assured that the government persists in what I disapprove, and does not consent to what I believe necessary."