Memoirs of the Life of the Right Hon. IFin. Pitt. 



•■ inn: -.11 .; !;;. ,.•-';•_■. 



word of command, and sometimes 

 floiinsli his sword or fire his gun, with 

 a sort of joyful dexterity. " But," 

 add^d be, " he has a precocity of talent 

 M'hich does not promise a life long 

 ejwiijisU even to reach maturity." 



619 



M E M OIKS 



RIGHT IIOX. WILLIAM PITT. 



BY 



(GEORGE TOMLINE, D.D. F.R.S. 



; Lor4 Jiisltoii of yi'iachrstcT. 

 .■ lu ^<;3,' vi?^, 8v«>. price jCl. 16s. 



£The measures of the second William Pi(t, 

 as the minister of George the Third, will 

 necessarily occupy a larg'e space in the 

 annals of this country ; and furnish am- 

 ple materials for the pens of future his- 

 torians. The present work, however, 

 will be regarded by posterity rather as 

 aG^rateful monuraeut raised by the Right 

 Reverend Author in memory of the pa- 

 Irojj to whom he owes a mitre, than be 

 eousulted as records of impartialhistory. 

 An uuiulcrrupted and most confidential 

 course of friendship with Mr. Pitt dur- 

 ing the whole of his life, together v.ith 

 the subsequent possession of his papers 

 as an executor, render the bishop un- 

 questionably the best qualified of all his 

 colemporaries to become the biographer 

 of that friend; and we look forward 

 with interest, for the appearance of the 

 fourth volume, (not yet published.) which 

 ■Nviil be allotted to the private life of this 

 celebrated minister. In the meantime 

 we have selected from the three publish- 

 ed volumes, the following extracts, which 

 with every deduction that must be made 

 for the partiality of the author, cannot 

 fail to gratify our readers, from the na- 

 ture of the objects to which they relate.] 



HIS BIRTH AND EAIILY YEARS. 



William Pitt, second son of Wil- 

 Jiaip first Earl of Chatha.ai, and of 

 Lady Hester, only daugliter of Richard 

 Grenville, Esq. and Countess Tem- 

 ple, was horn at Hayes in Kent, on the 

 28(U of May, 1759. Of his falJjer it is 

 nanecessary for me to sp(;ak ; and of his 

 mother I sliail only observe, tliat she 

 was liighly distinguislied by strength 

 of understandiiig, superior attaimueuls, 

 and most accomplished manners. Lord 

 ■and IjJidy Chatiiam liad two other 

 sous, (he j)rcsci)t Earl of Chatham, 



and Mr. James Pitt ; and also two 

 daughters, tlie elder of whom. Lady 

 Hester, was married in 1774 to Lor([ 

 Viscount Malion ; and (lie younger. 

 Lady Harriet, in 178.'), to the Honourr 

 able Edward James Eliot, eldest son of 

 Lord Eliot. 



Mr. Pitt, when about six years old, 

 was placed under the tuition of the Rev. 

 Edward Wilson, afterwards prel)eudary 

 of Gloucester, and canon of Windsor, 

 who attended Jiim at Lord Ch.atliam's 

 house; and this mode of education 

 w-as continued eight j'cars, during half 

 at least of which period, his health 

 was so iudifierent, as to render him 

 unable to apply to any seriotis study. 

 But notwithstanding this loss of time, 

 tlie progress he made in learning wa.s 

 sucli, that in the year 1773, his father, 

 designing the law to ])s his profession, 

 determined to send liim for the comple- 

 tion of Iiis education, to Peiubroke- 

 liall, Cambridge. He was admitted ia 

 the spring of tiiat year, and went to _ 

 reside in tlic beginning of the following 

 October. On account of tlic private 

 manner in which he had been hithert^ 

 educated, his tender age, and tlie ex- 

 treme delicacy of liis constitution, -it 

 was tliought right tliat Mr. Wilson 

 should live with him for a few weeks 

 in the same college apartment, without 

 howe\er having any concern in the di- 

 rection of his studies. Lord Chatiiam 

 wrote a letter to the master of the col- 

 lege, in whicli he exp]-es<ed a desire 

 that each of (he two public tutors, who 

 were then Mr, Turner* ami myself, 

 v.-ould devote; an hour in eveiy day to 

 his sou. This plan was accordingly 

 adopted ; but afier Mr. Pitt's first tlireef 

 visits to Cambridge, he was entirely 

 under iny care and tuition. • '; 



Although Mr. Pitt was little more 

 than fourteen y ',ars of age when \vs 

 went to reside at the University, and 

 had lahoured under the disadvantage 

 of fre(|uent ill-health, the knowledge 

 which he then possessed, was very con- 

 siderable ; and in particular, his pro- 

 ficiency in the learned languages, was 

 probably greater than ever was acquired 

 by anyotlter person in sucli early y<iutli. 

 In Latin authors he seldom met witii 

 difHculty; and it was no uncommon 

 thing for him to read into English, si>; 

 or seven pages of Thucydides,t which 



* Now masicr of Pombroke-hall, audi 

 Dean of Norwich. , ,, 



t It was by Lord Cliat ham's particnl;^ 

 desire, that Thucydides was the first Gree^ 



boot 



