[ 941 3 



Account of Books for the Year 1804. 



Letters -written by the late Earl of 

 Chatham to his Ncplievc, Thomas 

 Pitt, Esq. (aftencards Lord Ca- 

 melford) then at Cambridge, 8ro. 



THE little volume to which we 

 here call the attention of our 

 readers, is of no ordinary impor- 

 tance: If the most minute and tri- 

 fling anecdotes of the habits, man- 

 nersy and particularities of those 

 who have been eminently distin- 

 guished for the parts they have play- 

 ed upon the great theatre of human 

 life, be sought, and are communi- 

 cated with eagerness ; how gratify- 

 ing must it prove, to be admitted at 

 once into the privacies, and become 

 witnesses to the conduct, in the rela- 

 fions of domestic life, and social in- 

 tercourse of such a splendid character 

 as was the late lord Chatham. To 

 such a banquet arc we here invited, 

 and highly feasted have we been at 

 the intelleftual treat which this col- 

 le6lion has afforded. 



To attempt the eulogy of such a 

 statesman and minister, as the writer 

 of tliese letters, would be indeed, to 

 " paint the lily," and " gild re- 

 fined iiold." His best panegyric is 

 to be found in the public, annals of 

 his lirst administration, durini; 

 which period it has been eloquently 

 said, that, while with one hand he 

 wielded the democracy of the Bri- 



tish empire, he smote to the dust, 

 the united strength of the house of 

 Bourbon with the other. 



But although the world was well 

 acquainted with the superior powers 

 of lord Chatham's mind; although, 

 ample credit Avas given to him for 

 talents Morthy of acquiring and of 

 maintaining the public confidence 

 and esteem, in a degree as unbound- 

 ed as unexampled ; although, he 

 was known, as an orator. — the rival 

 of the most distinguished among 

 those of Greece and Rome in the 

 happiest periods of those countries: 

 in his public conduct, — of the strict- 

 est integrity : in his private life, — of 

 the most unblemished morality : yet 

 little credit has hitherto been given 

 to this illustrious man, for the softer 

 and more amiable qualities of the; 

 mind, which smooth the asperities 

 of life, and endear existence to us, 

 under all the visitations to which 

 mortality is subject. 



In the publication before us, 

 however, the grand, perhaps hither- 

 to, hard outline of this extraordinary 

 character is filled up ; the most bland 

 and mellow touches here abound, 

 which, at once, finish the pi<aure, 

 and t^irow forward the figure into 

 j)errect relief. Here we no longer 

 lind (he vehement superiority which 

 raised lord Chalham above the ordi- 



nary 



race of men : not, 



the dicta- 

 torial 



