942 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



torial mandates of age or situafion, 

 ■ but the gentle and insinuating tone 

 of an indulgent parent. Age and 

 experience seem gently to bend for- 

 •nard, to the tender weakness of 

 3^outh, and soothingly to conduct it 

 along that road in which they had 

 gone before, and which must now 

 be pursued by him, in whose Avel- 

 fare they are so deeply interested. 



The letters which compose this vo- 

 lume, were writteu in 1754, and the 

 two succeeding years, and are ad- 

 dressed to 1 hoiiias Pitt, afterwards 

 first lord Canielford, the son of 

 the elder brother of the great lord 

 Chatham, and consequently his ne- 

 phew. The slightest reference to 

 the domestic history of that period 

 which these dates include, will in- 

 duce no small share of admiration 

 at the versatility of mind and talent, 

 ■which could enable tlie noble author 

 before us, in a moment when poli- 

 tical contention was at tho highest, 

 when he was engaged in the ardu- 

 ous contest for tiidt pre-eminence 

 he afterwards attained, when his 

 days and nights were devoted to se- 

 cure popularity, to turn aside fronj 

 the arduous tasks he had imposed 

 •upon himself, and direct, with j)reci- 

 sion and minuteness, the morals and 

 studies of a youtli at college ! 



The course of reading best adapted 

 t6 the peculiar situation of the per- 

 son to whom they are addressed, and 

 the most fitting for the improvement 

 of the mind; the religious and social 

 obligations : and the "lesser morals" 

 fjrni the subjects of advice contain - 

 '.(I in these letters. In another j)art 

 of this work, we have inserted spo- 

 ioimens of the fnst two of these 



subje6ts*, to which we beg leave ix> 

 refer our readers, and of the latter, 

 we venture to subjoin the following, 

 dated from Bath. 



Bath, Jan. 24, 1754. 



I will lose not a moment before I 

 return my most tender and warm 

 thanks to the most amiable, valua- 

 ble, and noble-minded of youths, 

 for the infinite pleasure his letter 

 gives me. 



My dear nephew, what a beauti- 

 ful thing is genuine goodness, and 

 how lovely docs the human mind 

 appear, in its native purity, (in a 

 nature as happy as \ours,) before 

 the taint of a corrupted world has 

 touched it ! To guard you from the 

 fatal efiedts of all tfte dangers that 

 surround and beset youth, (and 

 many they are, nam variac illudant 

 Pe^hft,) 1 thank God, is become my 

 pleasing and very important charge; 

 your own choice, and our nearness 

 in blood, and still more, a dearer 

 and nearer relation of hearts, which 

 I fee! between us, all concur to make 

 it so. I shall seek then every occa- 

 sion, my dear young friend, of be- 

 ing useful to you, by oU'ering you 

 those lights, which one must have 

 lived sonje years in the world to see 

 the full force and extent of, and 

 which the best mind and clearest un- 

 derstanding will suggest imperfectly, 

 m any case, and in the most diili- 

 cult, delicate, and essential points, 

 l)erhaps not at all, till experience, 

 that dear-bought instructor, comes 

 to our assistance. ^^ hat I shall 

 therefore make my task, (a happy, 

 di'liglitl'ul task, if I prove a safe- 

 guard to so much open virtue,) is to 



* Vide pn,je 890, of the Miscellaneous F.ssnys, ^vhcie tliey are placed wiih some 

 of the justiv ceic'iirated Cmvper, on nearly similar topics. 



