77B ANNUAL R EG I S T E U, 1809. 



when the bishop of Carlisle pre- 

 sented him to the rectory of Mus- 

 grave, in Westmoreland, a living 

 scarcely worth above eighty pounds 

 a-year. He was inducted to this 

 little benefice, May 28th, 1775, and 

 afterwards passed much of his lei- 

 sure, during the long vacation, be- 

 tween Rose Castle and Mr. Law's 

 prebendal house at Carlisle. In the 

 autumn of this year, he attached 

 himself to miss Jane Hewitt, a hand- 

 some and pleasing young lady of 

 that city, to whom his suit was suc- 

 cessfully preferred.. He returned, 

 however, to Cambridge at the usual 

 time. 



Public attention was now more 

 especially directed to the rising ce- 

 lebrity of Mr. Pitt, who had been 

 for some time distinguishing himself 

 in parliament, as the determined 

 enemy of corruption, and the in- 

 trepid advocate of economy and 

 constitutional reform. By his 

 early career, however, auspicious 

 as it was, Mr. Paley was so far 

 from being dazzled, that in a large 

 party, in the north of Yorkshire, 

 in 1783, he exposed the young pa- 

 triot's pretensions to public confi- 

 dence with such force of ridicule, 

 as to displease some of his most 

 zealous admirers, and particular- 

 ly one gentleman, who afterwards 

 discovered with regret, that on his 

 promises and pledges, as a 7nan 

 and a minister, he had placed far 

 too firm a reliance. 



A report has been long in cir- 

 culation that Mr. Puiey, being 

 appointed to preach before the 

 University of Cambridge, on the 

 day when Mr. Pitt, after his eleva- 

 tion to the premiership, in \18i, 

 made his first appearance at St. 

 Mary's, chose this singular but ap- 



propriate text — " There is a lad 

 here, who hath five barley loaves 

 and two small fishes, but what are 

 thej' among so many ?" John vi. 9. 

 A lady who had seen this story in a 

 newspaper, once asked the facetious 

 divine if it was true. "Why no, 

 madam," replied he, " I certainly 

 never preached such a sermon, I 

 was not at Cambridge at the time, 

 but I remember that, one day, when 

 I was riding out with a friend in 

 the neighbourhood of Carlisle, and 

 we were talking about the bustle 

 and confusion which Mr. Pitt's ap- 

 pearance would then cause in the 

 university, I said, that if I had been 

 there, anti asked to preach on the 

 occasion, 1 would have taken that 

 passage for my text." 



On the hint of such a text, Mr. 

 Paley was the very man to have 

 preached a sermon, which, without 

 personal virulence, would have suf- 

 ficiently shown his opinion of the 

 unnidnly adulation paidat that time, 

 by several members of theuniversity, 

 to the aspiring premier, whom but 

 a few months before they had re- 

 jected as unworthy of their votes. 

 Theson of Chatham, it is true, when 

 he first solicited their suffrages, had 

 no other recommendations than the 

 high character of his father, his own 

 promising talents, and the constitu- 

 tional principles of his early years ; 

 when he returned to them, after a 

 short interval, he was the first 

 ostensible minister of the crown. 

 On his former appearance, he was 

 not, indeed, without supporters, but 

 they were men of a very different 

 stamp from those who became his 

 most devoted adherents afterwards; 

 they were men of the first talents 

 and integrity, of strict and steady 

 patriotism, but who withdrew their 



confidence 



