CHARACTERS. 



527 



liis own actions with the avowed 

 intentions of his opponents. These 

 intentions, too, he often exposed 

 with the most pointed sarcasm ; a 

 weapon which, perhaps, no speaker 

 ever wielded with more dexterity 

 and force than himself. He ad- 

 mired much, in Mr. Fox, the happy 

 effect with which he illustrated his 

 arguments, by the application of 

 well-known anecdotes, or by pass- 

 ages from modern authors ; but he 

 did not imitate him in this respect: 

 on the other hand, he used to con- 

 demn his habit of repetition. 



Mr. Pitt's love of amplification 

 has been sometimes urged as de- 

 tracting from his excellence as an 

 orator ; but it was his own remark, 

 that every person who addressed a 

 public assembly, and was anxious 

 to be distinctly understood, and to 

 make an impression upon particular 

 points, musteitherbecopiousupon 

 those points, or repeat them, and 

 that, as a speaker, he preferred co- 

 piousness to repetition. Of his elo- 

 quence, it may be observed gene- 

 rally, that it combined the elo- 

 quence of Tuliy with the energy of 

 Demosthenes. Itwasspontaneous; 

 alwaysgreat,itshone with peculiar, 

 with unequalled splendour, in a re- 

 ply.whicfi precluded thepossibility 

 of previous study ; while it fasci- 

 nated the imagination by the bril- 

 liancy of language, it convinced the 

 j udgment by theforce of argument : 

 like an impetuous torrent, it bore 

 down all resistance ; extorting the 

 admiration even of those who most 

 severely felt its strength, and who 

 most earnestly deprecated itseffect. 

 It isunneces8a^y,andmightbepre- 

 8umptuous, toenter moreminutely 

 into the character of Mr. Pitt's 

 eloquence : there are many living 

 witnesses of its powers ; it will be 

 admired as long as it sliali be re- 



membered. A few of his speeches 

 in parliament were published by 

 his friends, and some of them un- 

 der his own superintendence ; but 

 it has been observed, that they 

 were considerably weakened in 

 effect by his own corrections ; that 

 if they gained any thing in accu- 

 racy, they lost more in vigour and 

 spirit; and that he had not him- 

 self the power of improving, upon 

 reflection, the just and happy ex- 

 pression in which his thoughts 

 were conveyed, as they occurred 

 in the course of debate. 



As a public man Mr. Pitt trusted 

 his character to his public con- 

 duct ; he rejected those arts and 

 aids to which inferior men have 

 sometimes had recourse to prop 

 their fame ; and he disdained to 

 court popularity at the expence 

 of unbecoming condescension; he 

 never failed to be generally esteem- 

 ed where he was generally known; 

 but his public occupations did not 

 permit him to enjoy much of the 

 pleasures of private society, and 

 his hours of retirement and relax- 

 ation were chiefly confined to the 

 circle of a few friends, which cir- 

 cle he did not seem inclined to 

 extend. Those hours, indeed, 

 were few, for his life may be said 

 to have laeen devoted to public 

 service, and perhaps, to have been 

 sacrificed by that devotion; for 

 his health had gradually declined 

 for the last five years of his life ; 

 but the vigour of his mind was 

 unimpaired, and directed, in spite 

 of a feeble frame, with the most 

 unremitted anxiety, to promote 

 the interests and welfare of the 

 country. With him, indeed, his 

 country was ever the first object, 

 self the last. 



It would be highly unjust, how- 

 ever, to dismiss the character of 



