JET. 27.] WILLIAM PITT. 317 



a little sorrow for the country, and an infinite satis- 

 faction for the fate of the men. I feel truly savage 

 upon the whole affair, and only lament most sincerely, 

 as every admirer of Pitt must do, that he has been so 

 long coupled with such a nasty dog. The city (who 

 say they used to feel the fellow in the stock-market) 

 are going to petition for his removal; and though 

 he will gain a great victory most likely in Parlia- 

 ment, I venture to prophesy that he will soon be 

 little heard of. 



" The capture of our West India Islands comes in 

 to puzzle ministers a little further, and I have no 

 doubt that a few days will bring the worst news from 

 the East. Every man who knows how to estimate the 

 importance of Mr Pitt's security to the country at 

 present, must feel inexpressibly annoyed at all this. 

 Indeed I must be impartial enough to say that nothing 

 has surprised me more than the strength of the tide 

 now setting in against him. But he will gain some 

 great victory, and scatter all his enemies, except those 

 eternal existing circumstances, which I fear he is fated 

 to be undone by, and which he seems once more to hug 

 as close as ever. Pray tell me what Edinburgh folks 

 say of Lord M.'s business. I agree in all you say 

 about Fox's impolicy. What a pity that the first man 

 in the world should be incapacitated from ever ruling 

 in this country by so trifling a defeat ! H. B." 



Although on more than one occasion I had heard Pitt 

 speak, I never had an opportunity of making his ac- 



