PITT. 
650 
nd that America fhould make peace and declare war 
in concert with Great Britain ; that (he (hould hoift the 
Britifh flag, and ufe the king’s name in her courts of 
juftice; and he imagined that, when America faw the im- 
poflibility of deriving any affiftance from France, the 
congrefs would accept of thefe terms. He hoped thus at 
once to conquer and conciliate America by making a vi¬ 
gorous impreflion upon France. He faw that a war with 
France was unavoidable ; and therefore, with his ufual 
penetration and ardour, he wifhed to ftrike the firft blow ; 
deteftingthat procraftination which gave the enemy power, 
not only of choofing the period of his conveniency, but 
the firft fcenes of operation. The duke of Richmond 
having replied to his fpeech, lord Chatham attempted to 
rife in anfwer, but, after two or three unfuccefsful efforts 
to ftand, he fainted, and fell back in his feat. He was 
caught in the arms of fome of the lords who flood clofe 
to him, and was conveyed to an adjoining room, and the 
boufe immediately adjourned. From this ftate ofexhauf- 
tion he never recovered ; he was indeed conveyed to his 
feat at Hayes in Kent, where he languifhed till the nth 
of May, 1778, when he died, in the 70th year of his age, 
to the fincere regret of every Britifh fubjeft, who had a 
juft fenfe of human dignity and virtue. His death, ren¬ 
dered peculiarly impreffive by the circumftances juft re¬ 
ferred to, excited general fympathy. The public lofs 
was acknowledged on all fides. Every one bore tefti- 
mony f o the abilities and virtues of the deceafed, and on 
this occafion all appearance of party was extinguifhed. 
His remains were honoured with a public funeral; his 
debts were paid by the nation ; and an annuity of 4000I. 
out of the civil lift was annexed to the earldom of Chat¬ 
ham. 
The fenfe of the extraordinary merits of this great man 
was not confined to his own country; it pervaded all 
Europe, and was attefled by fome of the higheft charac¬ 
ters in it. It is, indeed, infeparably entwined with the 
glory of England at its brighteft period. Of the nume¬ 
rous portraits which have been drawn of him, that of 
lord Chefterfield, which appears to have been the refult 
of clofe and candid obfervation, may (in part) properly 
conclude this article. “ His private life was flained by 
no vice, nor fullied by any meannefs. All his fentiments 
were liberal and elevated. His ruling paffion was un¬ 
bounded ambition, which, when fupported by great abi¬ 
lities, and crowned with great fuccefs, make what the 
world calls a great man. He was haughty, imperious, 
impatient of contradiftion, and overbearing: qualities 
which too often accompany, but always clog, great ones. 
He had manners and addrefs ; but one might difcern 
through them too great a confcioufnefs of his own fupe- 
rior talents. He was a inoft agreeable and lively compa¬ 
nion in focial life, and had fuch a verfatility of wit, that he 
would adapt it to all forts of converfation. He had alfo 
a molt happy turn to poetry, but he feldom indulged and 
feldom avowed it. His eloquence was of every kind, and 
he excelled in the argumentative as well as in the decla¬ 
matory way. But his inveftives were terrible, and ut¬ 
tered with fuch energy of diftion, and fuch dignity of 
aftion and countenance, that he intimidated thofe who 
were the moft willing and the bed able to encounter him.” 
We fhall copy a few more fentences, from the Anecdotes 
before referred to, upon the flyle of his fpeeches. “ Of 
all the charafteriftic features by which his oratory was 
diftinguifhed, none was more eminent than the bold pu¬ 
rity and claflical force of phrafeology. Thofe who have 
been witnefles to the wonders of his eloquence, who have 
liftened to tne mufic of his voice, or trembled at its ma- 
jefty : who have feen the perfuafive gracefulnefs of his 
aftion, or have felt its force; thofe who have caught the 
flame of eloquence from his eye, who have rejoiced at the 
glories of his countenance, or fhrunk from his frowns, 
will remember the refiftlefs power with which he imprefled 
conviftion. In thefe (ketches of his original genius, they 
will read what they have heretofore heard ; and their me¬ 
mory will give due aftion to the pifture, by refiguring to 
their minds what they have with admiration feen. But 
to thofe who never heard or faw this accomplifhed ora¬ 
tor, the utmoft effort of imagination will be neceffary to 
form a juft idea of that combination of excellence which 
gave perfeftion to his eloquence: his elevated afpeft 
commanding the awe and mute attention of all who be¬ 
held him, whilft a certain grace in his manner, confcious 
of all the dignities of his fituation, of the folemn fcene 
he afted in, as well as his own exalted character, feemed 
to acknowledge and repay the refpeft he received; his 
venerable form, bowed with infirmity and age, but ani¬ 
mated by a mind which nothing could fubdue; his 
fpirit fhining through him, arming his eye with light¬ 
ning, and clothing his lips with thunder; or, if milder 
topics offered, harmonizing his countenance in fmiles, 
and his voice in foftnefs, for the compafs of his powers 
was infinite. As no idea was too vafi, no imagination 
too fublime, for the grandeur and majefty of his manner; 
fo no fancy was too playful, nor any allulion too comic, 
for the eafe and gaiety with which he could accommodate 
to the occafion. But the character of his oratory was 
dignity; this prefided throughout, giving force, becaufe 
fecuring refpeft, even to his fallies of pleafantry. This 
elevated the moft familiar language, and gave novelty 
and grace to the moft familiar allulions ; fo that in his 
hand, even the crutch became a weapon of oratory.” 
This laft obfervation applies to part of a fpeech which he 
made at the beginning of the American war, when the 
miniftry were very confident of fuccefs: “ You talk, my 
lords, (faid he,) of conquering America; of your nume¬ 
rous friends there to annihilate the congrefs; and your 
powerful forces to difperfe her army; I might as well 
talk of driving them before me with this crutch.” 
Of lord Chatham’s literary productions, no other ex¬ 
cept a (hort poem or two had appeared, till, in 1804, 
lord Grenville publifhed a volume of his “Letters” 
written to his nephew,afterwards lord Camelford, (father 
of the lord Camelford who was (hot a few years fince in a 
duel,) then at Cambridge. Thefe are 23 in number, 
and contain much excellent advice to a young man, 
clothed in eafy and familiar language, and reflefting 
equal honour on the head and heart of the noble writer. 
This article is compiled chiefly from the fourth edition 
of “Anecdotes of the Life of William Pitt, Earl of 
Chatham, and the principal Events of his Time, with his 
Speeches in Parliament;” 3 vols. 8vo. 
PITT (William), fecond fon of the preceding, and 
his fucceffor in political fame, was born in 1759. As 
lord Chatham had little befides his name and example 
to leave his younger children, it was his objeft to culti¬ 
vate in the belt manner thofe talents which were to raife 
them to diftinftion ; and his fagacity could not fail to 
difcover that in his fon William he had a fubjeft capable 
of repaying all the attention that might be beftowed upon 
him. For the claflical education of his fon he had a 
domeftic tutor; but he relied upon his own inftruftions, 
communicated in free converfation, for opening his mind, 
and giving him a turn to large and accurate enquiry. 
For the purpofe of accuftoming him to that facility of 
fpeaking which had been the great inftrument of his own 
rile, he frequently, it is faid, made him declaim on a 
given topic from the elevation of a chair or a table. At 
an age when, with the generality of young people, much 
remains to be learnt at fchool, Mr. Pitt was found fully 
qualified for the univerfity; and accordingly, as foon as 
he had completed his fourteenth year, he was entered at 
Pembroke-hall, Cambridge, and placed under the private 
tuition of Dr. Prettyman, the prefent bifhop of Winchef- 
ter. At college he was diftinguifhed alike for the clofe- 
nefs of his application, and for the fuccefs of his efforts, 
in attaining thofe branches of knowledge to which his 
ftudies were particularly direfted. Although no proofs 
are recorded of extraordinary brilliancy in his academical 
career, yet few young men of any rank have palled 
through 
