555 
PIT 
melancholy profpeft; on this fubjefil his ordinary wif- 
dom fee.med to forfake him ; he difcovered no prompti¬ 
tude, no prefcience ; he neither followed the maxims of 
Mr. Burke or Mr. Fox; and carried on a feries of wars, 
either without any diftinft objeft, or with defigns deftruc- 
tive of the interefts of all parties. The march to Paris 
had been lucceeded by a long lift of fubfidies ineffectually 
applied, until the coloffal power of a neighbouring defpot 
had been fo faraugmented as to involve, within his diredt 
or intermediate authority, four-fifths of the population 
of Europe; until what was fpared by the imperial Napo¬ 
leon, was deliverance; what he left, was generofit}'. 
As long- as our military operations were unfettered by alli¬ 
ances, they were fuccefsful; the moment we attempted to a 61 
in concord with other powers , we experienced, nothing• but 
difcord, terminating in mortification and difappoinlment. 
The affair at Ferro], and the fchemes on the ftiores of the 
Elbe, had been equally abortive ; and yet no parliament¬ 
ary enquiry was propofe d, to prevent the recurrence of 
fuch miiccnduft. Mr. Pitt’s talents were moft eminent, 
but they had too often been employed in a manner per¬ 
nicious to the national caufe.—The motion paft'ed by a 
very fma 11 majority. 
The editor of the Sunday Review has fummed up the 
public charadter of this celebrated man very judicioufly 
and in very few words : “ He was uncorrupt in himfelf, 
but furrounded and impofed upon by ftate-fwindlers and 
peculators. Kis judgment was inferior to his genius, and 
his talents lefs folid than brilliant; his view's were hence 
comprehenfive, but they were feldoin crowned with fuc- 
cefs.” 
Of his character in private life, the following fketch 
lias been given by an intimate friend. “ With a manner 
fomewhat referved and diftant in what might be termed 
his public department, no man was ever better qualified 
to gain, or more fuccefsful in fixing, the attachment of 
his friends, than Mr. Pitt. They law all the powerful 
energies of his character foftened into the moft perfeCt 
complacency and fweetnefs of difpofition in the circles of 
private life, the pleafures of which no one more cheerfully 
enjoyed or more agreeably promoted, when the para¬ 
mount duties he conceived himfelf to owe to the public, 
admitted of his mixing in them. That indignant feve- 
rity with which he met and fubdued what he confidered 
unfounded oppofition ; that keennefs of farcafm with 
which he expelled and withered (as it might be faid) the 
powers of moft of his affailants in debate; were exchanged 
in the fociety of his intimate friends for a kindnefs of 
heart, a gentlenefs of demeanour, and a playfulnefs of 
good-humour, which no one ever witnelfed without inte- 
reft, or participated without delight.” 
The following books may be referred to, and compared, 
in order to form a complete eftimate of Mr. Pitt’s charac¬ 
ter, public and private. Role’s Brief Examination. 
Monthly Mr.g. xxi. Wyviil’s Political Papers. Stock’s 
Life of Dr. Beddoes, Sundry volumes of the New An¬ 
nual Regifter ar.d Parliamentary Debates. Tomline’s 
Memoirs of the Life of Wm. Pitt. Edinburgh Review, 
N° 70. 
PITT FO'RT. See Pittsburg. - 
PITT I'SLAND, an ifland in the North Pacific Ocean, 
near the weft coalt of North America, between Norfolk 
Sound and Salifbury Sound ; about fifty miles long, and 
three broad. Lat. 57. 20. N. 
PITT I'SLAND, a fmall ifland in the Chinefe Sea. 
Lat. 10. 57. N. Ion. 114. 36. E. 
PITT’s ARCHIPEL'AGO, a range of iflands in the 
North Pacific Ocean, extending along the weft coaft of 
North America, about fixty miles in length: fo called by 
Capt. Vancouver, in honour of the Right Hen. William 
Pitt. Lat. 54. 10. N.lon. 52. 15. W. 
PITT WATER, a branch of Broken Bay, juft at the 
entrance, trending away to the fouth, which is a good 
harbour, though the entrance is narroued by a fhoal, 
which extends from the eaftern point two thirds acrofs. 
P I T 
PITTA'CIUM, /. [Greek.] A plafter. Scott. 
PIT'TACUS, a warrior and philofopher, reckoned 
among the feven fages of Greece, was born at Mitylene 
in Lefbos, about 650 B. C. In a war between his coun¬ 
trymen and the Athenians, he challenged to fingle com¬ 
bat their general Phrymon, a man of great ftrength, who 
had been a viflor in the Olympic games, and vanquifhed 
him by means of a concealed net which he threw over the 
Athenian’s head. When offered as a reward for his va¬ 
lour as much of the land which he had recovered from 
the enemy as he chofe, he would accept no more than he 
could meafure by a fingle caft of the javelin, and of that 
he confecrated half to Apollo. He afterwards expelled 
the tyrant Melanchrus from Mitylene; and, having 
liberated his country, was placed by his fellow-citizens 
at its head. He governed with great wifdom,and enabled 
many ufeful laws, comprehended in 600 verfes. In one 
of thefe he gave a fevere check to the propenfity of the 
Lefbians to drunkennefs, by enjoining a double punifh- 
ment to crimes committed in a ftate of intoxication. He 
difplayed great moderation towards his enemies, efpe- 
cially the turbulent poet Alcaeus, who had frequently made 
him the fubjeff of bis fatire. After having held the 
reins of government during ten years with great reputa¬ 
tion, he refigned his authority, and fpent the remainder 
of his life in ftudy and retirement. He died about 570 
B. C. in the Sift year of his age. The maxims of Pittacus 
were held in fuch efteem, that many of them were 
inferibed upon the walls of the temple at Delphi. The 
following are a fpecimen of them: “ Power difeovers the 
man. Never talk of your fchemes before they are put in 
execution, left a failure fliould expofe you to the double 
mortification of difappointment and ridicule. Whatever 
you do, do it well. Do not that to your neighbour which 
you would take ill from him. Be watchful for opportu¬ 
nities.” Enfield’s Hift. Phil. 
PIT'TANCE, f. [pitance, Fr. pictanza, Ital. piclantia, 
low Lat. “ Ainfi elite de pictavina, ou portion monaftique 
de la valeur d’une picle, monnoie des Comtes de Poitiers.’’ 
Roquefort.—“ Pitla, moneta Comitum Piflavenfium, mi- 
nutiflima fere omnium monetarum : Gallis, pite.” Da 
Cange.] A fmall coin of Poiflou. A fmall portion of 
food, or entremet, in oppofition to a generale, or folid did); 
the mention of which pittance frequently occurs in the 
conftitutions or cur ancient religious communities, where 
they determine how many yentralia and how many pic- 
taniia Ihall be fc-rved up on luch and fuel) clays.—Thefe 
piclantia, from whence our prefent word pittance is 
derived, ufually cotififted of plates of legumes, cheefe, or 
fruit. Chambers •—Fie wifte to ban a goed pitance. Chau¬ 
cer’s C. T.- —A fmall portion.—Many of them lole the 
greateft part of the fmall pittance of learning they received 
at the univerfity. Swift's Mijcell. 
Half his earn’d pittance to poor neighbours went: 
They had his alms, and he had his content. Harte. 
PITTA'RO, a mountain of Calabria Ultra : fourteen 
miles north-weft of Bova. 
PIT'TEN, a town of Auftria : eight miles feuth of 
Ebenfurth. 
PIT'TENWEEM, a fea-pert town of Scotland, in the 
county of File, on the north fide of the mouth of the 
Forth. It is a royal burgh, and, united with the Anllru- 
thers, Kilrenny, and Grail, fends one member to parlia¬ 
ment. It was formerly a place of confiderable trade, 
but there is now few (hipping here: the coal and fait 
works, however, ftill orcafion kune little activity here and 
in the adjacent villages. In the rebellion in the feven- 
teenth century this town buffered greatly, upwards of 
thirteen fail of veffels belonging to the port having been 
deftroyed or taken by the enemy in the cour/e of two or 
three years. 
Here are foine remains of an ancient priory for canons 
regular of the order of St. Auguftine, which was dedi¬ 
cated to the Virgin Mary, and was a cell to the mitred 
3 abbey 
