WILLIAM PITT,

EARL OF CHATHAM,

Is known to have dropped some complimentary" Lines to Miss Margaret Banks," (afterwards married to his brother-in-law Henry Grenville,) and "to David Garrick ;" and is said to have written other small pieces. But as Rome was more fortunate in Cicero's eloquence than in his poetry, so was England in Mr. Pitt's: but the latter's verses were not ridiculous like the consul's; nor did Mr. Pitt sport them but as accidental trifles. He had a more important advantage over the Roman: he left a son of whom he would not have been ashamed. That he had the same superiority over his English rival, in a brighter son, will not be so easily accorded.

To lord Chatham were also ascribed in the Universal Museum for Dec. 17,66 "Verses on the death of Lady Abergavenny:" which, in the Additions to Pope's works, are given to Charles duke of Dorset.

[The son of Robert Pitt, esq. of Old Sarum, was born in 1708, in the city of Westminster. He received the first part of his education at Eton2, and at the age of eighteen was sent to Trinity college, Oxford, whence he contributed a copy of Latin verses on the death of George the first. He afterwards made the tour of part of France and Italy, and, according to lord Chesterfield, being a martyr to the gout from the age of sixteen, acquired "a great fund of premature and useful knowledge." In 1735 he was sent into parliament for the borough of Old Sarum, where he had not been many days before he was selected for a teller. Upon every question he divided with his friends against the minister, sir Ro

He was in no very particular manner, says Mr. Seward, distinguished at that celebrated seminary. Virgil in early life was his favourite author. He was by no means a good Greek scholar; and though he occasionally copied the arrangement and the expression of Demosthenes with great success in his speeches, he perhaps drew them from the Collana translation of that admirable orator, that book having been frequently seen in his room. The sermons of the great Dr. Barrow and of Abernethy were favourite books with him; and of the sermons of Mr. Mudge he spoke very highly. He once declared in the house of commons that no book had ever been perused by him with such instruction as Plutarch's Lives. See Monboddo on the Origin of Language.

• Warton alludes to this in his poem on the death of George the second, addressed to Mr. secretary Pitt.

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bert Walpole; and in a short time was deprived of his cornet's commission in the Blues. In 1737 he was appointed groom of the bedchamber to the prince of Wales. In 1744 he received a legacy of 10,000%. from the duchess of Marlborough, for his noble defence in supporting the laws of England. In 1746 he was made a vice-treasurer of Ireland, and soon' after paymaster of the forces; in which office he distinguished himself by disinterested integrity and incorruptible virtue, until his dismission in 1755. On the breaking up of the Newcastle administration in' October 1756, Mr. Pitt was allowed to make his own arrangement of a cabinet, and nominated himself secretary of state 5: but being hostile to the plan of German measures, he was commanded to resign in April 1757. This excited a considerable ferment throughout the country, and he was reinstated in July. The king gave him his confidence, and all went well till his death: but a party then rose up against Mr. Pitt, which constrained his resignation in October 1761.7 In 1764 sir William Pynsent

4 On this occasion lord Lyttelton addressed some spirited lines to him. See Anderson's British Poets, vol. x. p. 270.

5 In 1756 Gilbert Cooper inscribed an iambic ode, entitled, The Genius of Britain, to the right Hon. W. Pitt. Ut sup. p. 780. 6 In 1760 the foundation-stone of Blackfriars' Bridge was inscribed with the name of William Pitt.

7 The following lines were penned on Mr. Pitt's resigning the seals in 1761:

"Ne'er yet in vain did Heaven its omen send,
Some dreadful ills unusual signs portend!

bequeathed to him and his heirs an estate of nearly 3000l. per annum. In July 1766 he was created viscount Pitt, earl of Chatham, and appointed lord privy-seal; which office he held till 1768, being the last he possessed under the crown. Unless prevented by bodily infirmities, his parliamentary attendance was still continued, and it is well known that his last speech relating to the independence of America2 was the knell of his own decease, which took place on the 11th of May 1778; to the sincere grief, observes his biographer, of every British subject, and of every person who had a just sense of human dignity and

When Pitt resign'd, a nation's tears will own,

Then fell the brightest jewel in the crown."*

s In consequence of this bequest, a nephew of sir William was said to be living on the slender income of a paltry office in Ireland, at the time of lord Chatham's decease.

The following epigram was produced by his earldom :

Says great William Pitt, with his usual emotion,

'The peers are no more than a drop in the ocean :'

The city adore him; how charming a thing,

To pull down the peers, and to humble the king:
But summon'd to court, he reflects on his words,

And to balance the state takes a seat with the lords."

? In more than one conversation he is reported to have said "America would prove a staff to support the aged arm of Britain - the oak upon which she might hereafter recline, shaded and protected by filial duty and affection." Anecd. ut infra, vol. i. p. 523.

Alluding to the largest diamond falling out of the regal diadem at the coronation.

virtue. His lordship was buried in Westminster-abbey at the public expense, where a monument of national respect is erected to his memory. Twenty thousand pounds were granted for the payment of his debts, and an annuity of 4000l. was annexed to the earldom. The following inscription on a marble urn at Burton-Pynsent is said to have been drawn up by LADY CHATHAM:

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"Sacred to pure affection! this simple urn stands a witness of unceasing grief for him, who excelling in whatever is most admirable, and adding to the exercise of the sublimest virtues the sweet charms of refined sentiments and polished wit; by social commerce rendered beyond comparison happy the course of domestic life, and bestowed a felicity inexpressible on her, whose faithful love was bless'd in a pure

• Anecdotes of the Life of Lord Chatham, with his Speeches, &c. from 1736 to 1778, in 3 vols. 8vo. Mr. Coxe has pronounced this work " a wretched compilation ;" and adds, “From the access I have had to the papers and documents of the times, I find this Life of the Earl of Chatham superficial and inaccurate, principally drawn from newspapers and party pamphlets; and interspersed perhaps with a few anecdotes communicated in desultory conversations by earl Temple. It becomes a matter of extreme regret that the life of so great a statesman and orator has not been delineated by a more faithful and able hand." Memoirs of Lord Walpole, p. 298. where Mr. Coxe has given an incidental sketch of Lord Chatham at p. 410. The abbé Brotier characterised him of one of the greatest statists that England ever produced.

A cenotaph was also raised to his civic fame in Guildhall. 5 This place was sold in 1805, for about 45,000l.