"MY DEAR MOTHER, "Savile Street, July 22, 1783. "I resume at last my pen, though with no other reason than ought to have made me do so every day for this month past. I can indeed hardly make out how that period has slid away, in which I have done little else but ride backwards and forwards between Wimbledon and London, and meditate plans for the summer, till I find the summer half over before I have begun to put any in execution. 66 'My excursion to Stowe was a very short one-the pleasantest, however, that could be. I found more beauties in the place than I expected; and the house, though not half finished in the inside, the most magnificent by far that I ever saw. Still, as far as the mere pleasure of seeing goes, I had rather be the visitor than the owner. Sedgemoor and Troy Hill are not to be exchanged for the Elysian Fields, with all the temples into the bargain. I had the discretion, you will believe though, to keep this opinion to myself. We were quite a family party—Mr. and Mrs. Fortescue, Miss Grenville, William, and myself. We had leisure, as you may imagine, for abundance of speculation and discourse, all of which was in the greatest degree satisfactory, and promises everything that you would wish in regard to those quarters. The Session is over, and everything seems very quiet, though whether the Ministry will gain much strength from their repose is very doubtful. Perhaps not. I rather think, if I can, to take leave of this neighbourhood in a day or two, and to take some dips at Brighthelmstone before our Somersetshire party, which I hope will take place not very late in next 2 A house which had been taken by Lord Chatham before his marriage. month, if nothing happens any day to derange my summer schemes. I came this morning from Hayes, where all is happiness, as you will believe, and where indeed all ought to be so. I should be very much tempted to stay there till they move, but that I want to employ a few more studious hours in the interval than I could easily find there. Brighthelmstone will answer in that view, as well as in point of health, though, as to that, it cannot make me better than I "I imagine some of your visitors are by this time with you, or at least on their way. I am so far separated from the main army that they may probably not be able to give you any certain account of my motions, though it is my intention very soon to rejoin it. I shall leave this place probably on Wednesday, and by striking across the country shall, I flatter myself, reach Burton the next day. At all events, before the end of the week, I shall certainly have the happiness of seeing you, and, I trust, of finding you going on well. This part of the world supplies no news, and I know of none elsewhere. By all I learnt before I left London, I now think things may possibly go through the rest of the summer as they are, though much longer there is every reason to believe they will not. "Ever, my dear Mother, &c., "W. PITT." CHAPTER IV. 1783. Pitt's excursion to France - Abbé de Lageard - Return to England — Fox's India Bill Great speech of Burke- Bill passes the Commons, but is thrown out by the Lords - Dismissal of Fox and North-The Royal Prerogative - Pitt appointed Prime Minister Resignation of Lord Temple - The New Cabinet. His legal pursuits being for this summer laid aside, Pitt had planned an excursion to France, in company with Wilberforce and Eliot. Early in September the three friends met and passed a few days at the seat of Henry Bankes in Dorsetshire. There one day in partridge-shooting Pitt had a narrow escape from Wilberforce's gun. "So at least," said Wilberforce, "my companions affirmed, with a roguish wish perhaps to make the most of my short-sightedness and inexperience in field-sports." On the 10th of September Pitt attended the King's Levee at St. James's, and on the 12th embarked at Dover with his two travelling companions. But the events of his short tour will best be gathered from his own correspondence. "MY DEAR MOTHER, "Sept. 10, 1783. "I am just going to the Levee, and shall get into my chaise immediately after, and, I hope, shall reach Dover before night. I will write as soon as I am landed on the other side of the water. London furnishes no news but the long expected definitive treaty, and of that no new particulars are known. I hope you are perfectly free from the complaint Harriot mentioned in her last letter. If the cross-post does me justice, she will have heard from me in answer. Adieu. Ever, my dear Mother, &c., "MY DEAR MOTHER, "W. PITT." "Calais, Sept. 12 (1783). "Lest any howling at Burton should have given you the idea of a storm, I am impatient to assure you that we are arrived here after rather a rough but a very prosperous passage. We shall set out to-morrow and reach Rheims Sunday night or Monday morning. A letter, directed to a Gentilhomme Anglois à la Poste Restante, will, I find, be sure to reach me. I hope I shall have the pleasure of hearing from you very soon. "Your dutiful and affectionate "W. PITT." "MY DEAR MOTHER, "Rheims, Sept. 18, Thursday, 1783. "We arrived here after a journey which had little but the novelty of the country to recommend it. The travelling was much better than I expected, and the appearance of the people more comfortable, but the face of the country through all the way from Calais the dullest I ever saw. Here we are in very good quarters, though as yet we have not found much society but our own. The place is chiefly inhabited by mercantile people and ecclesiastics, among whom, however, I suppose we shall by degrees find some charitable persons who will let us practise our French upon them. At present, when I have told you that we are here and perfectly well, I have exhausted my whole budget of news. The post is also not well suited for a longer letter, as it goes out at nine in the morning, and I am writing before breakfast. This, however, is not so great an exertion as in England, for the hours are uncommonly early, to which we easily accustom ourselves, at night, and in some measure in the morning. I hope I shall have the happiness of a letter from Burton soon. You will probably have received one which I wrote from Calais. Kind love to Harriot, and compliments to Mrs. Stapleton. "Your ever dutiful and affectionate To Lady Harriot Pitt. "MY DEAR SISTER, "W. PITT." 66 'Rheims, Oct. 1, 1783. "This place has for some days been constantly improving upon us, though at this time of year it has not a numerous society. We are going to-day to dine at a country-house in the midst of vineyards, which, as this is the height of the vintage, will furnish a very pleasant scene. To-morrow we are to dine at a magnificent palace of the Archbishop's, who lives about five miles off, and is a sort of prince in this country. Most of those we see are ecclesiastics, and as a French Abbé is not proverbial for silence, we have an opportunity of hearing something of the language. "Your ever affectionate "W. PITT." |