this excursion and before it he applied himself to the language of the country, which he learnt both to speak and write with ease. In its literature also he was by no means unversed. My father told me that he had been present at an animated argument between Lord Grenville and Mr. Pitt on the merits of Molière. Besides his primary studies in mathematics and in ancient languages Pitt gave great attention to the public lectures in Civil Law, of which he felt the importance as bearing on his future profession. He also attended the lectures upon experimental philosophy, to which he was incited by the zealous example of his relative at Chevening, and in which, as is said, he took great pleasure. Of the English books which he read at Cambridge, there was none, as Mr. Pretyman records, which gave Pitt greater satisfaction than Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding.' He drew up for himself a complete and correct analysis of that important work. We may further conclude, from the early zeal with which he espoused the principles of Adam Smith in the House of Commons, that even at the University he had been an assiduous reader of the Wealth of Nations.' Pitt-so Mr. Pretyman tells us-was not an admirer of Dr. Johnson's style, and still less of Gibbon's. As writers he much preferred Robertson and Hume. He was fond of Middleton's 'Life of Cicero,' and fonder still of Lord Bolingbroke's political works. These last had no doubt been earnestly commended to him by Lord Chatham; for in a letter at an earlier period addressed to Thomas Pitt we find Lord Chatham praise them in the highest terms. Of one of them, namely, the 'Remarks on the History of England,' published under the name of Sir John Oldcastle, he says that they are "to be studied and almost got by heart for the inimitable beauty of the style." " Pitt appears to have retained through life an equal admiration of them. At Walmer Castle my father heard him more than once declare that there was no loss in literature which he more lamented than that scarce any trace remained to us of Bolingbroke's Parliamentary speeches. But whatever the studies of Pitt, whether in the ancient languages or in his own, the aim of public speaking was kept steadily in view. He continued with Mr. Pretyman the same practice of extemporaneous translation which with his father he had commenced. We further learn from his preceptor that "when alone he dwelt for hours upon striking passages of an orator or historian, in noticing their turn of expression, and marking their manner of arranging a narrative. A few pages sometimes occupied a whole morning. It was a favourite employment with him to compare opposite speeches upon the same subject, and to observe how each speaker managed his own side of the question. The authors whom he preferred for this purpose were Livy, Thucydides, and Sallust. Upon these occasions his observations were not unfrequently committed to paper, and furnished a topic for conversation with me at our next meeting. He was also in the habit of copy 6 To Thomas Pitt, May 4, 1754. ing any eloquent sentence or any beautiful or forcible expression which occurred in his reading." We have seen that as an undergraduate Mr. Pitt made few acquaintance, and went into no society. It is probable that at fourteen and fifteen his fellow-collegians might regard him as a boy. But after taking his degree at the age of seventeen he began to mix freely with other young men of his own age at Cambridge. There he laid the foundations of several of the future friendships of his life. His manners at this time are described as gentle and unassuming, and free from all taint of self-conceit. Those who in after years confronted night by night in the House of Commons the haughty and resolute Prime Minister, armed on all points, and ever self-possessed, had great difficulty in believing how far in his social hours he could unbend. Yet the testimony as follows of Mr. Pretyman at Cambridge will be found confirmed by several others a little later, but to the same effect:-"He was always the most lively person in company, abounding in playful wit and quick repartee; but never known to excite pain, or to give just ground of offence." "But though”—thus Mr. Pretyman proceeds to say -"his society was universally sought, and from the age of seventeen or eighteen he constantly passed his evenings in company, he steadily avoided every species of irregularity." This remark of his preceptor is by no means to be limited to his college years. Then and ever afterwards the strictness of his morals was maintained. Indeed throughout his life it became for want of a better the favourite taunt of his opponents. Who ever looks through the Whig satires or epigrams of that day which proceeded from the wits at Brooks's-some of them remarkable for their talent and spirit-will be surprised at the number of sarcasms on that account aimed in various forms at the "immaculate young Minister." To be of an amorous temper is there assumed as among the most essential qualifications of a statesman! The residence of Pitt at Cambridge was varied by occasional trips to London; above all, when Lord Chatham brought forward any important motion in the House of Lords. Thus in January, 1775, we find him report as follows on the next day after the debate to Lady Chatham :— 66 "I can now tell you correctly: my father has slept well, without any burning in the feet or restlessness. He has had no pain, but is lame in one ankle near the instep, from standing so long. No wonder he is lame; his first speech lasted above an hour, and the second half an hour—surely the two finest speeches that ever were made before, unless by himself! He will be with you to dinner at four o'clock.”7 There are also on record two letters to his mother, giving a full report of the great debate, which in like manner he attended in May, 1777.8 But chief of all was the scene on the memorable 7th of April, 1778, on the final, and as it has been called the dying, speech of Lord Chatham. His eldest 7 See the Chatham Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 377. son and also his youngest were at this time absent on foreign service. It devolved on William conjointly with Lord Mahon to support between them their venerable parent, as with feeble steps but no faltering spirit he tottered in through the assembled Peers, and raised for the last time his eloquent voice in his country's cause. Need I again relate what I have elsewhere told -how on rising to reply he fell back in convulsionshow his son and son-in-law, aided by the Peers around him, bore him forth to a private chamber-how he was removed to Hayes-and how on the 11th of May following the great orator and statesman died? At the death of Lord Chatham all parties, seemingly at least, combined to do him honour. The House of Commons granted 20,0007. for the payment of his debts. An Act of Parliament passed, annexing an annuity of 40007. for ever to his Earldom. A public funeral and a monument to his memory were unanimously voted. The public funeral took place in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday the 9th of June. William Pitt, in the absence of his elder brother, walked as the chief mourner, supported on one side by Lord Mahon, and on the other by Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc, the head of the Pitt family. Late the same afternoon we find him write as follows from Lord Mahon's house in Harley Street to Lady Chatham, who had remained at Hayes: "MY DEAR MOTHER, "Harley Street, June 9, 1778. "I cannot let the servants return without letting you know that the sad solemnity has been celebrated so |