one of the most interesting and inftructive performances that can occupy the attention of mankind.

William Pitt, the illuftrious Earl of Chatham, had two fons, one of whom, the present able minister, is the youngeft. He was born May 8, 1759, at a time when his father's glory was at its zenith; and when, in confequence of the wisdom and integrity of his councils, and the vigour and promptitude of his measures, British valour reigned triumphant in every part of the globe.

On the acceffion of his present Majefty, that great ftatefman, in confequence of new arrangements, chiefly occafioned by the rifing influence of the Earl of Bute, retired from the station which he had fo honourably filled; and configning his elder fon to the inftructions of able tutors, he devoted his own time to the education of WILLIAM, on a strong and well founded persuasion (as he was in the habit of faying) that "he would one day encrease the "glory of the name of PITT.”

His claffical knowledge Mr. Pitt acquired under the care of a private tutor at Burton-Pynsent, the feat of his father; and the Earl took great pains in teaching him, while still a youth, to argue with logical precifion, and fpeak with elegance and force. He judiciously accustomed him to the practice of making accurate enquiries respecting every subject that caught his attention, and taught him not to remain fatisfied with a fuperficial obfervation of appearances.

This leffon brought him into an early practice of cool and patient investigation, rarely, if ever acquired, by those who prefer the trappings of eloquence, and the fhowy ornaments of language, to plain fober diction, and pertinent matter of fact.

Under fuch an able paternal tutor, an acute mind could not fail to imbibe a store of found practical knowledge. The earl, with his ufual perfpicuity, fancied he saw in his

fon a future ftatefman, and, in all probability, a future minifter of his country alfo. It was a laudable ambition in a father, and to gratify it he fpared no exertions; directing his whole attention to the great object of rendering his fon accomplished in all things requisite to form a public character, and to preferve the luftre already attached to the name of WILLIAM PITT.

He, himself, frequently entered into forced difputations with him, and encouraged him to argue with others, upon fubjects far above what could be expected from his years. In the management of thefe arguments, his father would never ceafe to prefs him with difficulties; nor would he permit him to ftop, till the fubject of contention was completely exhaufted. By being inured to this method, the fon acquired that quality which is of the first confequence in public life-a fufficient degree of firmnefs, and prefence of mind, as well as a ready delivery, in which he was wonderfully aided by nature.

That he might have all the benefits of education which this country could give him, and, at the fame time, by a rapid progrefs through the neceffary ftudies, qualify himself early for the senate, he was taken at between fourteen and fifteen years of age from his father's roof, and from the care of a very enlightened and worthy clergyman, Mr. (now Dr.) Wilfon, and fent to Pembroke college, Cambridge, where he was admitted under the tuition of Meffrs. Turner and Prettyman, both very able and well qualified tutors, and willing to fecond, to the utmost of their power, the intentions of his father. Mr. Prettyman was also his private tutor, and a better choice could not have been made, as far as claffical and mathematical knowlege were concerned. For eloquence he could not look up to either of his tutors; but his father's example and precepts required no

farther

farther affiftance. In Cambridge he was a model to the young nobility and fellow-commoners; and it was not doubted that if the privileges of his rank had not exempted him from the ufual exercises for the bachelor's degree, he would have been found among the first competitors for academical honours. On his admiffion, according to cuf tom, to his master's degree, the public orator found it needless to search into his genealogy, or even to dwell much upon the virtues of his father, the eyes of the university were fixed on the youth; the enraptured audience affented to every encomium, and each breast was filled with the liveliest presentiments of future greatness. To the honour of Mr. Pitt it must be spoken, that he has been duly sensible of the care taken of his rifing years. His inftructors have received repeated marks of his acknowledgment. Dr. Wil fon, his first instructor, is now canon of Windfor; and one of his fons has a lucrative finecure in Jamaica. The worthy Dr. Turner is Dean of Norwich; Dr. Prertyman has received the Bishopric of Lincoln, and the Deanery of St. Paul's, and will, doubtlefs, not be overlooked in future promotions.

He was afterwards entered a ftudent at Lincoln's Inn, and made fo rapid a progress in his legal ftudies, as to be foon called to the bar, with every prospect of great fuc cefs,

We are informed, that he once or twice went upon the Western circuit, and appeared as junior counsel in several causes. He was, however, destined to fill a more important station in the government of his country, than is ufually to be obtained through the channel of the law.

At the general election, 1780, we find him nominated by fome of the most respectable perfons in Cambridge as a candidate to represent that univerfity; but notwithstanding his high character in the univerfity, he found very few to

fecond

conftitutes and produces all their grievances. His fubfequent conduct has been such as to restore the current of popularity, and raise his name higher than before. His grand maxim, and furely it is immediately connected with the profperity, and, perhaps, the existence, of a manufacturing and commercial country, is the maintenance of peace. With this object in view, he oppofed a conteft with Ruffia, about the fortrefs of Oczakow, and a conflict with Spain concerning the peltry of Nootka Sound.

During the first stages of that melancholy event which led to the regency bill, Mr. Fox was wandering through the delightful regions of modern Italy, and feemed enchanted once more to tread on claffic land. From this charming fpot, he was called to witness and to participate in far different fcenes, and finally to behold the party he oppofed more firmly feated in power than before.

He has been blamed for his conduct during the impeachment of Mr. Haftings, but he was fupported by a majority of the House of Commons on that occafion, and by nearly all his political enemies. This measure was abfolutely neceffary, in order to clear the honour of the nation, and proved to the oppreffed inhabitants of India, that in England they would ftill find avengers. It is not to be denied, however, that the trial was fpun out to a moft oppreffive length and that the fuppofed culprit at length ceased to be odious in the eyes of the people. The forms of the House of Peers, as a court of juftice, are indeed unfavourable to the dispatch of bufinefs, but the managers ought, perhaps, either to have accelerated thefe, or to have withdrawn from a ftruggle, when they perceived that the firft ftep toward punishment confifted in the oppreffion of even a guilty individual!

No fooner did the French nation evince a fincere defire to hake off the dominion of abfolute power, than he hailed

the

.

the aufpicious dawn of rifing liberty, and deprecated the interference of this country, in a quarrel hoftile to the principles on which she had founded her proud pre-eminence. On this occafion, he experienced the dereliction of many of his affociates, and among others of that man of whose lips he had first imbibed the principles of freedom. Finding, however, that he and his friends were reduced to a fcanty minority, he has fince retired, in a great measure, from public bufinefs, and left the minifter to triumph by means of the majorities in his intereft. Nor is this all, for his name. has been lately struck out from the lift of privy counsellors an event unexampled in the prefent reign, and only once exercifed during the laft, in refpect to a nobleman * accufed of cowardice and difaffection.

As an orator, Mr. Fox is affuredly the firft man of his age. He fimplifies the most abftrufe details, he analyses the most complex arguments, and he reduces the most fubtle positions to the test of first principles. Animated himfelf, he animates others. Unambitious of melodious words and ftudied phrafes, that dwell only on the ear, the correctnefs of his reasoning affails the judgment, while the irresistible thunders of his eloquence at once influence and captivate the fenfes. Struggling continually against the ftream of power, he yet appears inferior to no man, and he wants only to ftand on the "vantage ground" of fuccefs, to be viewed as the greateft man of his time.

As an author, he has produced feveral fpecimens of poetical compofition, which with a due culture might have attained excellence. His verfes to Mrs. Crewe, beginning with the following lines, have often been praised:

"Where the lovelieft expreffion to features is join'd,

"Where blushes unbidden, and smiles without art,

"Speak the softness and feeling that dwell in the heart," &c.

Lord George Germaine.