The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-08-25 00:00:00

LITERART 01,RANINGS.

Na XVII.

INICDOTIII AND CIIIII•CTEtOF Ma. PITT •ND Mft.l
Fui.—ln the flower of youth, when he was placed at the
head of Administration, Mr. Pitt manifested none of the'
characteristic virtues or defects usually accompanying that
period of life. Charles the Twelfth, King of Sweden, could
coc have exhibited more coldness, indifference, or apathy
„weds women : a point of his character on which his
enemies dwelt with malignant though impotent satisfaction;
while his friends laboured with equal pertinacity to repel
the imputation. To him the Opposition applied, as had
been done to his father, the description given of a Roman
youth—
" 311ulta tulit, fectique Puer ; sudavit et shit ;
Abstinuit
In order to justify him from such a supposed blank in
his formation, his adherents whispered that he was no more
chute than other men, though more decorous in his plea-
sures; and they asserted that he made frequent visits to a
female of distinguished charms, who resided on the other
fide of Westminster-bridge, but I never could learn from'
sayof them her name or abode. Pitt's apparent insensibility
towards the other sex, and,his chastity, formed indeedoneof
the subjects on which the minority exhausted their wit, or
rather their malevolence, as if it had been necessary that
the first Minister of George the Third should be, like the '
Chancellor of Charles the Second, " the greatest libertine
in his dominions." I recollect, soon after Pitt became con-
timed in power, his detaining the House of Commons
from the business of the day, during a short time,
while he went up to the House -of (Lords; and as Mrs.
3;ddons was to perform the part of lielvidrea that evening,
when Fox never failed, if possible, to attend in the orches-
tra at Drury-lane, the Opposition impatiently expected
Pitts return, in order to propose an adjournment. As
soon as the door opened and he made his appearance, one
of titem, a man of a classic mind, exclaimed—
" .I.en redi4et Virgo
If, however, the Minister viewed women with indiff:-
mace, he was no enemy to wine, nor to tit., social.con vi-
a
vislity of the table. His constitution, in which latent
and hereditary gout early displayed itself ; which disorder,
heightened by political distress, domestic and foreign, car-
ried him off at forty-seven; always demanded the aid and
stimulus of the grape.
In the autumn of 1794, he hail indeed nearly fallen a
%'ltlilll to one of those festive meetings, at which no severe
renunciations were enjoined by the host, or practised by
the guests. Returning by way of frolic, very late at night,
on horseback, to il'imbledon, frota Addiscombe, the seat
of Mr. Jenkinpon, near Croydon, where the party had
dined, Lord Thurlow, then Chancellor, Pitt, and Dundas,
found the turnpike gate situate between Tooting anti
Smathant thrown open. Being elevated above their usual
prudence, and having no servant near them, they passed
through he gate at a brisk pace, without stopping to pay the
toll; regardless of the remonstrances or threats of the turn-
pike man, who, running after them, and believing them to
belong to some highwaymen, who hall recently committed
depredations on that road, discharged the contents of his
blunderbuss at their backs. Happily he did no injury. To
this curious and narrow escape of the first Minister, which
furnished matter of pleasantry, though perhaps not of re-
joicing, to the Opposition, allusion is made in the " rol-
had :”
" How an he wander'd darkling o'er the plain,
His reason lost in Jenkinson't champagne,
A peasant's hand, but that just tate withstood,
Had shed a Premier's for a robber's blood."

Probably no men in high office, since Charles the Second's
time, drank harder than Pitt's companions ; as in addition
to the individuals already named, we should not omit the
Duke of Rutland and Lord Gower, neither of whom pro-
feised orj practised mortification. Once, and once only,
the House of Commons witnessed a deviation from strict
sobriety in the first Minister and the Treasurer of the Navy,
who having come down after a repast, not of a Pythagorean
description, found themselves unable to manage the debate,
or to reply to the arguments of the minority, with their
accustomed ability. No liberal notice or advantage was,
however, taken of this solitary act of indiscretion. The
House broke up, and it sunk into oblivion. Fox never
subjected himself, either in or out of office, to similar com-
ments. He was always fresh ; but the Treasury bench,
under the coalition Ministry, bad not wanted some noble
advocates for the quick circulation of the bottle.
• Pitt, at his coming into office, was soon surrounded by a
chosen phalanx of young men who participated in his tri-
umph, pressed near him on a day of expected debate, and
onstituted the resource of his leisure hours.

In general, the Duke de Montausier's observation to
Louis the Fourteenth, when speaking of Versailles,
" Vous ayes beau faire, Sire, vous n'en ferez jamais qu'un
favori sans merite," might well apply them. With Fox's
associates and comrades, Hare, Fitzpatrick, and Sheridan,
they could sustain no competition for mental endowments.
Lord Grenville, then Mr. ll'illiain Grenville, must not
however be included in this remark. His near connexion
with the first Minister, by consangunity, when added to
his distinguished abilities, placed him on far higher ground.
As little will the observation apply to Lord Motnington,
since cleated Marquis iVellesiey ; to the present Earl of
Harrowby, then Mr. Ryder; or to IVilberforce ; all three,
men of undisputed talents.
In sauvity of temper, magnanimity of disposition, and
oblivion of injury or offence, Fox rose superior to Pitt.
Even Dundas possessed far more liberality of charrcter, as
be manifested on many occasions. 1 have heard Fox, after
dealing out the severest insinuations or accusations
against Lord North, when that Nobleman was at
the head of the Treasury, towards the end of the
American war ; on being convinced that he had
exceeded the fair limits of Parliamentary attack, Or bad
doiand into personal abuse, explain, retract, and apolo-
gise for his violence or indecorum. Mr. Pitt, though he
randy committed such a breach of propriety, and was mere
measured in his censure or condemnation, seldom, if ever, '
mode conceoaion.

It 1a not easy to decide relative to their respective supe-
ticrity in eloquence. Fox's oratory was more impassioned :
Pitt's could boast of greater correctness in diction. The
former exhibited, while speaking, all the tribunitian rage;
the latter displayed the consular dignity. But it must not
be forgotten that the one commonly attacked, while the
other generally defended ; and it is more easy to impugn or
to censure, than to justify measures of State. Had they
changed positions in the House, the character of their
speeches would doubtless have taken a tinge, though it
uould not have been radically altered, by such a variation
in their political destiny. From Fox's fluest specimens of
oratory, much, as it appeared to me, might have been
taken away, without injuring the effect, or maiming the
t.tnclusion. To Pitt's speeches nothing seemed wanting,
yet was there no redundancy. He seemed, as by intuition,
1, hit the precise point, where, having attained his object,
4i far ita eloquence could effect it, he sat down. This dis-
t.octive and opposite characteristic of the two men arose,
Tut), at least, from an opinion or principle which Fox
hail adopted. He calculated that one-third of his audience
von always either absent, or at dinner, or asleep, and he
therefore usually made a short resumption or epitome of
Ibis argotileen, for the benefit of this part of the members.
N) that, after speaking at great length, and sometimes ap-
parently Interning up, as if about to conclude ; whenever lie
saw a considerable influx of attendance he began anew; re-
Rsrilless of the impatience manifested on the part of those,
w!toce attention was already exhausted by long exertion.
Pitt net er coutleseentlell to avail himself of such a practice,
ornber lengthening his speeches, nor abbreviating them,
from any consideration except the necessity of fully deve-
Ill,is; his ideas. indeed, so well was the relative proper-
th 40( time generally taken up by the two peakers, kown
13 she old members, that they calculates d, whenever Fox
was three hours on his legs, Pitt replied in two.
A vital defect in Pitt's composition as a man, must be
fsimeed his want of economy : it was hereditary, coma-
t ;al, and in-urmountahle. The great Earl of Chatham,
I • father, had to contend with the same deficiency ; and
:vet sedetstaod, as Lord Holland had done, the art of
•Toulating a fortune. But, the first Mr. Pitt, besides
lucrative sinecure of the Privy Seal, which he held
several years, enjoyed the estate of Burton Pynsent
comity of Somerset, bequeathed to him by Sir
Pynsent ; together with a pension of three thousand
:nit, a year, bestowed on him by the crown. None of
;,:se Poasmtsions however descended to his second son,
l',•ve whole patrimonial inheritance amounted, I believe,
tos rite thousand pounds; and it never received any
no -tle augmentation, except a legacy of there thousand
twult. leipteathell him in October, tin, by the Duke of!
4z!stel. We may therefore be enabled, with these data, to