We often admire great abilities, as much for the cause in which they are engaged, and, in truth, it is the application of talents that can alone juftify rational admiration, as for any powers of the human mind, which may be difplayed in the fupport of it; and it is not always eafy to difcriminate accurately by which of thefe confiderations our judgment is regulated. "The Houfe of Commons was perhaps, at no period, more completely divided in opinion, than during the lives of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox. The partizans of each naturally exalted the ta lents of their leader; but, while their refpective friends were difputing which fhone moft confpicuous in every debate, each of thefe eminent men did the most ample juftice to the powers of his rival. In making this obfervation, however, it is neceffary to ftate, that it applies only to the laft twelve or fourteen years of Mr. Pitt's life; for it is well known, that in the early part of his political career, Mr. Fox was inclined very much to undervalue his abilities, and to impute to arrogance and prefump-. tion that confidence which he afterwards admitted to reft upon the moft folid and substantial grounds. "As a statefman, the refources as well as the firmness of Mr. Pitt's mind have been amply demonftrated by the measures which he adopted, to meet the various and unforeseen difficulties with which this nation was furrounded, during the period of his adminiftration. Abroad, he had to ftruggle with the moft gi. gantic power, which ever raised itself in oppofition to the greatnefs of his country; while, at home, he had to fupport, at the fame time, commercial and national credit, to allay the turbu Fent fpirit of mutiny, to extinguish the raging flames of rebel. lion, to provide even for the importunate calls of famine. The energies of his mind were moft eminently exerted upon thofe important occafions; and, in fpite of internal distractions, he car ried the power of the nation to a greater height than it had ever attained at any former period. It will not foon be forgotten with what industry and effect he applied himself to the management of the revenue, and how Epeedily he reftored order to the confufed ftate of our finances. By fimplifying the public accounts, he rendered a fubject eafily telligible, which had before been involved in extreme intri cacy; and, by pointing out the defects of former plans, and fuggefting new and more approved fyftems, he carried with him the fenfe of the nation in providing for that heavy expenditure, which the peculiar exigency of the times brought upon the state, Nor was he lefs fortunate in removing, upon difficult occafions, those embarrafiments in which the trade of the country was involved, and which, at one period, threatened it with total ftagnation; and when they who, from their habitual purfuits, might have been thought beft qualified, and moft likely, to fuggeft a remedy for thefe evils, were loft in aftonishment, diftruft, and - and difmay, he difpelled their fears, as it were by a charm, revived the confidence of our merchants and manufacturers, and restored our commerce to its accustomed activity and enterprize. The plan of Commercial Exchequer Bills;-the eftablishment of the Sinking Fund;-the Sufpenfion of Cafh Payments at the Bank; the Syftem of War Taxes-were meafures which originated exclufively with himself, and were. calculated, with profound ability, to meet the various exigencies to which they were applied. Even his enemies, who were difpofed to deny him almost every other inerit as a Minifter, acknowledged him to be the ableft financier whom, the nation had ever produced; and while they made this acknowledgment, they did full justice to the pure difinterested.. nefs and the inflexible integrity with which he conducted that branch of the public business. "As a parliamentary orator his powers were various. In ftatement he was perfpicuous, in declamation animated. If he had to explain a financial account he was clear and accurate. If he wanted to roufe a juft indignation for the wrongs of the country, he was rapid, vehement, glowing, and impaffioned. And whether his difcourfe was argumentative or declamatory, it always difplayed a happy choice of expreffion, and a fluency of diction, which could not fail to delight his hearers. So fingu. larly felect, felicitous, and appropriate was his language, that. it has often been remarked, a word of his fpeech could fcarcely.. be changed without prejudice to its harmony, vigour, or effect. He feldom was fatisfied with standing on the defenfive in debate; but was proud to contraft his own actions with the avowed inten tions of his opponents. Thefe intentions too, he often expofed with the moft pointed farcafm; a weapon which, perhaps, no fpeaker ever wielded with more dexterity and force than him... felf. He admired much in Mr. Fox, the happy effect with which he illustrated his arguments, by the application of wellknown anecdotes, or by paffages from modern authors; but he did not imitate him in this refpect;-on the other hand, he used to condemn his habit of repetition. "Mr. Pitt's love of amplification has been fometimes urged as detracting from his excellence as an orator; but, it was his own remark, that every person who addreffed a public affembly, and was anxious to be diftinctly understood, and to make an impreffion upon particular points, muft either be copious upon; thofe points or repeat them, and that, as a fpeaker, he preferred copioufnefs to repetition. Of his eloquence, it may be obferved generally, that it combined the elegance of Tully with the energy of Demofthenes. It was fpontaneous; always. great; it fhone with peculiar, with unequalled fplendour in a reply, which precluded the poffibility of previous ftudy; while it fafcinated the imagination by the brilliancy of language, jt convinced convinced the judgment by the force of argument;-like an im petuous torrent, it bore down all refiftance; extorting the ad miration even of those who moft feverely felt its strength, and who moft earnestly deprecated its effect. It is unneceffary, and might be prefumptuous, to enter more minutely into the character of Mr. Pitt's eloquence; there are many living witnesses of its powers; it will be admired as long as it fhall be remembered. A few of his fpeeches in Parliament were publifhed by his friends, and fome of them under his own fuperintendance; but, it has been obferved, that they were confiderably weakened in effect by his own corrections; that, if they gained any thing in accuracy, they loft more in vigour and fpirit; and that he had not himself the power of improving upon reflection, the just and happy expreffion in which his thoughts were conveyed, as they occurred in the course of debate. "As a public man, Mr. Pitt trusted his character to his public conduct; he rejected those arts and aids to which inferior men have fometimes had recourfe to prop their fame; and he difdained to court popularity at the expence of unbecoming condefcenfion; he never failed to be generally esteemed where he was generally known; but his public occupations did not permit him to enjoy much of the pleasures of private fociety, and his hours of retirement and relaxation were chiefly confined to the circle of a few friends, which circle he did not feem inclined to extend. Thofe hours indeed were few, for his life may be faid to have been devoted to the public fervice; and, perhaps, to have been facrificed by that devotion; for his health had gradually declined for the last five years of his life; but the vigour of his mind was unimpaired, and directed, in fpite of a feeble frame, with the most unremitted anxiety, to promote the interefts and welfare of the country. With him, indeed, his country was ever the first object, self the laßt, "It would be highly unjuft, however, to difmifs the character of Mr. Pitt without correcting the erroneous impreffion which has too generally prevailed, that he was in focicty, cold, diftant, and referved. So far from it that, in the relations of private life, he was no lefs amiable than he was eminent in his public conduct; and, in the company of his felect friends, none charmed more by the cafe, playfulness, and vivacity of converfation. He poffeffed a peculiar fweetness and equanimity of temper, which, under all the varying circumftances of health and fickness, of good and adverfe fortune, was never ruffled. The victory of Trafalgar, though he felt at it the honeft prideof an Englishman, elated him to no unbecoming height; nor did the overthrow of his deareft hopes at Austerlitz, though it af fected him moft fenfibly, fink him to an unmanly dejection. Yet this calmnefs and felf-poffeffion arofe not from any apathy or coldness; on the contrary, the varied expreffion of his coun tenance and the fire of his eye fhewed him to be, what he really was, was, exquifitely fenfible to every feeling; but they were the natural refult of a strong and well-regulated mind--of the conscious rectitude of his measures, and of the happy mildness of his difpofition. The fame benevolence and fimplicity of heart, ftrongly marked his manners and deportment, which were, in the highest degree prepoffeffing. They befpoke the total abfence of any thing like morofeness in his nature. With the most playful vi. vacity, he affumed no fuperiority in converfation; nor ever op. preffed any man with the ftrength of his talents or the bril liancy of his wit. It was matter of furprize how so much fire could be mitigated, and yet not enfeebled, by fo much gentlenefs; and how fuch power could be fo delightful. Modesty was a ftriking feature in Mr. Pitt's character; he was attentive to the humbleft, and kindly patient to the weakeft, opinions. No man was ever more beloved by his friends, or infpired those who had the happiness of living in his fociety with a more fincere and affectionate attachment. In his conduct, he was rigidly just and strictly moral; and as his virtues were greater, fo were his failings lefs than fall to the lot of most men." Vol. VI. p. 809. Moft happy fhould we have been to enrich our pages with obfervations on, and extracts from a work calculated to do juftice to the memory of the truly great and illuftrious perfon, who has fo unfortunately fallen into the hands of this author. It is truly lamentable to obferve, that in the prefent day, when all men feem eager for biographical works, the lives of fome of the greatest ornaments of our nation fhould be utterly neglected or unworthily facrificed : that there fhould be no adequate commemoration of fach men as the Duke of Marlborough and the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke; and that the Earl of Mansfield, the Earl of Chatham, and Mr. Pitt fhould have their fame fullied by the attemps of fuch chroniclers as Mr. Halliday, Mr. Ai mon, and, we are forry to add, the present biographer. ART. IV. A History of the University of Oxford, including the Lives of the Founders. By Alex. Chalmers, F.S.A. with a Series of illuftrative Engravings, by James Storer and John Greig. 8vo. 500 pp. Small Paper, 11. 11s. 6d. Large Paper, 21. 15s. 4to. 61. 6s. Oxford, printed; London, Longinan and Co. 1810. FEW. places are more amply supplied than Oxford with materials for their hiftory. Exclufive of other autho rities, the laborious and voluminous compilations of A. Wood, Wood, whether published by himself, in the Athenæ, by Fell in an imperfect Latin tranflation, or by Mr. Gutch from his original MSS. (under the titles of History, Fafli, and Annals,) form altogether fuch a mass of information, as is feldom to be met with, in reference to the fortunes of one city. But, in proportion to the abundance of materials, the taste and judgment of an able felector were required, to make a work in any great degree pleafing to the general reader. A fitter person to execute this task than Mr. A. Chalmers could not perhaps have been found. Long verfed in every branch of enquiry relative to history, biography, and antiquities, as well as practifed in the art of writing, of a difcriminating mind and cool judgment, he was the very perfon to felect what might be pleafing and inftructive, and to give it the most attractive form. That he has done this in the prefent history, few perfons, we think, will be inclined to controvert; and they who are, must be guided by rules very different from thofe by which our judgment is directed. The "Hiftory and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls," as published and continued in 1786 form, of course, the bafis of the present work: but it is not fervilely followed. Much that is heavy and uninterefting is totally omitted, and much of valuable information has been collected from other' fources. Mr. C. acquiefces in the reafonings of Wood to give the priority of collegiate establishment to Merton College, which was founded in the thirteenth Century. Whatever might be the refort of ftudents to Oxford before that time, however patronized or encouraged, there was certainly nothing like a college fubfifting, as it is now underflood, till the foundation of Walter de Merton took place. Till then there were feparate fchools, for different branches of learning, with inns or hotels for the refidence of the ftudents, but nothing more. In giving an account of the defign of this firft founder,' Mr. C. informs us that he first founded a college at Maldon†, which he afterwards transferred to Oxford; but he has omitted to fay, what is neceffary to prevent error, and is clearly expreffed by Wood, that this was not Maldon in Effex, but a village called, originally, Meauden, but fince, Maldon, in Surrey, (near Kingston) the patronage of which living is ftill vefted in the college. Merton, the place of the birth and education of the munificent Walter, is very * See our account of his Biographical Prefaces to the Tatler, Spectator, &c. Vol. xxiii. p. 548, Often written Malden. |