therefore nothing was left untried to destroy his popularity; and on his being created Earl of Chatham, their diabolical arts in some measure succeeded. Had this been the work of the whigs, it might not have been so surprising; but it was the base language of the Leicester-House faction. Newspaper essays, oral scandal, and every other channel to the public ear, were employed in calumniating the new Earl of Chatham. — Smollet,* Mallet, Francis, Home, Murphy, and Maudit, were the chief instruments used to effect in England what in some other countries is often perpetrated by poison. † Such was the relative situation of the subject of this sketch.

other man.

The first year of Pitt's war was enough to discourage any It was marked with laziness, discord, weakness, and dejection. Impediments were thrown in his way by the followers of the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Bute, yet he so far overcame them all that in the second year he frowned down discord, shamed cowardice, gave aid and encouragement to weakness, and chased away despondency. We should bear in mind, that want of virtue was not only the characteristic of the British ministry, but of the age, of which the contemporary government of Louis XV. was another striking instance.

It is no wonder that the incessant clamor of the waste of public money and Pitt's peerage and pension, raised by hireling writers, should at length slacken the strong current of his popularity. But it soon returned to its former channels with increased force, which was nobly expressed in an address by the city of London; and cordially echoed by the populace, as the following anecdote evinces. It has been

* Dr. Smollet was among celebrated writers what Teniers was among artists, an exact painter of low life and mean characters. His forte was the burlesque.

"The sum paid to these and other hired writers, during the first three years of the reign of George the Third, exceeded a hundred thousand pounds: and the printing charges amounted to more than twice that sum. And as to the few who might attempt to undeceive the public, there was a political Judge (Lord Mansfield) ready to punish their temerity."—Almon.

customary for the Kings and Queens of England to go in grand procession and dine in Guildhall on the next ensuing Lord Mayor's day after their coronation. On this occasion the minister was honored, in all the streets through which he passed, with the most enthusiastic tokens of applause. The people clung about his carriage, uttering shouts of joy, while gentlemen and ladies in the balconies and windows waved their hats and handkerchiefs. The courtiers reported that his Majesty betrayed signs of displeasure, that the respect paid to Mr. Pitt was greater than that shown to himself. What added to the uneasiness of royalty was the unanimity of Parliament in support of Pitt's warlike measures, and the enormous sum (twelve millions sterling) voted to carry on the war. From that time the destruction of his popularity was the principal object of Lord Bute and his superiors. It was an eye-sore; it was an object too splendid to be looked at without giving pain; and we, in this distant region, have thought that the peerage and the pension went far towards curing the evil eye; and that it was a strong mark of the monarch's characteristic policy. Thoughout all nature, what an animal lacks in strength is made up in cunning or venom.

On the 9th of October, 1761, Mr. Pitt gave in his resignation to the King, and was thereupon created Earl of Chatham with an annuity of three thousand pounds sterling. On the same day, Earl Temple, keeper of the King's privy seal, resigned

that office.

Henceforward we are to view Lord Chatham as a member of Parliament only, with no other influence than his great character, matchless talents, spotless integrity, and overpowering oratory. He doubtless found and felt the change. If obsequiousness ceased to follow him, and confidence stood aloof, it was occasioned by no alteration in his sentiments or change in his principles. As a member of the House of Lords, not one of his former political associates in the Commons could impeach his conduct or his virtue, or reproach him for relaxation in the great cause of the people. On the contrary, he never exerted

himself to greater effect. But the influence of corruption to feed avarice and vanity, was every where discernible. In their House of Representatives homage was paid to the distributor of rewards, and the predominant desire was to get into a lucrative station, or to remain in possession of what they enjoyed.

It was in October, 1760, that King George the Second unexpectedly expired. He dropped dead on the floor from, literally speaking, a broken heart,* with no one near him, as suddenly as if shot; and that without any previous illness whatever. One of the latest historians adds, "weltering on the floor."+

Notwithstanding his general good character as a brave, honorable, just, and well-intentioned man, few regretted his death. Subjects become tired of a long reign; and the Britons, whose ruling passion is novelty, are more apt to be impatient than most other people. They felt its tediousness before Mr. Pitt took the helm. The vigor, activity, and success of his administration dissipated, for a time, the drowsiness occasioned by an octogenarian sovereign, and that perplexing state of ambiguity which never fails to take place between the rising and setting sun of a nation, when it is neither clear day nor dark night, but a puzzling twilight. In such a season young Princes are apt to lose the right way, and old monarchs to see dimly. It is moreover a trying situation for ministers, domestic governors, and young courtiers. Whoever takes the lead must go before those highly privileged mortals; and dull and positive dotage, and rash, inexperienced juvenility, are equally conceited of their powers and jealous of direction.

"As to the successor of George the Second," and we choose to cite the words of a reputable and intelligent British writer, the effects of the wickedness of his advisers have

* A rupture of one of its ventricles.

History of the Reign of George III., by Robert Bisset, LL. D. London, 1803.

Mr. John Almon was an eminent Bookseller in London, enjoying

been, and are still too deeply felt to be described in any terms adequate to the injuries committed. Posterity, in a subsequent age, [he might have added, or in another country where the English is vernacular,] when truth may be spoken, and the motives of men laid open, will be astonished at the conduct of their ancestors at this period."—"Notwithstanding this confirmed state of modern depravity, TRUTH will continue to have her worshippers; and it may be presumed that they will, in the present age, as they have in former ages, survive the advocates of corruption and falsehood. It is to them only that impartial history can address herself; from them only she can expect protection. The betrayer of his country, and the destroyer of public liberty, whether supported by a Commodus, or protected by a Faustina, may endeavour, by the assistance of the slavish instruments of law, to intimidate and to strangle her voice; but conscious that she has Truth for her shield, she ventures upon a task that will give a new complexion to the public events of one of the most interesting periods in the annals of Great-Britain.”

a very extensive correspondence, and the oracle of the times for news, particularly what related to this country. His vendible Library was the resort of men of the first consequence, - a kind of literary exchange, where convened, not only members of the House of Commons, but men in higher station. Earl Temple was much attached to him; and to his Lordship he dedicated his Review of Pitt's Administration. He likewise published Anecdotes of the Life of the Right Hon. William Pitt, EARL OF CHATHAM, with his Speeches in Parliament, evidently under the patronage of the Dowager Countess of Chatham, and her brother Lord Temple, and also by the assistance of Lords Lyttelton, Fortescue, and Carysfort, the Right Hon. W. G. Hamilton, Right Hon. R. Rigby, Governor Pownall, and others.

We are indebted to Mr. Almon, and to his close follower, the Rev. Francis Thackeray, for interesting information respecting the illustrious subject of this sketch. Mr. Almon was more a man of the fashionable world, than Mr. Henry S. Woodfall. He was distinguished for his gentlemanly manners and agreeable colloquial powers, which gave him access to men of the highest rank and literary eminence.

CHAPTER V.

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE EARL OF CHATHAM, CONTINUed.

WHEN George the Third came to the crown, there were high expectations, and the most pleasing predictions, from his being a virtuous young man and a native king. Every thing was construed in his favor. His affability, contrasted with the stiff formality of his German grandfather, seemed to confirm this notion.*

Having no rakish seeds to germinate within him, he passed the most dangerous period of youth with his dear mother chiefly in the nursery. This subtle woman, finding she could not make her son a Solomon, resolved on making him another

*Notwithstanding these flattering presages at the coronation, the superstitious portion of the English people had their forebodings. They remarked, that he was not born in a palace, but in a private mansion (Norfolk-house); that he was a seven-months child, which is considered by some above the vulgar as an indication of imperfection. Whether his private history tends to strengthen this notion, we live too far off to decide. His own mother told Lord Melcombe, that George was a dull and timid boy without any apparent partiality for any one. The Earl of Waldegrave, who was his governor, says of him, that "he has a kind of unhappiness in his temper which, if not conquerered before it has taken deep root, will be a source of frequent anxiety. Whenever he is displeased, his anger does not break out with heat and violence; but he becomes sullen and silent, and retires to his closet, not to compose his mind by study or contemplation, but merely to indulge the melancholy enjoyment of his own ill-humor." The same nobleman adds, that "his mother and the nursery always prevailed over his preceptors and governor."