ous, and I am half mad with a project which will give our supplies the effect almost of magic in the reduction of debt. It will be at least new and eccentric enough to satisfy your constant call for something out of the common way. Pray let me hear from you again very soon, and particularly how you do, and when you meditate returning.

"Our session will not begin till the end of January, and will end of course by the 29th of April.

64

Adieu, ever yours, W. PITT."

"Holwood, Oct. 14th, 1788. "My dear Wilberforce,-I well knew what the kindness and affection of your mind would feel for Eliot and myself. I have had the comfort of finding him, on my return from Somersetshire, beginning to recover a little, and I have left my mother as well as I could venture to hope. I will add no more, for I am sure I need not say how sensible I am to your friendship on this sad occasion, as well as on every other. Prettyman has sent me your letter, mentioning the curate you have found for New Holland. I will take care of the business, and let you know as soon as the stipend, &c. is fixed. I conclude he will be ready, if he takes the charge, immediately.

"Pray let me know what your notions are, when you have fixed them, and how soon there is a chance of seeing you.

Ever affectionately yours, W. PITT."

"Downing Street, Dec. 8th, 1788. "My dear Wilberforce,-I am very glad to learn that you think the springs of Bladud have been of use to you. Your regimen is, I hope, accompanied with a little good eating and drinking, in the efficacy of which I have a good deal more faith. I am perfectly well in health, and have the satisfaction to see Eliot on the whole gradually mending, though it is still very slowly, and I fear is likely to be so. He is going again into Somersetshire in a few days, and from thence, for a short time, to Cornwall. Lord Camden, from the glimpse I have had of him at St. James's, seems returned perfectly well, and brings an exceedingly good account of Lady Bayham. I am going to day into his neighbourhood, and shall find an opportunity of seeing him, and letting him know how the world has gone in his absence. The period has indeed not been full of events, and the principal supposed object of our councils has existed only in the Morning Herald; I mean the abandoning the scheme

66

"Walmer Castle, Feb. 10, 1903.

My dear Wilberforce,-I should have written to you sooner, but a slight bilious attack, which has confined me three or four days, made me unable to judge when I should move to town. I am now almost entirely recovered, and shall probably set out the beginning of the next week. As soon as I arrive, I shall be very glad to talk over with you all the questions which arise out of the horrid scenes at St. Domingo. There is, unhappily, no termination of the contest to which one can look without dread, and therefore no system of conduct which can be pursued with entire satisfaction; but, certainly, to aid the French in their present measures is as contrary to all general ideas of policy, as it is revolting to our feelings; and I think there must be some legal mode of preventing British merchants from being concerned in such a transaction. But there are such strange feelings and prejudices on all subjects which are in any degree connected with the slave-trade, that great difficulties may arise in the way of any measure that can be proposed to parliament on the subject. This, however, I shall be very desirous of discussing with you.

"In the mean time, I am sure no possible good can be done by my writing to Addington.

"Ever affectionately yours, W. PITT."

It will be perceived, by the above letters, that Mr. Wilberforce's correspondence with his official friend was generally connected with the promotion of some object of piety, humanity, or Christian policy;-never with any thing selfish or favour-covet

ing. He explains himself on this head in one of his letters, which we will quote.

"Lyme, January 1, 1805. "My dear Pitt,-I heard lately from Samuel Thornton of his having an interview with you concerning the collectorship at Hull; and I have ever since been rather uneasy, lest, from not exactly taking, or quite accurately representing, my meaning, in that part of the transaction in which you come into question, he may have exhibited to you (unintentionally of course) a false notion of my sentiments and feelings. I will not make speeches; but I can truly assure you, that so far as you are personally concerned, there is scarcely any man living of whom I would more freely ask, or could more satisfactorily receive, any favour; but being connected with a county which used to be estimated by Sir George Savile at about one-eighth or one-ninth of all England, unless I had laid down to myself the rule of declining to ask favours for my constituents, there never would have been a week in which I should not have had to pester you with some solicitation or other; and I am sure your own feelings will instruct you that this would have been a situation equally destructive of all political independence, or (what I value highly in your case) all personal comfort, and the continuance of that friendly connection which (though I have never, I believe, said so civil a thing to you before) I esteem as a source of high honour to myself, and of great satisfaction. Even with my rule, I have at one time or other been asked for

favours by most of my chief Yorkshire friends, but they have always most honourably acquiesced with good humour in my declining to oblige them. But the case would have been wholly different, if I had not had this rule to plead... Of course, all this time I except all those situations which, from their connection with the county or place he represents, every M. P. is naturally consulted about filling, from his supposed knowledge of the characters, &c. of the people of the place. . . . I really have been uncomfortable ever since I heard of that interview with you, from the fear lest this had not been distinctly stated; and you will, therefore, excuse my taking up so much of your time as the explanation has required.

"The distance of this place from London is such, that I cannot well (as I travel with all my family) get up in time for the House on Tuesday, if I set off on Monday. And as I don't like to

case

stay a Sunday on the road, and never
travel on Sunday except in a
of great and unavoidable necessity, I
should be forced to leave this place in
the middle of next week, unless you
could dispense with my attendance on
the first day. In general, there is no
question then, and of late there has been
little conversation either, so that I think
if I were up on Wednesday (the 16th)
or Thursday, it would do very well. I
write to you, because I know you won't
summon me up on the day (Tuesday)
without necessity; if it be really de-
sirable that I should come, I certainly
will (if it please God), but I have rea-
sons connected with health and family
convenience, for rather desiring to re-
main here as long as I can, and hope not
to travel during this very severe wea-
ther: of course I myself should wish to
be up, if a very full attendance were re-
quired; and I only ask you, because of
that you can best judge. Remember
there is nobody here to copy after my
example. I have often heard of you,
and was in hopes, from the papers, you
were taking a little Bath water before
the meeting. I trust Lord Harrowby
goes on well. I am much interested for
him.

"Believe me sincerely yours,
"W. WILBERFORCE."

We will quote only one letter more from Mr. Wilberforce to Mr. Pitt, in which he recommends Mr. Brougham to his patronage. He justly appreciated the talents of that eminent man; but he was not gifted with second-sight to anticipate all his future sayings and doings. The testimony to the character of the Earl of Harrowby has worn well, and is more green than ever in the mild lustre of his Lordship's declining years.

"(Private.)

"Broomfield, Oct. 25, 1805.

"My dear Pitt,-I was taking up my pen to say to you something which I thought of just after we parted on Wednesday, when another idea occurred to me, which I will mention first, lest you should think me like some others I have heard you mention, who pop out at last, or in a postscript, the real object of the visit or letter. It is, that if in the course of any of your calls for proper men to be employed in any diplomatic business you should be at a loss for one, you perhaps could not in the whole kingdom find any one in all respects so well qualified as the Mr. Brougham

whom I formerly mentioned to you. He speaks French as well as English, and several other languages. But the great thing is, that he is a man of uncommon talents and address, and for his age, twenty-six, knowledge also, and I told you of his being so long the advocate for your government in Edinburgh.

My mentioning him to you is entirely of my own head; of course he knows nothing of it, indeed he is in Edinburgh, and I only do it (most solemnly I assure you) on public grounds, and because I know you must often want men for foreign services. He has, besides the qualities I mentioned, great resolution, strength of constitution, &c. The idea of mentioning him to you arose in my mind when I was going to inform you, that in the course of his tour on the Continent last year, particularly at Vienna, Naples, &c., he found that all the foreign ministers to whom, especially at Vienna, he had good introductions, spoke of Lord Harrowby in the highest terms; in short, it was when I was speaking of Harrowby in the terms you know I should use, he declared, that it was surprising how little justice appeared to be done to him at home, or even by some of our own diplomatic and other English people abroad, compared with the estimation in which he was held among all foreigners of rank and consequence. He said much more of the same kind. I thought you would like to hear this; it made me the more rejoice at his undertaking the mission on which he is now embarking.

"I am ever, my dear Pitt, "Yours most truly, W. WILBERFORCE." "P.S. I need not say this requires no answer."

There are occasional Pittiana scattered through the letters. The following passages from letters written by Mr. Smith (afterwards Lord Carrington) to Mr. Wilberforce in 1786, shew how lamentably the young premier managed his own domestic concerns. It is a chapter in the history of the day as well as of the man. The names of the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and numerous others among those most conspicuous for rank, station, wealth, or talent, evince the lamentable laxity of opinion which then prevailed respecting the wickedness and disgrace of

Robert Smith, Esq., to William Wilberforce, Esq.

"Saturday, Brighthelmston, 1786. "My dear Wilberforce,-Indifferently as I thought of our friend's domestic management, I was not prepared for such an account as the box contained. The first article in Mr. Wood's paper, £7914. 6s. 3d. old bills unpaid, P. could not have been apprised of, or at least could not have recollected, when he told us, that being about to receive three quarters of his salary, he should have enough to pay all the tradesmen.

"I hope you will immediately procure these old bills, and that, for his sake, they may contain the demands of more tradesmen than those you have sent me, which I am sorry to say are deficient in so many material articles, that any general conclusion taken from them as to the amount of his expenses of housekeeping for last year, will prove fallacious.

"The necessity, however, of bringing his affairs into some better order is now so apparent, that no man who is attached to his person, or values his reputation, can be easy while he knows it is undone. I hope, therefore, that you will be able to make P.

thoroughly sensible of the necessity of an immediate reform, not with a view to save money, but to retrieve his affairs. To carry the measures for this purpose into execution, it is necessary he should see the evil in its full extent, and what the consequence must inevitably be, if he should continue his present domestic administration.

"I have looked over many of the bills. From the manner in which they are made out, the butcher's particularly, it is impossible to say any thing precisely about them, but that the extravagance surprises me. For the meat is sent in in great quantities, without particulars being mentioned. On a Saturday there is generally three or four write again; in the mean time, hundred weight. To-morrow I will

"I am, my dear Wilberforce,

"Ever yours, R. SMITH."

"Sunday.

"My dear Wilberforce, - After I wrote last night, I employed myself in examining the first month's bills, viz. January, 1785. It is necessary to know how many persons there were in his family during that time: but I can scarcely conceive a private house in the kingdom where such a quantity of provisions, as are charged, could be consumed. It must also be recollected, that this month of January, 1785, parliament sat; and, therefore, he often either dined out, or was prevented making that meal regularly at home.

"Inclosed is an abstract of each week's expense, together with the general amount of the whole month.

The

"The butcher's bill only is £96. Can it be possible that 3800 pounds of meat could be dressed in twenty-eight days, which (if on an average it cost 6d. per pound) must have been the case. poulterer's, fish-monger's,and indeed all the bills, exceed any thing I could have imagined; and the charges are in general much higher than I pay.

"It may appear ridiculous to speak of the expenses of my own family in comparison with P's; but when I have had company in the house at Hampstead for a week together, and have had every day as good dinners as my cook could dress (perhaps there were from thirty to thirty-five in family) the butcher's bill, at the highest, was £6, and the baker's £2. Now though P's bills ought certainly to be a great deal higher, yet when they come to be from £20 to £25 for meat only, I cannot help suspecting much imposition.

"The same extravagance seems to me to go through the whole. In October, when he was away the whole time, the butcher's bill is £40, and ten pounds of tea is drunk.

"That you may perceive the truth of these remarks, I have inclosed in another cover one week's bills, viz. the second week in the account ending January 29th, which I preferred to the first week, because that may be considered as something extraordinary on account of the Queen's birth-day. You will judge whether the consumption of so much provision could have fairly taken place. I brought a book with me for the purpose of carrying on the account through the year, in the manner of the inclosed paper; but so many bills are wanting, that it would be imperfect, and Wood seems to have done them very regularly in months,

"I find myself much better, but by

Upon the whole, I believe Mr. Pitt has it in his power to become the first farmer in England, if he thinks the pursuit worth his time and attention.

"I have satisfied him, that much of the former is not required after his farm is brought into order, and that I managed three separate farms during the time I was in the admiralty and navy offices, and with more amusement than trouble to myself.

"He promises me frequent visits in his road to and fro, and which may happen if he continues his present pursuit, as we are not a mile out of his way. If this should happen, I shall be obliged to you to give him the meeting.

"He seemed much amused while here, and as I always had an attachment to him, I was sincerely glad to see him. What an instrument in the hands of Providence might not this man be, if he was surrounded with men of equal probity and disinterestedness as himself. But as this can never be expected, we can only look up and wonder."

There are many other letters to and from public men; but we are impatient to pass on to the more religious portion of the correspondence. We will however extract two short letters.

The first is from Lord Grenville, his colleague in the slave-trade abolition, congratulating him upon the passing of the Bill which emancipated Great Britain from that atrocious wickedness and national disgrace; the second is a friendly note on another subject, from his pertinacious opponent in that great measure, Lord Eldon, the last sentence of which about Dr. Milner's lack of bands is strikingly characteristic. His lordship always enjoyed a sly sarcasm against his Cambridge friends about Whiggery and laxity in matters of academical etiquette; and we well remember the cool irony with which, in delivering his judgment upon Dr. Godfrey's Queen's College cause, which turned in part upon whether some secular acts had been performed and oaths taken within the limited time, the last day happening to be Sunday, in which case it was customary at Cambridge to desecrate the Sabbath for that purpose, the Lord Chancellor stated that he was not competent to deal with this part of the question with Cambridge feelings, because as an Oxford man he had certain prejudices, no secular acts being performed there, or oaths administered, on a Sunday; but he should set aside the objection upon the general principle of the common and statute law of the realm that Sunday was a dies non for such matters, so that where any act was required to be performed at the termination of so many days, if the terminating day fell on Sunday, the act was duly performed if postponed till Monday.

Lord Grenville to W. Wilberforce, Esq.

"Dropmore, Feb. 24, 1807. "My dear Wilberforce,-I have just received the account of last night, and I cannot forbear adding a very few words to the congratulations which you will receive from all quarters on this

great event, which we may certainly now consider as quite decided.

"I can conceive nothing in this world more gratifying than your feelings must be on this occasion, and to you it will not sound strange to say, that I trust we may all of us, who have in any degree contributed to this great work of tions in it, look to a reward far beyond mercy, each in proportion to our exerthose of this world, from that Being who has declared to us that inasmuch as we have done it to our fellowcreatures, He will accept it (such is His unmeasurable goodness) as done even to Himself.

"I really feel quite overpowered with the thoughts of this success, and can readily conceive what your feelings must be, who may justly say to yourself, that to you, and to your exertions alone, this thing is to be attributed. "Ever most truly yours, GRENVILLE."

Lord Eldon to W. Wilberforce, Esq.

My dear Sir,-With the reluctance which has always stuck by me in the execution of my duty as a member of parliament, I have been down to the House of Lords to say a word on the Habeas Corpus Suspension bill. I persuade myself that you give me credit for not being ungrateful to you for Commons, as far as it had relation to what you said upon that subject, in the me; and whilst I have been indulging what I have long panted for-the 'aliquod temporis spatium inter negotia vitæ et finem,' &c., believe me I have felt deeply, gratefully, and cordially, the kind things you said of me in the House of Commons.

"I shall feel a glow of satisfaction in the recollection that you thought to call upon you to thank you; but in me worthy of such notice. I intended my little obscure retreat-my hole in the wall in Westminster Hall and at Guildhall I have spent an immense can't delay my acknowledgments, and portion of time for many weeks: I I am afraid I must add that, counsel going the circuits, and having a great court at Guildhall till such an hour on load of business, I fear I shall be in Saturday night, as to make me quite without hope that I can wait upon you on that day. Give my best respects to Dr. Milner, and tell him that I shall buy his print, though, as an old. fashioned Oxonian, I should have liked it better if he had had a band about his neck.

"Yours faithfully and sincerely,
“ELDON."