of flatteries, and folly, and sins. The writer of these lines remembers that Mr. Wilberforce told him, that, upon the change which took place in his religious views and feelings, he had to withdraw his name at once from six or seven of these gay and dangerous associations.

The manner in which the religious change thus referred to was gradually produced deserves notice. It was early after his commencement of public life, probably in 1782 or 1783, that he made a tour of the continent, accompanied by the late learned and venerable Dr. Isaac Milner, afterwards, by his recommendation to Mr. Pitt, (the only favour he ever asked, I have heard him say,) raised to the Deanery of Carlisle. The conversation of this eminent divine, their reading together of the Greek Testament, and afterwards his perusing Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion, at the Dean's recommendation, led to a thorough perception of the real nature and bearings of Christianity, of the claims of Almighty God upon his creatures, of the evil and extent of sin, of the disorder of the heart of man, of the great redemption wrought out for a fallen world through the incarnation of the only begotten Son of God, of the need of the grace of the Holy Spirit for illumination and sanctification, and the consequent life of devotedness and consistency to which a Christian is called and disposed by the Gospel.

For a description of such an inward change and conversion of the soul, I refer the reader to Mr. Wilberforce's own work on Christianity, published in 1797, (which has gone through nearly twenty editions, and is one, in fact, of the most masterly productions in the whole compass of English literature,) where a detail will be found of the points of difference between a merely philanthropic man without heartfelt Christianity, and the same character purified, strengthened, guarded, directed, ennobled by Christian principle.

The first burst of this religious change upon his former circle of associates excited a surprise, and afterwards a grief, at such an amiable young man's being lost, as it was termed, as can scarcely now be credited. His firmness, however, and consistency, his admirable temper, his discretion in urging upon others his sentiments, together with the talents of almost every kind most requisite for a senator, which gradually developed themselves, soon recovered or retained the regard of those who moved with him in public life. The impression he made in the House of Commons was, I am informed, at times unparalleled : a voice sweet and harmonious, an exuberant and ready eloquence, a passion which gently kindled as he went on, a genuine and delicate wit, a mild and harmless satire, a delivery elegant and easy, a command of language and enunciation correct and copious, united to excite admiration, whilst philanthropy, beaming through all he said, added a charm to his arguments, which his manifest sincerity still farther strengthened, and his management and choice of topics made often irresistible.

He continued intimate with Mr. Pitt for some years after his election for Yorkshire, going down with that minister often to his country seat, and unbending from the fatigues of the senate. His estimate of Mr. Pitt's talents was high; he considered him (I mean deliberately, and towards the close of his life) as the most surprising man of his day, for comprehension of mind, promptitude, power of arrangement, intuition into every subject, eloquence in debate, genuine devotedness to his country, kindness of temper, simplicity of manners in private life, and pure classical taste. Of this last, I remember Mr. Wilberforce once gave us a proof; that on one occasion, when Lord Grenville, Lord Melville (then Mr. Dundas,) and himself met together at dinner for the consideration of a political question, the incidental reference to a passage in Virgil diverted their attention, till the whole evening passed in a literary

and classical disquisition, and the business before them was adjourned.

No opportunity was lost by Mr. Wilberforce to impress on his friend the importance of Christianity as he himself perceived and felt it. Pitt used to say, "Every thing sits so well on Wilberforce, that even his religion appears becoming in him." The influence of Mr. Prettyman, Mr. Pitt's private secretary, and of Mr. Dundas, was considered by Mr. Wilberforce as unfriendly with respect to his views of religion. "Prettyman," said the minister on one occasion to Mr. Wilberforce, "gives me a totally different view of these things." The hurry of public life, the increasing piety of Mr. Wilberforce's mind, and his abstraction from party politics, (at first Mr. Wilberforce was one of the constant and most powerful supporters of Mr. Pitt's administration, which he continued in a certain measure to be during Mr. Pitt's life,) withdrew the two friends from each other by degrees; and when Mr. Wilberforce married, in 1797, the intimacy, as I conjecture, ceased. But to the close of life, Mr. Wilberforce always spoke of him with affection, as of an old friend, and with the most unqualified admiration of his talents, integrity, and love of his country. He began, indeed, "A Life of Mr. Pitt," intending to make it a vehicle of observations on the times in which they both lived; but it was never prosecuted. I remember his lamenting the view Mr. Pitt took of Lord Brownlow's (now Marquis of Westminster) motion for checking the publication of Sunday papers, about the year 1796, when they might have been discouraged with the utmost ease; whereas the one error of despising them then, allowed the evil to take root, and to become one of the national sins of Great Britain. And on another occasion, I recollect Mr. Wilberforce saying, that he once laboured for hours in endeavouring to convince Mr. Pitt of the real spirituality of Christianity, and of the value of those clergymen whom

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