PITT, WILLIAM, second son of the last mentioned Earl of Chatham, was born on the 28th of May, 1759. The early promise of his childhood was not unmarked by his father, and no means were left unemployed to realize it. Influenced partly by the delicate health of the boy, and still more by his own sense of a parent's duty, Lord Chatham, had his son educated at home under his own immediate inspection. A tutor was engaged to instruct him in the elements of school learning; and the great statesman him self devoted a portion of his leisure to form the principles and direct the understanding of his child. His manner of conducting this employment was suitable to the feeling which had prompted him to undertake it. Ile studied to sink the character of father in that of friend : he encourag ed William and his other children to converse with him freely upon every topic; each day he made a point of de livering to them some instruction or advice ; and every evening he closed this paternal exercise by reading, in their presence, a chapter of the Bible. It is also mention ed, that William being intended for a public speaker, one of his customary tasks was to declaim on some given topic in the presence of his father ; a practice to which he doubt less in some degree owed the remarkable fluency and cor rectness of diction, which afterwards characterized his speeches in parliament.
Under such tuition, the young man made a rapid profi ciency : at the early age of fourteen, he was found advanced enough for attending the university, and was entered ac cordingly at Pembroke-hall college, Cambridge, in 1773. His progress here was as equally rapid ; he enjoyed some pe culiar advantages, and profited well by them. To the va luable gifts of nature, a quick apprehension, and a retentive memory, he added the no less valuable habit of steadfast and zealous application ; and, by his father's request, each of the two college tutors devoted an hour every day to his improvement. One of these tutors was Dr. Prettyman, now Dr. Tomline, bishop of Winchester. His connexion with Mr. Pitt began here ; it. gradually ripened into a closer attachment, and continued unbroken till death divided it. This circumstance speaks favourably for the feelings of Mr. Pitt ; except in acts of mutual kindness, there could be little sympathy between them. The learned prelate is now writing a life of his illustrious pupil, three volumes of which have already been published.
Mr. Pitt was too young to acquire much distinction by his academical exercises, among competitors grown up to manhood. But his residence at Cambridge was marked
by qualities much more valuable than such distinctions im ply. His diligence and regularity continued unabated ; he was gradually enriching his mind with the treasures of learning, and forming his conduct on the principles of vir tue and sobriety. Indulging in few relaxations, and no ex cess, he pursued his studies with such intensity, that his naturally feeble health was frequently in danger ; and the chief care of his affectionate parent was not to excite his ardour, but to restrain it. " All you want at present," he writes to him on one occasion, "is quiet ; with this, if your ardour ctelo-rfvetY can be kept in till you are stronger, you make noise enough. How happy the task, my noble amiable boy, to caution you only against pursuing too much all those liberal and praiseworthy things, to which less happy natures are to be perpetually spurred and driven ! I will not teaze you with too long a letter in favour of in action and a competent stupidity, your best tutors and companions at present. You have time to spare ; consider there is but the Encyclopxdia, and when you have master ed all that, what will remain ? You will want, like Alex ander, another world to conquer." This excellent father he lost in 1778 ; a circumstance which, to a less sound and steady mind, might have proved of fatal consequence. But Mr. Pitt, in his nineteenth year, was equal to the guidance of himself; his plan of life had already been chalked out for him ; and he possessed the qualifications necessary for pursuing it with success In tended for the bar and the senate, he busied himself un weariedly in preparing for the duties of both. After quit ting the university, and spending a winter at Rheims in France, having completed his terms at Lincoln's Inn, he was made a counsellor in 1780, whenever he became of age. In the ensuing western circuit, he followed the court, and appeared in several minor causes with great approba tion. But brighter prospects opened to him elsewhere ; he never made another journey of this kind. The parlia ment being dissolved in the autumn of the same year, lie started as a candidate for the university of Cambridge. Here, indeed, he was unsuccessful ; the interest of his com petitors appeared so decidedly superior, that he withdrew coming to a poll ; but a few months afterwards, the interest of Sir James Lowther procured him a seat for the borough of Appleby, and he took his place accordingly, in January, 1781.