DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

Government for seventeen years. Though essentially a peace minister, he was destined to guide England throughout her long struggle with France; and it is said that the Continental triumphs of Napoleon I. so affected his patriotic heart that they hastened his death. He remained single through life, and on being pressed to marry, he answered that he was wedded already to his country. Simple in his habits and careless of personal gain in a time of general profligacy and corruption, he combined an ardent but self-controlled temper with an immense appli- cation, and extraordinary knowledge of finance with as great a judgment of the condition of parties. One day at an assembly, the conversation turned on the qualities most needed in a Prime Minister; one said ‘ eloquence,’ another ‘knowledge,’ and a third ‘toil;’ Pitt exclaimed, ‘No, patience.’ He may be said to have united them all. ‘What an extraor- dinary man Pitt is!’ said the great economist Adam Smith: ‘he makes me understand my own ideas better than myself? Though nominally the head of the Conservative party, Pitt endeavoured to initiate the Reforms, which the next generation carried into effect. Pitt ran his head against the obstinacy of the King and the prejudices of his contemporaries. It was he who first set on foot the reform of the House of Commons and the removal of Catholic