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ons that Pitt should be honoured with a public funeral and a monument。 The motion was opposed by Fox in a speech which deserves to be studied as a model of good taste and good feeling。 The task was the most invidious that ever an orator undertook: but it was performed with a humanity and delicacy which were warmly acknowledged by the mourning friends of him who was gone。 The motion was carried by 288 votes to 89。 The 22d of February was fixed for the funeral。 The corpse having lain in state during two days in the Painted Chamber; was borne with great pomp to the northern transept of the Abbey。 A splendid train of princes; nobles; bishops; and privy councillors followed。 The grave of Pitt had been made near to the spot where his great father lay; near also to the spot where his great rival was soon to lie。 The sadness of the assistants was beyond that of ordinary mourners。 For he whom they were committing to the dust had died of sorrows and anxieties of which none of the survivors could be altogether without a share。 Wilberforce; who carried the banner before the hearse; described the awful ceremony with deep feeling。 As the coffin descended into the earth; he said; the eagle face of Chatham from above seemed to look down with consternation into the dark house which was receiving all that remained of so much power and glory。 All parties in the House of Commons readily concurred in voting forty thousand pounds to satisfy the demands of Pitt's creditors。 Some of his admirers seemed to consider the magnitude of his embarrassments as a circumstance highly honourable to him; but men of sense will probably be of a different opinion。 It is far better; no doubt; that a great minister should carry his contempt of money to excess than that he should contaminate his hands with unlawful gain。 But it is neither right nor becoming in a man to whom the public has given an income more than sufficient for his comfort and dignity to bequeath to that public a great debt; the effect of mere negligence and profusion。 As first Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer; Pitt never had less than six thousand a year; besides an excellent house。 In 1792 he was forced by his royal master's friendly importunity to accept for life the office of Warden of the Cinque Ports; with near four thousand a year more。 He had neither wife nor child; he had no needy relations: he had no expensive tastes: he had no long election bills。 Had he given but a quarter of an hour a week to the regulation of his household; he would have kept his expenditure within bounds。 Or; if he could not spare even a quarter of an hour a week for that purpose; he had numerous friends; excellent men of business; who would have been proud to act as his stewards。 One of those friends; the chief of a great commercial house in the city; made an attempt to put the establishment in Downing Street to rights; but in vain。 He found that the waste of the servants' hall was almost fabulous。 The quantity of butcher's meat charged in the bills was nine hundredweight a week。 The consumption of poultry; of fish; and of tea was in proportion。 The character of Pitt would have stood higher if with the disinterestedness of Pericles and of De Witt; he had united their dignified frugality。 The memory of Pitt has been assailed; times innumerable; often justly; often unjustly; but it has suffered much less from his assailants than from his eulogists。 For; during many years; his name was the rallying cry of a class of men with whom; at one of those terrible conjunctures which confound all ordinary distinctions; he was accidentally and temporarily connected; but to whom; on almost all great questions of principle; he was diametrically opposed。 The haters of parliamentary reform called themselves Pittites; not choosing to remember that Pitt made three motions for parliamentary reform; and that; though he thought that such a reform could not safely be made while the passions excited by the French revolution were raging; he never uttered a word indicating that he should not be prepared at a more convenient season to bring the question forward a fourth time。 The toast of Protestant ascendency was drunk on Pitt's birthday by a set of Pittites who could not but be aware that Pitt had resigned his office because he could not carry Catholic emancipation。 The defenders of the Test Act called themselves Pittites; though they could not be ignorant that Pitt had laid before George the Third unanswerable reasons for abolishing the Test Act。 The enemies of free trade called themselves Pittites; though Pitt was far more deeply imbued with the doctrines of Adam Smith than either Fox or Grey。 The very negro…drivers invoked the name of Pitt; whose eloquence was never more conspicuously displayed than when he spoke of the wrongs of the negro。 This mythical Pitt; who resembles the genuine Pitt as little as Charlemagne of Ariosto resembles the Charlemagne of Eginhard; has had his day。 History will vindicate the real man from calumny disguised under the semblance of adulation; and will exhibit him as what he was; a minister of great talents; honest intentions; and liberal opinions; pre…eminently qualified; intellectually and morally; for the part of a parliamentary leader; and capable of administering with prudence and moderation the government of a prosperous and tranquil country; but unequal to surprising and terrible emergencies; and liable; in such emergencies; to err grievously; both on the side of weakness and on the side of violence。 。。。
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS; INSCRIPTIONS; ETC。
EPITAPH ON HENRY MARTYN。 (1812。) Here Martyn lies。 In Manhood's early bloom The Christian Hero finds a Pagan tomb。 Religion; sorrowing o'er her favourite son; Points to the glorious trophies that he won。 Eternal trophies! not with carnage red; Not stained with tears by hapless captives shed; But trophies of the Cross! for that dear name; Through every form of danger; death; and shame; Onward he journeyed to a happier shore; Where danger; death; and shame assault no more。 。。。
LINES TO THE MEMORY OF PITT。 (1813。) Oh Britain! dear Isle; when the annals of story Shall tell of the deeds that thy children have done; When the strains of each poet shall sing of their glory; And the triumphs their skill and their valour have won。 When the olive and palm in thy chaplet are blended; When thy arts; and thy fame; and thy commerce increase; When thy arms through the uttermost coasts are extended; And thy war is triumphant; and happy thy peace; When the ocean; whose waves like a rampart flow round thee; Conveying thy mandates to every shore; And the empire of nature no longer can bound thee; And the world be the scene of thy conquests no more: Remember the man who in sorrow and danger; When thy glory was set; and thy spirit was low; When thy hopes were o'erturned by the arms of the stranger; And thy banners displayed in the halls of the foe; Stood forth in the tempest of doubt and disaster; Unaided; and single; the danger to brave。 Asserted thy claims; and the rights of his master; Preserved thee to conquer; and saved thee to save。 。。。
A RADICAL WAR SONG。 (1820。) Awake; arise; the hour is come; For rows and revolutions; There's no receipt like pike and drum For crazy constitutions。 Close; close the shop! Break; break the loom; Desert your hearths and furrows; And throng in arms to seal the doom Of England's rotten boroughs。 We'll stretch that tort'ring Castlereagh On his own Dublin rack; sir; We'll drown the King in Eau de vie; The Laureate in his sack; sir; Old Eldon and his sordid hag In molten gold we'll smother; And stifle in his own green bag The Doctor and his brother。 In chains we'll hang in fair Guildhall The City's famed recorder; And next on proud St Stephen's fall; Though Wynne should squeak to order。 In vain our tyrants then shall try To 'scape our martial law; sir; In vain the trembling Speaker cry That 〃Strangers must withdraw;〃 sir。 Copley to hang offends no text; A rat is not a man; sir: With schedules; and with tax bills next We'll bury pious Van; sir。 The slaves who loved the income Tax; We'll crush by scores; like mites; sir; And him; the wretch who freed the blacks; And more enslaved the whites; sir。 The peer shall dangle from his gate; The bishop from his steeple; Till all recanting; own; the State Means nothing but the People。 We'll fix the church's revenues On Apostolic basis; One coat; one scrip; one pair of shoes Shall pay their strange grimaces。 We'll strap the bar's deluding train In their own darling halter; And with his big church bible brain The parson at the altar。 Hail glorious hour; when fair Reform Shall bless our longing nation; And Hunt receive commands to form A new administration。 Carlisle shall sit enthroned; where sat Our Cranmer and our Secker; And Watson show his snow…white hat In England's rich Exchequer。 The breast of Thistlewood shall wear Our Wellesley's star and sash; man: And many a mausoleum fair Shall rise to honest Cashman。 Then; then beneath the nine…tailed cat Shall they who used it writhe; sir; And curates lean; and rectors fat; Shall dig the ground they tithe; sir。 Down with your Bayleys; and your Bests; Your Giffords; and your Gurneys: We'll clear the island of the pests