either as a righteous or as a merciful ruler, we cannot regard without admiration the amplitude and fertility of his intellect, his rare talents for command, for administration, and for controversy, his dauntless courage, his honorable poverty, his fervent zeal for the interests of the state, his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune, and never disturbed by either.

NOTES.

THE books which these notes take for granted will be accessible to students are, some standard dictionary like the International; an encyclopædia; a cyclopædia of biography; Wheeler's Dictionary of Noted Names of Fiction (now included in the International Dictionary); and a good general history of England like Knight's or Gardiner's. Proper names and unusual words offer little difficulty when the student has learned to handle these common tools of his craft. Whenever a difficulty not easily surmountable by these means has presented itself, the editor has endeavored to furnish a brief explanation or to suggest a clew that may be followed. More than this has not been attempted.

WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM.

P. 1. This essay and the others in the present volume originally appeared in the Edinburgh Review of the years indicated.

P. 3. He was an actor in the Closet. "The private apartment of the sovereign is called the Closet. The word is also applied to the private council chamber."- Murray.

P. 4. Belisarius. For the historical Belisarius see the life by Lord Mahon, and Gibbon's account in the Decline and Fall. In the drama Belisarius figures as the subject of tragedies and operas in many languages. Four tragedies, all bearing the name Belisarius, were composed by English writers, and were more or less extensively acted during the eighteenth century.

P. 5. that celebrated diamond. The Pitt or Regent diamond is still in the possession of the French government, having been reserved when most of the state jewels were sold in 1885. It is on exhibition in the Gallery of Apollo in the Louvre, and is valued at $2,400,000.

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rotten boroughs. Old Sarum. A borough in England was a town having the right to representation in Parliament. This right did not depend upon population, consequently certain places came to have representation entirely out of proportion to their importance. At the time of the Reform Bill (1832) Old Sarum had two representatives in Parliament duly chosen by its single elector, who kept an alehouse near the foot of the ancient mound, which was all that remained of Old Sarum. See Knight, Vol. VIII., p. 304.

P. 6. a cornet's commission in the Blues. One of the three oldest regiments in the British army. It was raised by the Earl of Oxford in 1661, and is known as the Oxford Blues, or as the Royal Horse Guards.

the Revolution, i.e. the establishment of William and Mary on the throne of England in 1688-9. For explanation of historical allusions in this paragraph see Gardiner or Knight. Incredible as it may appear, all the companies named, and many more equally absurd, were actually formed.

P. 7. Threadneedle Street. On this street stands the Bank of England.

P. 8. The Opposition. For some account of the present organization and conduct of the British government, as well as of its origin, see Macaulay's Hist. of Eng., Vol. IV., chap. xx., or Woodrow Wilson's The State, pp. 378 ff.

Pulteney, pronounced Putney.

P. 10. St. James's. From the burning of Whitehall in 1691 until early in the present century St. James's Palace was the principal royal residence. Since the time of George IV., however, it has been used mainly for ceremonies of state. Up to 1861 both drawing-rooms and levees were held there, but since that time the former have been held in Buckingham Palace. Foreign ministers are accredited to the "Court of St. James's."

P. 12. Squire Western. A notable character in English fiction; easily looked up.

the once formidable October Club was composed of 150 Tory squires, who met at the Bell Tavern, King Street, Westminster, and received its name from the vast quantities of October ale consumed there. It flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century, and was famous for the violent Toryism of its members.

"Orator Hunt" was a celebrated

P. 16. down to Mr. Hunt. radical speaker. An ill-judged attempt to arrest him at a Manchester reform meeting in 1819 resulted in the disastrous tumult which is known as the "battle of Peterloo." See Knight, Vol. VIII., p. 105.

the Polish Count. Joseph Borowleski, commonly called the Polish Count, was 3 ft. 3 in. in height at the age of 30. He died in 1837, having lived to be 98 years old.

Giant O'Brien measured 8 ft. 4 in: in height.

Daniel Lambert of Leicester, who died at Stamford in 1809, is said to have been the heaviest man that ever lived. Just before his death, at the age of 40, he weighed 739 lbs.

the Anatomie Vivante. Claude Ambroise Seurat, "the living skeleton," was born at Troyes, in Champagne, in 1797, and was exhibited in England in 1825. Numerous descriptions of him appeared in the journals of the time.

P. 17. the Court of Requests and the precincts of Westminster Hall. The Houses of Parliament were burned in October of 1834, the year in which this essay appeared, and were rebuilt on an entirely new plan. Fortunately the flames stopped at Westminster Hall, so that part of the original buildings remains. For a plan of the old Houses of Parliament see Knight, Vol. VIII., p. 350. Up to the time of the fire the House of Commons met in St. Stephen's Hall, and a speaker's voice might easily reach the precincts of Westminster Hall.

P. 19. Mr. Stanley, afterwards the Earl of Derby, and Macaulay disputed with generous emulation the crown of eloquence in the lower house of Parliament during the debates on the Reform Bill. Sir James Mackintosh pronounced their speeches delivered on the second night of that famous debate "two of the finest speeches ever spoken in Parliament."

P. 21. Groom of the Bedchamber. See article on the Royal Household, Enc. Brit., Vol. XXI.

P. 23. First Lord of the Treasury. See note on p.

P. 27. Murray, afterwards Chief Justice, and best known in history as Lord Mansfield.

P. 30. that wretched miser Sir John Cutler, born 1608, died 1693. Although immortalized by Pope and Macaulay for his meanness, he appears to have been "one of those contradictory but

by no means rare characters who with habits of petty personal parsimony combine large benevolence and public spirit." He was generous in his support of the Stuarts in exile, and was knighted by Charles II. after the Restoration. For an account of Cutler's benefactions see Leslie Stephen's Dict. of National Biography.

P. 33. An English force was cut off in America. To what is reference made here?

P. 35. Gerard Hamilton.

Knight, Vol. VI., p. 209.

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Single-Speech" Hamilton. See

P. 37. tellership of the Exchequer. "The tellers of the exchequer were four in number; their duties were to receive money payable to the king and to pay all money payable by the king.” -Imperial Dictionary.

"The

P. 38. The Great Seal was put into commission. great seal is used for the united kingdoms of England and Scotland, and sometimes of Ireland, in sealing the writs to summon Parliament, treaties with foreign states, and all other papers of great moment. The office of the Lord Chancellor is created by the delivery of the great seal into his custody." - Imperial Dictionary.

P. 40. The new Secretary of State had never read Vattel. Vattel, an important writer on international rights, was born at Couvet, Neuchâtel, in 1714, and died in 1767. His most important work, Droit des Gens, did not appear till 1758, so that the king must have referred to some minor writings, ignorance of which could not be a serious charge to bring against the secretary.

P. 45. “The influence of Leicester House prevailed on Pitt to abate a little." Leicester House was the residence of the Prince of Wales.

P. 46. The small island of Aix was taken. Aix was a fortification opposite the mouth of the Charente River in the Basque Roads (near Rochefort). For a fuller account of the events mentioned here see Knight.

Kensington Palace was a royal residence built in large part by William III. There lived and died Mary, William III., and George II. Queen Victoria was born there, and there she received the tidings of her accession to the throne.

P. 47. In the space of three years the English had founded a mighty empire. For an account of the achievements of the English in India see essays on Lord Clive and on Warren Hastings in the present volume.