was unwilling to allow anything (even his own defense) to
disturb; he therefore deceived himself into a notion that if
there was a storm it would not reach him, and went on his own
train till it was actually broke in upon by force. This led
to supineness and apathy as to public exertion; which would in
the end ruin us: the disposition therefore must be changed,
by forcing them to exert themselves; which would not be if
Government did everything in civil war, they nothing: hence
his wish for a volunteer force. All this was exceedingly
sound, and showed the reach of his reflecting mind as an
observer of human nature, as well as a statesman and soldier,
more than anything I have yet seen."

There is a curious passage touching Pitt's dying moments.

"At the time Mr. Ward accepted the post of Under-Secretary of
State, (resigning that of Welsh Judge,) it had been promised
him that the apparent risk of such a step to the future
prospects of his family should be guarded against by the grant
of a pension, to commence when he should cease to hold office.
He had been but a year in the post thus accepted, and amid
the pressure of other matters the contemplated arrangement
had never been completed. More than once in his last illness
did Pitt allude to his unfulfilled promise, and speak with
kindness of him to whom it had been made. Later on, when he
could no longer continuously articulate, he made the name
'Robert Ward' audible, and added signs for paper and ink.
His trembling hand having feebly traced a number of wandering
characters, and added what could be easily recognized as
his well-known signature, he sank back. The precious paper
(precious, whatever may have been its unknown import, as a
proof of remembrance at so solemn a moment) was afterward
handed over by the physician in attendance, Sir Walter
Farquhar, to Mr. Ward; and many a time did he declare, as he
displayed it to me, that he would give anything he valued most
in the world to be able to decipher its unformed characters."

Some posthumous compositions of Mr. Ward are appended to the Memoirs.
They consist of "characters," similar to those of Chesterfield and
other writers, and of "sketches" and essays; these last being set in
a species of framework, intended to connect them into a series. They
are not the best specimens of the author's