peerage for his family,
were events which astonished his admirers as much as any thing else in
his wonderful career. Even now, after the recent publication of all the
letters relating to these transactions, it is difficult to put any
construction on Mr. Pitt's conduct which is consistent with the
high-spirited independence which one desires to believe to have been a
leading feature of his character. There may have been great subtlety in
the way in which he was tempted; that may be admitted even by the
stoutest defenders of the character of George III; but nothing can
excuse the eager, rapturous gratitude with which the glittering bait was
caught. The whole circumstances are related in the _Chatham
Correspondence_, ii. 146, coupled with Adolphus's _Hist. of England._

A kind judgment upon them may be read in Lord Mahon's _Hist. of
England_, iv. 365, and one more severe--perhaps, more just--in Lord
Brougham's _Historical Sketches_, in the article on Lord Chatham. See
also the _Pictorial History of the Reign of George III_, i. 13. After
consulting all these authorities the reader will still find new facts,
and a vivid picture of the public feeling, in the following letter.]

Dear Robinson,--I am much obliged to you for both your letters,
particularly the last, in which I look upon the freedom of your
expostulations as the strongest mark of your friendship, and allow you
to charge me with any thing that possibly can be brought against one
upon such an occasion, except forgetfulness of you. I left town soon
after receiving your first letter, and was moving about from place to
place, till the coronation brought me to town again, and has fixed me
here for the winter; however I do not urge my unsettled situation during
the summer as any excuse for my silence, but aim to lay it upon
downright indolence, which I was ashamed of before I received your
second letter, and have been angry with myself for it since; however, as
often as you'll do me the pleasure, and a very sincere one it is I
assure you, of letting me hear how you do, you may depend upon the
utmost punctuality for the future, and I undertake very seriously to
answer every letter you shall write me within a fortnight.

The ensuing winter may possibly produce many things to amaze you; it has
opened with one that I am sure will; I mean Mr. Pitt's resignation, who
delivered up the seals to the King last Monday. The reason commonly
given for this extraordinary step is a