DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70031#0251
WILLIAM PITT.
William Pitt, second son of the celebrated Earl
of Chatham, was born in 1759, during the time of
his father’s brilliant administration. After the resign
nation of that great statesman he devoted all his at-
tention to the education of this his favourite son, in
whom he had already discovered a mind and character
similar to his own, and whom he considered as des-
tined to increase the celebrity of his name and family.
He particularly accustomed him from his earliest
youth to express himself upon all occasions with pre-
cision and elegance. He encouraged him to join in
every conversation, though they sometimes turned upon
subjects that would have appeared too abstruse for his
tender jears. He would frequently enter into discus-
sions with him without permitting him to evade any
difficulty in the subject, or to leave it till it was com-
pletely exhausted. By this excellent mode of instruc-
tion his son Required the early habit of expressing
himself with facility, and enabled him to acquire those
qualities so essential in a statesman, firmness and pre-
sence of mind.
Mr. Pitt completed his education at Cambridge
with great distinction; and embracing the study of
the law, practiced at the bar till 1780, when a general
election took place. The following year he was re-
turned to parliament, and siding with the opposition,
party against the then minister, Lord North, he soon
William Pitt, second son of the celebrated Earl
of Chatham, was born in 1759, during the time of
his father’s brilliant administration. After the resign
nation of that great statesman he devoted all his at-
tention to the education of this his favourite son, in
whom he had already discovered a mind and character
similar to his own, and whom he considered as des-
tined to increase the celebrity of his name and family.
He particularly accustomed him from his earliest
youth to express himself upon all occasions with pre-
cision and elegance. He encouraged him to join in
every conversation, though they sometimes turned upon
subjects that would have appeared too abstruse for his
tender jears. He would frequently enter into discus-
sions with him without permitting him to evade any
difficulty in the subject, or to leave it till it was com-
pletely exhausted. By this excellent mode of instruc-
tion his son Required the early habit of expressing
himself with facility, and enabled him to acquire those
qualities so essential in a statesman, firmness and pre-
sence of mind.
Mr. Pitt completed his education at Cambridge
with great distinction; and embracing the study of
the law, practiced at the bar till 1780, when a general
election took place. The following year he was re-
turned to parliament, and siding with the opposition,
party against the then minister, Lord North, he soon