esumed his
functions, a spontaneous illumination, the most general that had ever
been seen in England, brightened the whole vast space from Highgate
to Tooting, and from Hammersmith to Greenwich. On the day on which he
returned thanks in the cathedral of his capital, all the horses
and carriages within a hundred miles of London were too few for the
multitudes which flocked to see him pass through the streets. A
second illumination followed, which was even superior to the first in
magnificence. Pitt with difficulty escaped from the tumultuous kindness
of an innumerable multitude which insisted on drawing his coach from
Saint Paul's Churchyard to Downing Street. This was the moment at
which his fame and fortune may be said to have reached the zenith. His
influence in the closet was as great as that of Carr or Villiers had
been. His dominion over the Parliament was more absolute than that
of Walpole of Pelham had been. He was at the same time as high in the
favour of the populace as ever Wilkes or Sacheverell had been.
Nothing did more to raise his character than his noble poverty. It was
well-known that, if he had been dismissed from office after more than
five years of boundless power, he would hardly have carried out with
him a sum sufficient to furnish the set of chambers in which, as he
cheerfully declared, he meant to resume the practice of the law. His
admirers, however, were by no means disposed to suffer him to depend on
daily toil for his daily bread. The voluntary contributions which were
awaiting his acceptance in the city of London alone would have sufficed
to make him a rich man. But it may be doubted whether his haughty spirit
would have stooped to accept a provision so honourably earned and so
honourably bestowed.

To such a height of power and glory had this extraordinary man risen
at twenty-nine years of age. And now the tide was on the turn. Only ten
days after the triumphal procession to Saint Paul's, the States-General
of France, after an interval of a hundred and seventy-four years, met at
Versailles.

The nature of the great Revolution which followed was long very
imperfectly understood in this country. Burke saw much further than any
of his contemporaries: but whatever his sagacity descried was refracted
and discoloured by his passions and his imagination. More than three
years elapsed before the principles of the English administration
underwent any material change. Nothing could as yet be milder