s show, how desirous I
am to be the common father of all my people: do you, in like
manner, lay aside parties and divisions; let there be no other
distinction heard of amongst us, but of those who are for the
Protestant religion and the present establishment; and of those who
mean a Popish prince and a French government.

"I shall only add this; that if you do, in good earnest, desire to
see England hold the balance of Europe, and to be indeed at the
head of the Protestant interest, it will appear by the present
opportunity."

Daylight shone on the windows of St Stephen's before the debate closed.
The minister had retired immediately after his exhausting speech, and
left his friends to sustain the combat. It was long and fierce; but
Opposition was again baffled, and the division gave us a lingering
majority. It was now too late, or too early, to go to rest; and I had
returned to my official apartments, to look over some returns required
for the next council, when, my friend the secretary tapped at my door.
His countenance looked care-worn; and for a few moments after he had sat
down, he remained in total silence, with his forehead resting on his
hands. This was so unlike the cheerful spirit of former times--times in
which he had seemed to defy, or almost to enjoy, the struggles of public
life--that I began to express alarm for his health. But he interrupted
me by a look of the deepest distress, and the words "Pitt is dying." No
words could be fuller of ill omen, and my anxiety was equal to his own.
"My meaning," said he, "is not, that he must die to-day, or to-morrow,
nor in six months, nor perhaps in a year, but that the statesman is
dead. He must speak no more, act no more, and even think no more, or he
must go to his grave. This night has finished the long supremacy of the
noblest mind that ever ruled the councils of this country. William Pitt
may live, but the minister has finished his days."

"Yet," I remarked, "I never heard him more animated or more impressive
than on this night. He absolutely broke down all resistance. His mind
seemed richer than ever, and his combination of facts and reasoning
appeared to me unequalled by even his greatest previous efforts. I
should have almost pronounced him to be inspired by the increased
difficulties of the time."

"True--yet I conveyed him from the House, fainting;--I have sate, along
with his physician, at his bedside ever since, app