СНАР. Lives of Pitt, and rate party of his denomination at this period. 'In craft and courage,' says Macaulay, 'he had no superior among the politicians of his age.' His experiences supply a remarkable picture of Scottish affairs at this time, and especially of the unrestrained cruelties of the Royal Commissioners under Charles II. and James II. For the career of the first PITT, the Life by THACKERAY (1827) supplies us with a large mass of information and copious extracts from his official correspondence, but as a biography the work is equally wanting in critical discernment and literary merit. The Life of Bentley, by BISHOP MONK (1823), and the Life of Sir Isaac Newton, by SIR DAVID BREWSTER (1855), are respectively excellent illustrations of the learning and the science of the age. To the former should be added the admirable study by DE QUINCEY. Among Macaulay's the contributions of Macaulay to the history of a period Essays. with which his acquaintance was unrivalled, are his Essay on the fragment by Mackintosh, already referred to, that on Walpole's Letters (one of the happiest and most just of his critical performances),—and the first Essay on the Earl of Chatham (occasioned by the publication of the Life by Thackeray), in which he follows Pitt's career to the close of the reign of George II. His estimate of ATTERBURY, as given in the Encyclopædia Britannica, has been reprinted in the collected Biographies from his pen published by Messrs. Longman. Nichols's The great collection entitled Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, by J. G. NICHOLS,' abounds with facts and anecdotes which are generally illustrative of Collected Works, vol. vi. 2 Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. By John Nichols. 6 vols. 1812-14. Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century. Intended as a Sequel to the Literary Anecdotes. 8 vols. 1817 CHAP. IX. worth's the times, and is invaluable as a work of reference. MR. C. WORDSWORTH'S University Life (1874) and University Studies (1877) in the Eighteenth Century render Wordsmuch service in illustrating the state of education and University Life, &c. learning; while the relations of learning to religious thought, and the points most in dispute within the pale of the English Church, may be pursued in detail by the aid of professor J. E. B. MAYOR'S elaborate notes to BAKER'S History of St. John's College, Cambridge. The third volume of Mr. Hunt's History of Religious Hunt. Thought supplies us with a series of skilful analyses of the chief theological and speculative works of the century. His labours, however, are restricted for the most part to writers of the orthodox school. In MR. LESLIE STEPHEN'S History of English Thought in the Leslie Eighteenth Century (2 vols., 1876) a wider range is Stephen, taken, and special attention is devoted to that sceptical element which forms the distinguishing characteristic of our national literature in the latter half of the century, and which exercised a potent influence on the political and social life of the period both in England and on the Continent. Mr. Stephen's volumes are well deserving of careful study, however much the conclusions to which they point may be a subject of dispute. Overton. Another work of considerable research and critical power is The English Church in the Eighteenth Century, by C. J. ABBEY and J. H. OVERTON (2 vols., 1878). Abbey and While written from the stand-point of a professed supporter of the Church, it is catholic and liberal in its treatment, and the views of both Jacobite and Nonjuror are analysed with much care and with scrupulous impartiality. As a comprehensive and temperate exposition of a wide and difficult subject, these volumes will not soon be superseded. CHAP. X. CHAPTER X. THE RESTORATION OF AUTHORITY. (A.) Contemporary Writers.-Among the works named in the preceding chapter, the Walpole Letters and lord Authorities Hervey's Memoirs, together with Coxe's Life of Pelham, scribed. are the principal original sources that continue to be available. already de Calendars of State Papers.. For the reign of George III., two Calendars of State Papers of the Domestic Series' have recently appeared,' which contain the first nine years. The want occasioned by the absence of similar volumes for the subsequent years is in some measure supplied by the numerous collections of the Correspondence of the chief statesmen and political characters of the period which have been published during the last half-century. Among these the Calendar of Home Office Papers of the Reign of George III Edited by Joseph Redington. Vol. i. (1760–65); vol. ii. (1766-69.) 1878-79. The following observations, by an eminent critic, on the special value of material of this kind, deserve to be noted: 'Letters and despatches, like journals entered day by day, have this advantage over memoirs, that they exhibit faithfully the impressions of the moment, and are written without knowledge of the ultimate result. They are, therefore, more trustworthy than any narrative composed after the whole series of events has been worked out, at a time when the narrator is tempted to suppress, or has learnt to forget, the proofs of his own want of foresight. In confidential correspondence, written without any expectation of publicity, weaknesses and minor defects of the writer will be disclosed; many transient feelings or thoughts will appear which his deliberate judgment would have rejected; but where there is genuine ability and true integrity, these qualities will be more apparent from their evidence being undesigned.' SIR G. C. LEWIS, Essays on the Administrations, &c., p. 158. CHAP. ville X. Grenville Papers' are perhaps the most important. They extend over thirty years, commencing from 1742, and are especially valuable for the seven concluding years of The GrenGeorge II. and the first ten of the following reign. The Papers. Preface, by the editor, is designed to vindicate the claims of the two brothers, Richard and George, to a higher place in the estimation of posterity than was conceded to them by contemporary criticism or has been adjudged to them by later writers. For the period 1744-1770, the Bedford Corre- The spondence illustrates the political life of England, the CorresponBedford DUKE OF BEDFORD having successively filled during dence. those years the office of First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, ambassador at Paris, and President of the Council. With respect to the negotiations which resulted in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, this collection is the best source of information. The Introduction, by the late earl Russell, will also repay perusal. The Correspondence of the first WILLIAM PITT,3 Pitt Correwhich should be read in conjunction with the Letters of Memoirs spondence. Horace Walpole, was published in 1840. The Memoirs of Lord Rockingof LORD ROCKINGHAM' include much of his corre- ham. spondence, and illustrate the new policy of which, as distinguished both from that of the duke of Bedford's 'The Grenville Papers: being the Correspondence of Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, K.G., and the Right Hon. George Grenville, their Friends and Contemporaries. Edited, with Notes, by William James Smith. 4 vols. 1852. 2 Correspondence of John, fourth Duke of Bedford: selected from the Originals at Woburn Abbey. With an Introduction by Lord John Russell. 3 vols. 1842. • Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. 4 vols. 8vo. 1840. Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham and his Contemporaries: with original Letters and Documents now first published. By George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle. 2 vols. 1852. CC СНАР. Correspon dence of and Lord party and that of lord Chatham's party, he became the recognised leader soon after the accession of George III. The Correspondence of George III. with Lord North, George III. dating from 1768 to 1783, and embodying all the letters preserved in the royal library at Windsor Castle, is chiefly valuable as indicating the personal sentiments and policy of the king. The editor has prefixed to the collection a useful Introduction, and has appended to the correspondence a large body of explanatory notes. North. The bury Corre The Malmesbury Correspondence, which commences in the year 1768, extends to 1797. The record of nearly spondence. thirty years' service of the Crown, it much surpasses most similar collections in interest, and proves alike the high sense of duty by which the writer was actuated, and the ability with which his diplomatic functions were discharged. The earlier part relates to his missions to the court of Spain, of Russia (in the time of Catharine II.), and of the Hague. Burke's Correspondence, Speeches, and Pam phlets. An imperfect collection of the Correspondence of BURKE is included in the edition of his Works,3 published in 1852; his Speeches appeared in a collected form soon after his death. Among his political pamphlets, the Observations on a Late State of the Nation (1769), the Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770), his speech on American Taxation (1774), that On Conciliation (1775), and his Letters on the Trade of Ireland The Correspondence of King George III. with Lord North. From 1768 to 1783. Edited from the Originals at Windsor, with an Introduction and Notes, by W. Bodham Donne. 2 vols. 1867. Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, first Earl of Malmesbury. 4 vols. 1844. The Works and Correspondence of Edmund Burke. A new edition. 8 vols. 1852. [On the wanting portions of the Correspondence see Preface to Macknight's Life, pp. ix. and x.] • The Speeches of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke in the House of Commons and in Westminster Hali. 4 vols, 1816. |