If he wanted to rouse a just indignation for the wrongs of his country, he was rapid, vehement, glowing, and impassioned. And whether his discourse was argumentative or declamatory, it always displayed a happy choice of expression, and a fluency of diction, which could not fail to delight his hearers. So singularly select, felicitous and appropriate, was his language, that it has often been remarked, a word of his speech could scarcely be changed, without prejudice to its harmony, vigour, or effect. He seldom was satisfied with standing on the defensive in debate; but was proud to contrast his own actions with the avowed intentions of his opponents. These intentions, too, he often exposed with the most pointed sarcasm ; a weapon which, perhaps, no speaker ever wielded with more dexterity and force than himself. He admired much in Mr. Fox, the happy effect with which he illustrated his arguments, by the application of well-known anecdotes, or by passages from modern authors; but he did not imitate him in this respect; - on the other hand, he used to condemn his habit of repetition.

“ Mr. Pitt's love of amplification has been sometimes urged, as detracting from his excellence as an orator ; but it was his own remark, that every person who addressed a public assembly, and was anxious to be distinctly understood, and to make an impression upon particular points, must either be copious upon those points or repeat them; and that as a speaker, he preferred copiousness to repetition. Of his oratory, it may be

, observed generally, that it combined the eloquence of Tully with the energy of Demosthenes. It was spontaneous; always great; it shone with peculiar, with unequalled splendour, in a reply, which precluded the possibility of previous study ; while it fascinated the imagination by the brilliancy of language, it convinced the judgment by the force of argument; like an impetuous torrent, it bore down all resistance, extorting the admiration even of those who most severely felt its strength, and who most earnestly deprecated its effect.

“ It is unnecessary, and might be presumptuous, to enter moreminutely into the character of Mr. Pitt's eloquence;—there are many living witnesses of its powers; - it will be admired as long as it shall be remembered. A few of his speeches in parliament were published by his friends, and some of them under his own superintendence; but it has been observed, that they were considerably weakened in effect by his own corrections; that if they gained any thing in accuracy, they lost more in vigour and spirit, and that he had not himself the power

of improving upon reflection, the just and happy expression, in which his thoughts were conveyed as they occurred in the course of debate.

“ As a public man, Mr. Pitt trusted his character to his public conduct; he rejected those arts and aids to which inferior men have sometimes had recourse, to prop their fame; and he disdained to court popularity at the expense of unbecoming condescension ; he never failed to be generally esteemed, where he was generally known; but his public avocations did not permit him to enjoy much of the pleasures of private society, and his hours of retirement and relaxation were chiefly confined to the circle of a few friends, which circle he did not seem inclined to extend. Those hours, indeed, were few, for his life may be said to have been devoted to the public service; and, perhaps, to have been sacrificed by that devotion; for his health had gradually declined for the last five years of his life; but the vigour of his mind was unimpaired, and directed, in spite of a feeble frame, with the most unremitted anxiety to promote the interests and welfare of the country. With him, indeed, his country was ever the first object, self the last.

“ It would be highly unjust, however, to dismiss the character of Mr. Pitt, without correcting the erroneous impression which has too generally prevailed, that he was in society, cold, distant, and reserved. So far from it, that, in the relations of private life, he was no less amiable than he was eminent in his public conduct, and in the company of his select friends, none charmed more by the ease, playfulness, and variety of his conversation. He possessed a peculiar sweetness and eqnanimity of temper, which, under all the varying circumstances of health and sickness, of good and adverse fortune, was never ruffled.

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“ The victory of Trafalgar, though he felt at it, the honest pride of an Englishman, elated him to no unbecoming height; nor did the overthrow of his dearest hopes at Austerlitz, though it affected him most sensibly, sink him to an unmanly dejection. Yet his calmness and self-possession arose, not from any apathy or coldness; on the contrary, the varied expressiori of his countenance, and the fire of his eye, showed him to be, what he really was, exquisitely sensible to every feeling ; - but they were the natural result of a strong and well-regulated mind — of the conscious rectitude of his measures, and of the happy mildness of his disposition.

“ The same benevolence and simplicity of heart strongly marked his manners and deportment, which were, in the highest degree, prepossessing. They bespoke the total absence of every thing like moroseness in his nature. With the most playful vivacity, he assumed no superiority in conversation; nor ever oppressed any man with the strength of his talents, or the brilliancy of his wit. It was matter of surprise, how so much fire could be mitigated, and yet not enfeebled by so much gentleness, and how such power could be so delightful.

“Modesty was a striking feature in Mr. Pitt's character ; he was attentive to the humblest, and kindly patient to the weakest opinions. No man was ever more beloved by his friends, or inspired those who had the happiness of living in his society, with a more sincere and affectionate attachment. In his conduct he was rigidly just and strictly moral; and as his virtues were greater, so were his feelings less, than fall to the lot of most men.”

These volumes, which must have occupied much of the author's time, were doubtless written con-amore ; but yet, both in the dedication to a noble lord, as well as in the text, we repeatedly find the author maintaining his own opinions with a considerable degree of boldness. Indeed, he appears to have possessed more zeal than any of his patrons; for not only in respect to the American, but throughout the whole of the French Revolution, all those are branded with the epithet of “Rebels," who presume to oppose the existing authorities.

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One work attributed to Mr. Gifford, appears to have passed through three editions: this is entitled “ A residence in France, during the Years 1792, 3, 4, and 5, in a Series of Letters, by an English Lady.” He was, however, only the editor, and might indeed have amended the text, and corrected the proofs, but as he was, at the period alluded to, in England, he could not possibly have been the author. In short, as the title page implies, this assuredly was the genuine production of an

English Lady,” and indeed, he himself publicly disclaimed it for his own, at a period, when, from its reception, it would not have done him

any

discredit. It has already been hinted, that Mr. Gifford did not remain unrewarded. His first appointment as a police magistrate was to the office in Worship-street, Shoreditch ; and thence in rotation, he removed to the politer air of Marlborough-street, Westminster. By way of relaxation, he was accustomed to retire, when not on duty, to Bromley in Kent, whither he appears to have wholly withdrawn * towards the latter end of his life, which was concluded there, March 6th, 1818, in the 60th year of his age.

Mr. Gifford was twice married. By his first wife, who died in 1805, he had not any issue; but by his second, the daughter of Walter Galleper, Esq., he had several children. He was a strenuous member of the Church of England, and deemed her prosperity and security essentially necessary to the state.

He watched with a jealous eye, the progress of other Christian communions; and appears to have been equally averse, from the repeal of the Test Act, on account of the Presbyterians, whom he denominates sectaries,” and the Catholics, whom he stigmatises as “ Papists." His politics savoured of his religion. He was truly loyal, and supposing the mass of the people to be actuated by anarchy, republicanism, and treason, he occasionally displayed a zeal that bordered on enthusiasm, for their conversion. To his credit, it must be recollected, that he appears to have been uniform in his principles and

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• His chief object in selecting this place, was to be near a medical adviser, in whose skill he placed the most unlimited confidence.

opinions. It must be fairly allowed, therefore, that if he received no other reward, his scanty emoluments as a magistrate under the new Police Act, for which he must have been duly qualified, by early education and professional skill, were not fully commensurate with those literary and political labours, which had at once occupied and consumed the better part of his manhood.

List of THE WORKS

Of the late John Gifford, Esq.

1. The History of France, from the Earliest Times to the Death of Louis XVI. 5 vols. 4to. 1791–1794. N.B. These were originally printed at different times.

2. A plain Address to the Common Sense of the People of England, containing an Abstract of Paine's Life and Writings, 8vo. 1792.

3. Narrative of the Transactions relating to Louis XVI. from June 21st, 1791, to his Death on the 21st of January 1793, 4to.

4. The Reign of Louis XVI. and Complete History of the French Revolution, 4to. 1794.

5. A Letter to the Earl of Lauderdale, containing Strictures on His Lordship's Letters to the Peers of Scotland, 1st edit. 8vo. 1795; 2d edit. 1800.

6. A Residence in France, during the Years 1792, 3, 4, and 5, described in a Series of Letters from a Lady, 2 vols. 8vo. 1796. Of this he was only Editor.

7. The Banditti unmasked, or Historical Memoirs of the present times, from the French, 8vo. 1797.

8. A Letter to the Hon. Thomas (now Lord) Erskine, containing Strictures on his View of the Causes and Consequences of the War, 8vo. 1797.

9. A Defence of the French Emigrants from the French ot' Lally Tollendal, 8vo. 1797.

10. Address to the Members of the Loyal Associations, on the present State of Public Affairs, 8vo. 1797, 5 editions.