erted all his eloquence, but in vain, to induce me to lend him more money; and I thanked heaven when I got rid of him. He assigned over to me the whole of his works, including his Tacitus; and I soon found that he had already disposed of them to a bookseller! For this transaction Murphy came, in extreme agitation, to offer me a sort of apology, almost throwing himself on his knees. When he made his appearance, Porson and Maltby* happened to be in the room; but, Porson having said aside to Maltby, "We had better withdraw," they left me to my disagreeable conference with Murphy.

One thing ought to be remembered to Murphy's honour: an actress, with whom he had lived, bequeathed to him all her property, but he gave up every farthing of it to her relations.

Murphy used to say that there were Four Estates in England, the King, the Lords, the Commons, and -the Theatres. He certainly would not say so, if he were alive now, when the national theatre is almost extinct.

* See notice prefixed to the Porsoniana in this volume.-ED. † Mr. Rogers was then lodging in Prince's Street, Hanover Square; from which he removed to St. James's Place.-ED.

Miss Elliot.-ED.

Henderson was a truly great actor; his Hamlet and his Falstaff were equally good. He was a very fine reader too; in his comic readings superior, of course, to Mrs. Siddons; his John Gilpin was marvellous.

He would frequently produce very unexpected "effects" in his readings: for instance, in the passage of Collins's Ode to Fear,

"Or throws him on the ridgy steep

Of some loose-hanging rock to sleep ;"

he would suddenly pause after the words "loosehanging rock," and then, starting back as if in amazement, and lifting his arms above his head, he would slowly add—" to sleep!"*

During his boyhood, Pitt was very weakly; and his physician, Addington (Lord Sidmouth's father) ordered him to take port wine in large quantities: the consequence was, that, when he grew up, he could not do without it. Lord Grenville has seen

* I must be allowed to observe, that I do not agree with Mr. Rogers in admiring the effect in question. It was certainly not intended by the poet.-ED.

him swallow a bottle of port in tumblerfuls, before going to the House. This, together with his habit of eating late suppers (indigestible cold veal-pies, &c.), helped undoubtedly to shorten his life. Huskisson, speaking to me of Pitt, said that his hands shook so much, that, when he helped himself to salt, he was obliged to support the right hand with the left.

Stothard the painter happened to be one evening at an inn on the Kent Road, when Pitt and Dundas. put up there on their way from Walmer. Next morning, as they were stepping into their carriage, the waiter said to Stothard, "Sir, do you observe these two gentlemen ?"—"Yes," he replied; "and I know them to be Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas.""Well, sir, how much wine do you suppose they drank last night?"-Stothard could not guess. "Seven bottles, sir."

Lord Grenville once said to Pitt, "I am really astonished at your fluency in public speaking: how was it acquired?" He replied, "I believe it may be attributed to this circumstance: when I was a lad, my father used every evening to make me translate freely, before him and the rest of the family, those

portions of Livy, Virgil, &c., which I had read in the morning with my tutor, Mr. Wilson."-Lord Grenville engaged a reporter to take down Pitt's speeches; but the reporter completely failed.

Pitt had been accustomed when a boy to go abird-nesting at Holwood, and hence (according to Lord Grenville) his wish to possess that place; which he eventually did.

I was assured by Lord Grenville that Pitt came into office with a fixed determination to improve the finances of the kingdom; instead of which he greatly injured them.

I don't remember having heard of any bon-mots being uttered by Pitt in society; and those persons who were very intimate with him could tell me little in favour of his conversational powers: one great lady who knew him well, said that he was generally quite silent in company; and a second could give me no other information about him, but that (being a tall man)" he sat very high at table !”

There was a run on the Bank, and Pitt was uncertain what measures to take in consequence of it. He passed the whole night (as Mrs. in walking up and down his drawing-room. Next

told me)

morning he sent for certain bankers, and informed them that he had resolved on issuing five-pound notes. I recollect a farmer coming to my father's bank, and receiving his money in five-pound notes. "What can I do with these?" he exclaimed; "how can I pay my men with them?"

Wilberforce requested Pitt to read Butler's Analogy.* Pitt did so; and was by no means satisfied with the reasoning in it. "My dear Wilberforce," he said, "you may prove any thing by analogy."

Combe, author of The Diaboliad, of Lord Lyttelton's Letters, and, more recently, of Doctor Syntax's Three Tours, was a most extraordinary person. During a very long life, he had seen much of the

*"One evening, at a party, when Butler's Analogy was mentioned, Parr said in his usual pompous manner, 'I shall not declare, before the present company, my opinion of that book.' Bowles, who was just then leaving the room, muttered, 'Nobody cares what you think of it.' Parr, overhearing him, roared out, 'What's that you say, Bowles ?' and added, as the door shut on the offender, It's lucky that Bowles is gone! for I should have put him to death."" MR. MALTBY (see notice prefixed to the Porsoniana in this volume).-Ed.

† And of an astonishing number of other works, all published anonymously.-Ed.