[44] “Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham,” iii, 27.
[45] Notes by Bishop Tomline in the Pretyman MSS., Orwell Park.
[46] Lord Fitzmaurice, “Life of Shelburne,” i, 72. See also two articles on the early life of the elder Pitt in the “Edinburgh Review” for 1910.
[47] “Chatham Corresp.,” iii, 65.
[48] “Chatham Corresp.,” iv, 538.
[49] Pitt MSS., 11.
[50] “Chatham Corresp.,” iv, 363.
[51] Pitt MSS., 101. The disuse of past participles was a characteristic of that age. To write “rode” for “ridden” after the auxiliary verb was no more noticeable a defect than to walk unsteadily after dinner. One other early letter of Pitt’s bears date 1772 at Lyme Regis, and refers to some fun which he and his brothers and sisters had had on a cutter yacht. Another letter undated, but in Pitt’s round schoolboy hand, to a gentleman of Somerset, refers to sporting matters such as the lack of hares and the inability of his brother to catch those which he does start (Pitt MSS., 102).
[52] From Mr. A. M. Broadley’s MSS.
[53] By the kindness of the Countess Stanhope I was allowed to peruse this most interesting MS., which is preserved, along with many other Pitt treasures, at Chevening.