6

ANECDOTE OF MR. PITT.

remark that Mr. Pitt knew but little of Greek, that he was thoroughly well versed in that language at the age of fourteen, but that he never quoted from any Greek authors in the senate, from a well-founded conviction that the only impression he would have excited amongst the greater portion of his auditors would have been that of pedantry. How finely and powerfully his Latin quotations applied is in the public recollection. Mathematics formed his favourite study, to the pursuit of which, he used to observe, he intended to return, whenever the cares of the state no longer demanded his undivided attention. Although he shook the senate with the thunder of his eloquence, in private life he was remarkable for his gentle and unassuming manners. In the colloquial pleasures of the table he would listen with the most patient good humour to great talkers, and argue with them as if his mental powers had been but a little above their own. He never, like Jupiter conversing with the clown, appealed to his thunder. He supported the diffident, and played with the overbearing: in short, in the hours of relaxation, he charmed and delighted, as much as, in those which were devoted to the public welfare, he excited the astonishment and admiration of the world.

It is a matter worthy of remark, that scarcely in one instance, throughout the eventful histories of two of the

most illustrious statesmen and orators that ever adorned this or any other country, is any coincidence to be found, except in the extent and brilliancy of their mental powers, and the melancholy fate which consigned them together to the common lot of mortality. Even in their early studies, whilst Cambridge derives increased celebrity from having the name of Pitt upon her records, Oxford may boast with equal pride the lasting honour of having imparted to Fox the treasures of her learning.

The same spirit of (I hope not illaudable) curiosity induced me to explore the apartments which Gray occupied in the same college. Strange to remark, no one belonging to it could be found to tell me where they were. At last an aged inhabitant of the town was sent for, who immediately conducted me to them. In one of the rooms of this college there is a medallion of Mason. The professor I before mentioned remembered Gray when at college, and observed that what principally remained upon his recollection was his large aquiline nose, and cold inaccessible manner: in the garden belonging to this college there is a Gothic bower remaining, though hastening to rapid decay, which he and Mason planned. It is singular that in the common hall there is no portrait of either Gray or Pitt: to the memory of the latter, however, a fine statue is to be erected in the senate house, by that able and tasteful artist, Nollekens.

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ANECDOTE OF GRAY.

Under one of the windows in one of the rooms which Gray previously occupied at St. Peter's College, there still remains a staple, which the Poet, who was very fearful of fire, had fixed there, for the purpose of escaping from the danger of that element by a rope ladder. An authentic anecdote is told of a college trick which was upon this occasion played off upon him, in revenge for his general unpleasant deportment and unmanly timidity. He was one night roused from his slumbers by a loud cry of "Fire;" upon which he immediately affixed his ropes, and descended into a large tub of water, which his roguish comrades had placed under his window to receive him. Thus, thinking to escape from one element, he fell into another. In consequence of this trick the Bard left St. Peter's for Pembroke.

In the chapel of Trinity College there is an exquisite statue of the immortal Newton, in white marble, by Roubiliac. The great philosopher is represented in a loose gown, with a prism in his hands, and his face elevated to Heaven, as if in divine meditation. On the pedestal is inserted

"Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit."

The library of Trinity College is a very noble room, and said to contain many valuable books, but it is sadly disfigured by the window of painted glass at the south end,

DR. CLARKE'S ANTIQUES.

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representing Sir Isaac Newton, who died in 1726, being presented to his present Majesty, George the Third, who was born in 1738: the king is seated upon a throne, holding a laurel chaplet in one hand, and attended by Minerva, whilst below the Lord Chancellor Bacon, who died in 1626, is seen preparing to register the reward which the sovereign is about to bestow upon the philosopher, who died about twelve years before his royal benefactor existed. The execution of this gaudy association of the dead and of the living, this transparent portrait of absurd anachronisms, corresponds with the design. Amongst the MSS. in this library are the Comus and other poems of Milton, in his own hand, with his alterations. The admirers of the sublime and beautiful in poetry may be gratified by seeing a lock of hair of this illustrious bard at Lord Fitzwilliam's, at Richmond.

In the vestibule of the public library are some valuable antiquities, which have been presented to it by Dr. Clarke, a gentleman equally known for his learning, and the uncommon enterprise and enthusiasm with which he achieved a very extensive tour through various distant countries, particularly in Greece, from which, at considerable cost and with infinite address and labour, he contrived to bring the celebrated colossal bust of Ceres, exhibiting part of the body, from the girdle upwards, from the temple of Eleusis, and present it to his Alma Mater.. In raising and embellishing

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this gorgeous and stupendous temple, the most illustrious artists of Greece are said to have exerted their highest energies, until they left it a work of matchless perfection, at once the admiration and wonder of the world. Amongst the literary treasures collected by Dr. Clarke, in the course of his travels, are a Plato, beautifully written on vellum, by Professor Porson styled a monument of literature, and other valuable works from Patmos, Naxos, Mount Athos, and from Constantinople. The Doctor has also brought some antique monuments from Sais, in Egypt, (the ruins of which city were first discovered by Messrs. Clarke and Crips,) and various other antiquities from Upper Egypt, collections of medals and vases from all parts of Greece, and sculpture and inscriptions from the Cimmerian Bosphorus, the Crimea, the shores of the Euxine, the Plain of Troy, the Greek Islands, and the Grecian Continent. The public has been long in expectation of seeing in print the researches and observations of this elegant and learned traveller, and it is to be hoped that so high a gratification will not be long delayed.

After viewing the magnificent edifice devoted to piety or learning, the traveller will do well to visit a fabric of a different nature; I mean the gaol, which is small, but admirably designed and constructed. In the discipline of the prison I saw nothing to object to, except an unneces