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proviſion. That great ſtateſman, who was "poor amidſt a nation's wealth," whoſe ambition was patriotiſm, whoſe expence and whoſe economy were only for the public, died in honourable poverty. That circumſtance certainly conveys no reproach upon his memory; but when he had leiſure to attend to his private concerns, it diſtreſſed him ſeriouſly to reflect that he had debts, without the means of paying them, which he could not have avoided incurring, except from a parſimony which would have been called meanneſs, or by accepting a remuneration from the public, which his enemies would have called rapacity; for he had no expence of any ſort that was not indiſpenſably neceſſary, except in improvements in his country reſidence, where his houſe was hardly equal to the accommodation of the moſt private gentleman[1]
- ↑
Towards the latter part of Mr. Pitt's life, ſome debts preſſed ſo ſeverely upon him, as to render it neceſſary for ſome of his private and moſt intimate friends to ſtep in to ſave him from immediate inconvenience; which aſſiſtance Mr. Pitt agreed to avail himſelf of only on the expreſs condition of his friends receiving repayment of the ſums contributed, with intereſt; for ſecuring which a part of his income was to be ſet aſide, as a ſinking fund.—He died I and the nation paid the remainder of his debts.
In the firſt edition of this pamphlet it was ſtated that Lord Carrington was not one of the friends who aſſiſted Mr. Pitt
