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Pitcairne. to know the progress of medicine from its earliest periods, before he attempted to reform and improve that

science.

On the 13th of August 1685, he received, from the faculty of Rheims, the degree of Doctor; which, on the 7th of August 1699, was likewise conferred on him by the university of Aberdeen; both being attended with marks of peculiar distinction. Other medical honours are said to have been conferred on him in France and elsewhere; but nothing affords a more unequivocal testimony to his abilities than that which the surgeons of Edinburgh gave, in admitting him, freely and unsolicited, a member of their college. None had such opportunities of judging of his merit as a practitioner, and on no physician did they ever bestow the same public mark of respect. Soon after his graduation at Rheims, he returned to Edinburgh; where, on the 29th of November 1681, the Royal College of Physicians was instituted; and his name, among others, graced the original patent from the crown.

In his Solutio Problematis de Inventoribus, the treatise above alluded to, he discovers a wonderful degree of medical literature, and makes use of it in a manner that does great honour both to his head and his heart. His object is to vindicate Dr Harvey's claim to the discovery of the circulation of the blood. The discovery was, at first, controverted by envy, and reprobated by ignorance. When at length its truth was fully established, many invidiously attempted to tear the laurels from the illustrious Englishman, and to plant them on the brows of Hippocrates and others. Had the attempt been directed against himself, the generous soul of Pitcairne could not have exerted more zeal in a defence; and his arguments remain unanswered.

During his residence in Scotland, his reputation became so considerable, that, in the year 1691, the university of Leyden solicited him to fill the medical chair, at that time vacant. Such an honourable testimony of respect, from a foreign nation, and from such an university, cannot perhaps be produced in the medical biography of Great Britain. The lustre of such characters reflects honour on their profession, and on the country which has the good fortune of giving them birth; and serves to give the individuals of that country not only a useful estimation in their own eyes, but in those also of the rest of the world. Dr Pitcairne's well-known political principles excluded him from public honours and promotion at home: he therefore accepted the invitation from abroad; and, on the 26th of April 1692, delivered, at Leyden, his elegant and masterly inaugural oration: Oratio qua ostenditur medicinam ab omni philo

sophorum secta esse liberam. In this he clears medi- Pitcaine. cine from the rubbish of the old philosophy; separates it from the influence of the different sects; places it on the broad and only sure foundation of experience; shows how little good inquiries into the manner how medicines operate have done to the art; and demonstrates the necessity of a sedulous attention to their effects, and to the various appearances of disease. Nothing (says an elegant panegyrist of our author) * Dr Chas: marks a superiority of intellect so much as the courage requisite to stem a torrent of obstinately prevailing in Orn. and groundless opinions. For this the genius and ta-tion at Elents of Pitcairne were admirably adapted; and, in his damburgh oration, he displays them to the utmost. It was received for the year 1781; with the highest commendations; and the administra- which per tors, to testify their sense of such an acquisition to their formance university, greatly augmented the ordinary appointment the present of his chair. chiefly ex

Webster, in the Har.

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Medicine

He discharged the duties of his office at Leyden sod as to answer the most sanguine expectations. He taught with a perspicuity and eloquence which met with universal applause. with universal applause. Independently of the encomiums of Boerhaave and Mead, who were his pupils, the numerous manuscript copies- of his lectures, and the mutilated specimen of them which found its way Elements into the world without his knowledge, show how justly it was bestowed. At the same time, he was not more celebrated as a professor than as a practical physician; and notwithstanding the multiplicity of his business in both these characters, he found leisure to publish several treatises on the circulation, and some other of the most important parts of the animal econo-my (A).

At the close of the session he set out for Scotland, with an intention of returning in time for the succeeding one. On his marrying (B) the daughter of Sir Archibald Stevenson, the object of his journey, her relations would on no account consent to part with him again. He was therefore reluctantly obliged to remain; and he wrote the university a polite apology, which was received with the utmost regret. He even declined the most flattering solicitations and tempting offers to settle in London. Indeed be soon came into that extensive practice to which his abilities entitled him, and was also appointed titular professor of medi cine in the university of Edinburgh.

The uniformity of a professional life is seldom interrupted by incidents worthy of record. Specimens, however, of that brilliant wit with which he delighted his friends in the hours of his leisure, continue to entertain us (c) and the effects of that eminent skill which he exerted

:

(A) Dr Boerhaave gives the following character of these and some other of Dr Pitcairne's dissertations, which were collected and published at Rotterdam, anno 1701: "Hæc scripta optima sunt et perfecta, sive legas Dissertationem de Motu Sanguinis per Pulmones, sive alia opuscula, sive ultimum tractatum de Opio." Methodus studii, ab Hallero edita, p. 569.

(B) He had been married before to a daughter of Colonel James Hay of Pitfour, by whom he had a son and daughter, who both died young.

(c) Vide Pitcarni Poemata.-Several of his poems, however, are obscure, and some of them totally unintel ligible without a key. In those of them which are of a political kind, he wished not to express himself too clearly; and in others, he alludes to private occurrences which were not known beyond the circle of his companions. His poem (Ad Lindesium), addressed to his friend Lindsey, is commented on by the authors of the Biographia Britannica; and it is to be regretted that it is the only one on which they have been solicitous to throw

Pitcairne. exerted in the cure of disease, still operate to the good of posterity.

In a science so slowly progressive as that of medi- Pitcairne... eine, Dr Pitcairne did a great deal. By labouring in vain for truth in one road, he saved many the same drudgery, and thereby showed the necessity of another. He not only exploded many false notions of the chemists and Galenists which prevailed in his time, but many of those too of his own sect. In particular, he showed the absurdity of referring all diseases and their cures to an alkali or an acid (E). He refuted the idea of secretion being performed by pores differently shaped (F), Bellini's opinion of effervescences in the animal spirits with the blood, and Borelli's of air entering the blood by respiration (G). He proved the continuity of the arteries and veins (H); and seems to have been the first who showed that the blood flows from a smaller capacity into a larger; that the aorta, with respect to the arterial system, is the apex of a cone (1). In this therefore he may be considered as the latent spring of the discoveries respecting the powers moving the blood. He introduced a simplicity of prescription unknown in pharmacy before his time (K); and such was the state of medicine in this country, that scarcely have the works of any cotemporary or preceding author been thought worthy even of preservation (L). As to the errors of his philosophy, let it be remembered, that no theory has as yet stood the test of many years in an enlightened period. His own bung very loosely

The discovery of the circulation, while in some measure it exploded the chemical and Galenical doctrines, tended to introduce mathematical and mechanical reasoning in their stead. Of this theory (D) Dr Pitcairne was the principal support, and the first who introduced it into Britain. A mathematical turn of mind, and a wish for mathematical certainty in medicine, biassed him in its favour, and he pushed it to its utmost extent. One is at a loss whether most to admire or regret such a waste of talents in propping a theory which, though subversive of former ones, was to fall before others but a little more satisfactory than itself. Mechanical physicians expected more from geometry than that science could grant. They made it the foundation instead of an auxiliary to their inquiries, and applied it to parts of nature not admitting mathematical calculations. By paying more attention afterwards to the supreme influence of the living principle, the source of all the motions and functions of the body, it was found that these could not be explained by any laws of chemistry or mechanism. They are still, however, involved in obscurity; and notwithstanding the numberless improvements which have taken place in the sciences connected with medicine, will perhaps remain inscrutable while man continues in his present stage of existence.

light. "Some parts (say they) of this poem, are hardly intelligible, without knowing a circumstance in the doctor's life, which he often told, and never without some emotion. It is a well known story of the two Platonic philosophers, who promised one another, that whichever died first should make a visit to his surviving companion. This story being read by Mr Lindsey and our author together, they being both then very young, entered into the same engagement. Soon after, Pitcairne, at his father's house in Fife, dreamed one morning that Lindsey, who was then at Paris, came to him, and told him he was not dead, as was commonly reported, but still alive, and lived in a very agreeable place, to which he could not yet carry him. By the course of the post news came of Lindsey's death, which happened very suddenly the morning of the dream. When this is known, the poem. is easily understood, and shines with no common degree of beauty.

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"He then proceeds to exclaim against the principles and practices which produced this Teutonic violence upon the British sceptre ; and concludes with a wish, that Lindsey might bring Rhadamanthus with him to pu

nish them.

"Unus abest scelerum vindex Rhadamanthus ; amice,

"Dii faciant reditus sit comes ille tui.

"Every one sees how much keener an edge is given to the satire upon the Revolution, by making it an additional reason for his friend's keeping his promise to return him a visit after his death."

(D) See the article PHYSIOLOGY.

(E) Pitcarnii Dissertationes, Edin. edit. 1713. De opera quam præstant corpora acida vel alkalica in cu

ratione morborum.

(F) De circulatione sanguinis per vasa minima.

(G) De diversa mole qua sanguis fluit per pulmones.

(H) De circulatione sanguinis per vasa minima.

(1) De circulatione sanguinis in animalibus genitis et non genitis.

(K) Elementa Medicina, lib. i. cap. 21. et passim.

(L) The first medical publication which distinguished this country, after Dr Pitcairne's, was that of the Edinburgh Mecical Essays, in the year 1732. Vide the article MONRO.

* Written in 1689.

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Dr Pitcairne was universally considered as the first physician of his time. No one appears ever to have had so much practice in this country, or so many consultations from abroad; and no one, from all accounts, ever practised with greater sagacity and success. highest thought themselves honoured by his acquaintance, and the lowest were never denied his assistance and advice. The emoluments of his profession must have been great; but his charities are known to have been correspondent. The possession of money he postponed to more liberal objects; he collected one of the finest private libraries in the world; which was purchased, after his death, by the Czar of Muscovy. Notwithstanding the fatigues he underwent in the exercise of his profession, his constitution was naturally delicate. About the beginning of October 1713, he became affected with his last illness; and on the 23d he died, regretted by science as its ornament, by his country as its boast, and by humanity as its friend. He left a son and four daughters: of whom only one of the latter now survives. The present noble family of Kelly are his grandchildren.

Some anonymous publications are attributed to Dr Pitcairne, particularly a treatise De Legibus Historiæ Naturalis, &c.; but the only ones he thought proper to legitimate are his Dissertationes Medica, and a short essay De Salute.

PITCAITHLY. See PITKEATHLY.

PITCH, a tenacious oily substance, drawn chiefly from pines and firs, and used in shipping, medicine, and various arts or it is more properly tar inspissated by boiling it over a slow fire. See TAR.

Fossil PITCH. See PETROLEUM, MINERALOGY Index.

PITCHING, in sea-affairs, may be defined the vertical vibration which the length of a ship makes about her centre of gravity; or the movement by which she plunges her head and after-part alternately into the hollow of the sea. This motion may proceed from two causes the waves which agitate the vessel; and the wind upon the sails, which makes her stoop to every blast thereof. The first absolutely depends upon the agitation of the sea, and is not susceptible of inquiry; and the second is occasioned by the inclination of the masts, and may be submitted to certain established maxims.

When the wind acts upon the sails, the mast yields to its effort, with an inclination which increases in proportion to the length of the mast, to the augmentation of

the wind, and to the comparative weight and distribu- Pitching tion of the ship's lading.

The repulsion of the water, to the effort of gravity, Fithou opposes itself to this inclination, or at least sustains it, by as much as the repulsion exceeds the momentum, or absolute effort of the mast, upon which the wind operates. At the end of each blast, when the wind suspends its action, this repulsion lifts the vessel; and these successive inclinations and repulsions produce the movement of pitching, which is very inconvenient; and, when it is considerable, will greatly retard the course, as well as endanger the mast, and strain the vessel. PITH, in vegetation, the soft spongy substance contained in the central parts of plants and trees *.

PITHO, in fabulous history, the goddess of persuasion among the Romans. She was supposed to be the daughter of Mercury and Venus, and was represented with a diadem on her head, to intimate her influence over the hearts of man. One of her arms appeared raised as in the attitude of an orator haranguing in a public assembly; and with the other she holds a thunderbolt and fetters, made with flowers, to signify the powers of reasoning and the attractions of eloquence. A caduceus, as a symbol of persuasion, appears at her feet, with the writings of Demosthenes and Cicero, the two most celebrated among the ancients, who understood how to command the attention of their audience, and to rouse and animate their various passions.-A Roman courtezan. She received this name on account of the allurements which her charms possessed, and of her winning expressions.

PITHOM, one of the cities that the children of Israel built for Pharaoh in Egypt (Exod. i. 11.) during the time of their servitude. This is probably the same city with Pathumos mentioned by Herodotus, which he places upon the canal made by the kings Ne cho and Darius to join the Red sea with the Nile, and by that means with the Mediterranean. We find also in the ancient geographers, that there was an arm of the Nile called Pathmeticus, Phatmicus, Phatnicus, or Phatniticus. Bochart says, that Pithom and Raamses are about five leagues above the division of the Nile, and beyond this river; but this assertion has no proof from antiquity. This author contents himself with relating what was said of Egypt in his own time. Marsham will have Pithom to be the same as Pelusium or Damietta.

PITHOU, or PITHOEUS, Peter, a Frenchman of great literary eminence, was descended from an ancient and noble family in Normandy, and born at Troyes in 1539. His taste for literature appeared very early, and his father cultivated it to the utmost. He first studied at Troyes, and was afterwards sent to Paris, where he became first the scholar, and then the friend, of Turnebus. Having finished his pursuits in languages and the belles lettres, he was removed to Bourges, and placed under Cujacius in order to study civil law. His father was well skilled in his profession, and has left no inconsiderable

(M) Patet (says he) medicinam esse memoriam eorum quæ cuilibet morbo usus ostendit fuisse utilia. Nam notas non esse corporum intra venas fluentium aut consistentium naturas, adeoque sola observatione innotescere quid cuique morbo conveniat postquam sæpius eadem eidem morbo profuisse comperimus. De Div. Morb.

* See Plant

Pithou, inconsiderable specimen of his judgment in the advice Pitiscus. he gave his son with regard to acquiring a knowledge of it; which was, not to spend his time and pains upon voluminous and barren commentators, but to confine kis reading chiefly to original writers. He made so rapid a progress, that at seventeen he was able to speak extempore upon the most difficult questions; and his master was not ashamed to own, that even himself had learned some things of him. Cujacius afterwards removed to Valence; and Pithoeus followed him, and continued to profit by his lectures till the year 1560. He then returned to Paris, and frequented the bar of the parliament there, in order to join practical forms and usages to his theoretic knowledge.

In 1563, being then 24, he published Adversaria Subcesiva, a work highly applauded by Turnebus, Lipsius, and other learned men; and which laid the foundation of that great and extensive fame he afterwards acquired. Soon after this, Henry III. advanced him to some considerable posts; in which, as well as at the bar, he acquitted himself most honourably. Pithoeus being a Protestant, it was next to a miracle that he was not involved in the terrible massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572; for he was at Paris when it was committed, and in the same lodgings with several Huguenots, who were all killed. It seems indeed to have frightened him out of his religion; which having, according to the custom of converts, examined and found to be erroneous, he soon abjured, and openly embraced the Catholic faith. He afterwards attended the duke of Montmorency into England; and on his return, from his great wisdom, good nature, and amiable manners, he became a kind of oracle to his countrymen, and even to foreigners, who consulted him on all important occasions; an instance of which we have in Ferdinand the grand duke of Tuscany, who not only consulted him, but even submitted to his determination in a point contrary to his interests. Henry III. and IV. were greatly obliged to him for combating the League in the most intrepid manner, and for many other services, in which he had recourse to his pen as well as to other means.

Pithoeus died upon his birth-day in 1596, leaving behind him a wife whom he had married in 1579, and some children. Thuanus says he was the mot excellent and accomplished man of the age in which he lived ; and all the learned have agreed to speak well of him. He collected a very valuable library, containing a variety of rare manuscripts, as well as printed books; and he took many precautions to hinder its being dispersed after his death, but in vain. He published a great number of works upon law, history, and classical literature; and he gave several new and correct editions of ancient writers. He was the first who made the world acquainted with the Fables of Phædrus : which, together with the name of their author, were utterly unknown and unheard of, till published from a manuscript of his.

PITISCUS, SAMUEL, a learned antiquary, was born at Zutphen, and was rector of the college of that city, and afterwards of St Jerome at Utrecht, where he died on the first of February 1717, aged 90. He wrote, 1. Lexicon Antiquitatum Romanarum, in two volumes folio; a work which is esteemed. 2. Editions of many Latin authors, with notes; and other works.

Pitot.

*Heron's

PITKEATHLY, or PITCAITHLY, is the name of pitkeathly, an estate in Strathern in Scotland, famous for its mineral waters. * An intelligent traveller gives the following account of it. "The situation of the mineral Journey spring at Pitcaithly, the efficacy with which its waters through the are said to operate in the cure of the diseases for which Western they are used, and the accommodations which the neigh- Counties of bourhood affords, are all of a nature to invite equal- Scotland. ly the sick and the healthy. Two or three houses are kept in the style of hotels for the reception of strangers. There is no long-room at the well; but there are pleasing walks through the adjoining fields. Good roads afford easy access to all the circumjacent country. This delightful tract of Lower Strathern is filled with houses and gardens, and stations from which wide and delightful prospects may be enjoyed: all of which offer agreeable points to which the company at the well may direct their forenoon excursions; conversation, music, dances, whist, and that best friend to elegant, lively, and social converse, the tea-table, are sufficient to prevent the afternoons from becoming languid: and in the evenings nothing can be so delightful as a walk when the setting-sun sheds a soft slanting light, and the dew has just not begun to moisten the grass.-Thus is Pitcaithly truly a rural watering-place. The company cannot be at any one time more in number than two or three families. The amusements of the place are simply such as a single family might enjoy in an agreeable situation in the country: only the society is more diversified by the continual change and fluctuation of the company." The waters of this place are of a sulphureous nature.

PITOT, HENRY, of a noble family in Languedoc, was born at Aramont in the diocese of Usez, on the 29th of May 1695, and died there on the 27th of December 1771, aged 76. He learned the mathematics without a master, and went to Paris in 1718, where he formed a close friendship with the illustrious Reaumur. In 1724, he was admitted a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and in a few years rose to the degree of a pensioner. Besides a vast number of Memoirs printed in the collection of that society, he published in 1731 the Theory of the Working of Ships, in one volume 4to; a work of considerable merit, which was translated into English, and made the author be admitted into the Royal Society of London. In 1740, the states-general of Languedoc made choice of him for their chief engineer, and gave him at the same time the appointment of inspector general of the canal which unites the two seas. That province is indebted to him for several monuments of his genius, which will transmit his name with lustre to posterity. The city of Montpellier being in want of water, Pitot brought from the distance of three leagues the water of two springs which furnish a plentiful supply of that necessary article. They are brought to the magnificent Place du Peyron, and thence are distributed through the city. This astonishing work is the admiration of all strangers. The illustrious marshal de Saxe was the great patron and friend of Pitot, who had taught this hero the mathematics. In 1754 he was honoured with the order of St Michael. In 1735, he had married Maria Leonina Pharambier de Sabballoua, descended of a very ancient noble family of Navarre. By this marriage he had only one son, who was first advocate-general of the court of accounts,

aids,

Pilot

Pitt.

aids, and finances of Montpellier. Pitot was a practical philosopher, and a man of uncommon probity and candour. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Montpellier; and his eulogium was pronounced in 1772 by M. de Ratte perpetual secretary, in presence of the states of Languedoc; as it likewise was at the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris by Abbé de Fouchi, who was then secretary.

PITS, JOHN, the biographer, was born in 1560, at Aulton in Hampshire, and educated at Wykeham's school, near Winchester, till he was about 18 years of age: when he was sent to New-college in Oxford, and admitted probationer fellow. Having continued in that university not quite two years, he left the kingdom as a voluntary Romish exile, and retired to Douay; thence he went to the English college at Rheims, where he remained about a year; and then proceeded to Rome, where he continued a member of the English college near seven years, and was made a priest. In 1589 he returned to Rheims; and there, during two years, taught rhetoric and the Greek language. He now quitted Rheims on account of the civil war in France; and retired to Pont à Mousson in Lorrain, where he took the degrees of master of arts and bachelor in divinity. Hence he travelled into Germany, and resided a year and a half at Triers, where he commenced licentiate in his faculty, From Triers he visited several of the principal cities in Germany; and continuing three years at Ingoldstadt in Bavaria, took the degree of doctor in divinity. Thence having made the tour of Italy, he returned once more to Lorrain; where he was patronised by the cardinal of that duchy, who preferred him to a canonry of Verdun; and about two years after he became confessor to the duchess of Cleves, daughter to the duke of Lorrain. During the leisure he enjoyed in this employment, he wrote in Latin the lives of the kings, bishops, apostolical men, and writers of England. The last of these, commonly known and quoted -by this title, De illustribus Angliæ scriptoribus, was · published after his death. The three first remain still in manuscript among the archives of the collegiate church of Liverdun. The duke of Cleves dying after Pits had been about twelve years confessor to the duchess, she returned to Lorrain, attended by our author, who was promoted to the deanery of Liverdun, which, with a canonry and officialship, he enjoyed to the end of his life. He died in 1616, and was buried in the collegiate church. Pits was undoubtedly a scholar, and not an inelegant writer; but he is justly accused of ingratitude to Bale, from whom he borrowed his materials, without acknowledgement. He quotes Leland with great familiarity, without ever having seen his book; his errors are innumerable, and his partiality to the Romish writers most obvious; nevertheless we are obliged to him for his account of several popish authors, who lived abroad at the beginning of the Reformation.

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PITT, CHRISTOPHER, an eminent English poet, celebrated for his excellent translation of Virgil's Æneid, was born in the year 1699. Having studied four years at New-college, Oxford, he was presented to the living of Pimperne in Dorsetshire, which he held during the remainder of his life. He had so poetical a turn, that while he was a school-boy he wrote two large folios of manuscript poems, one of which contained an en

tire translation of Lucan. He was much esteemed while at the university; particularly by the celebrated Dr Young, who used familiarly to call him his son. Next to his fine translation of Virgil, Mr Pitt gained the greatest reputation by his excellent English transla tion of Vida's Art of Poetry. This amiable poet died in the year 1748, without leaving, it is said, one enemy behind him.

PITT, William, earl of Chatham, a most celebrated British statesmen and patriot, was born in November 1708. He was the youngest son of Robert Pitt, Esq. of Boconnock in Cornwall; and grandson of Thomas Pitt, Esq. governor of Fort St George in the East Indies, in the reign of Queen Anne, who sold an extraordinary diamond to the king of France for 135,0col. and thus obtained the name of Diamond Pitt. His intellectual faculties and powers of elocution very soon made a distinguished appearance; but at the age of 16 he felt the attacks of an hereditary and incurable gout, by which he was tormented at times during the rest of his life.

His lordship entered early into the army, and served in a regiment of dragoons. Through the interest of the duchess of Marlborough he obtained a seat in parliament before he was 21 years of age. His first appearance in the house was as representative of the borough of Old Sarum, in the ninth parliament of Great Britain. In the 10th he represented Seaford, Aldborough in the 11th, and the city of Bath in the 12th; where he continued till he was called up to the house of peers in 1766. The intention of the duchess in bringing him thus early into parliament was to oppose Sir Robert Walpole, whom he kept in awe by the force of his eloquence. At her death the duchess left him 10,000l. on condition, as was then reported, that he never should receive a place in administration. However, if any such condition was made, it certainly was not kept on his lordship's part. In 1746, he was appointed vice-treasurer of Ireland, and soon after paymaster general of the forces, and sworn a privy-counsellor. He discharged the office of paymaster with such honour and inflexible integrity, refusing even many of the perquisites of his office, that his bitterest enemies could lay nothing to his charge, and he soon became the darling of the people. In 1755 he resigned the of fice of paymaster, on seeing Mr Fox preferred to him. The people were alarmed at this resignation; and being disgusted with the unsuccessful beginning of the war, complained so loudly, that, on the 4th December 1756, Mr Pitt was appointed secretary of state in the room of Mr Fox afterwards Lord Holland; and other promotions were made in order to second his plans. He then took such measures as were necessary for the honour and interest of the nation; but in the month of February 1757, having refused to assent to the carrying on a war in Germany for the sake of his majesty's dominions on the continent, he was deprived of the seals on the 5th of April following. Upon this the complaints of the people again became so violent, that on the 29th of June he was again appointed secretary, and his friends filled other important offices. The success with which the war was now conducted is universally known; yet on the 5th of October 1761, Mr Pit, to the astonishment of almost the whole kingdom, resigned the seals into his majesty's own hands. The reason of this was, that Mr

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