WILLIAM WINDHAM was

born about the year 1748, of respectable ancestors, in the county of Norfolk. The family had long been attached to the Whig in terest; and one of its members published, in 1759, a treatise in support of the plan of a national militia, which was then zealously forwarded by that party. Young Windham received a most liberal education. He pursued his studies first in Brazen Nose College, Oxford; but, not satisfied with the instructions which England could af ford, he spent also some time at Glasgow, where he resided with Mr Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy there, with whom he probably imbibed that taste for the abstract sciences, which eminently distinguished him. He had also the advantage of attending the lectures of Dr Reid. He was member of a debating club, called the General Society, in which the lead was taken by himself, and by Mr Young, who now ranks among the first Greek scholars in this country. His natural quickness, seconded by application, soon rendered him one of the most learned men of the age. He is said, at the time of his death, to have been the third Grecian, and the fourth mathematician, in the kingdom. After his course of study at the University was completed, he went the round of Europe, in a manner suited to his moderate fortune, and calculated for advantage and pleasure, rather than for shew. He thus added an extensive `acquaintance with mankind to his former proficiency in literature. He returned one of the most accomplished persons of that period. His endowments soon introduced him to that brilliant literary circle which had been formed in London, and

July 1810.

which had Johnson, Goldsmith, and

Burke, at its head. With Johnson, he was connected, not only by the

ties of social intercourse, but by the

closest and most intimate friendship. He was even one of the persons present at the death of that great man. Johnson writes, on occasion of a visit which he received from him in Derbyshire: "Mr Windham has been here to see me; he came, I think, forty miles out of his way, and staid about a day and an half; perhaps I make the time shorter than it was. Such conversation I shall not have again, till I come back to the regions of literature. At another time, he writes to himself: "The tenderness with which you have been pleased to treat me, through my long illness, neither health nor sickness can, I hope, make me forget." His zeal, in the pursuit of science, is illustrated by an incident which took place in the year 1773. A voyage of discovery had been equipped, for the purpose of ascertaining how near it was possible to navigate to the North Pole; and Commodore Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, was entrusted with the command of it. Mr Windham, impelled by a liberal curiosity, embarked on board this vessel; but his constitution, unfortunately, did not second the ardour of his mind. Unaccustomed to this new element, he was so violently affected by the peculiar kind of sickness which it occasions, that he was happy to be set ashore on Norway, and to find his way back as he best could.

Mr Windham now entered on his political life; and, as he was rather too young to aspire to a seat in Parliament, he commenced his career (with wonder we relate it) as a popular orator. He harangued at dinner parties, and county meetings; he mounted carts and waggons, and addressed the populace from them; in short, he was the Burdett of the

day.

day. It may be presumed, that his oratory was of a somewhat different cast from what it has been since; that, in point of style, it was better suited to the taste of the multitude, and, in point of sentiment, to their inclination. The fame, however, which he gained by these exhibitions, soon opened his way into Parliament. The American war was then at its height, and formed the grand subject of contention between the two political parties. Mr Windham had adopted the warmest principles of Whiggism, and he zealously joined the Opposition in reprobating the conduct of Ministry, both in involving themselves in that contest, and in the mode of conducting it. He attached himself, with peculiar warmth, to Mr Fox; and shewed a marked predilection, both for his person and opinions, which nothing, it was then supposed, could ever have interrupted.

When, in consequence of the disastrous issue of affairs in the new world, Ministry were, at length, expelled from office, and a Whig administration formed, under the Marquis of Rockingham, Mr Windham was called into employment. He received the office of Secretary to the Marquis of Northington, who had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. As it was conceived impossible to fill this office, without the practice of certain arts which Mr Windham considered as corrupt, he confided to Dr Johnson his conscientious scruples on this subject. Johnson, however, replied only in jest, "Don't be afraid, Sir, you will soon make a very pretty rascal.”

Mr Windham's apprenticeship to this character, however, was not of long duration. The death of the Marquis of Rockingham, and the unpopularity of the coalition which succeeded, soon drove out of of fice the party to which he had attached himself; and Mr Windham

was again thrown into the ranks of opposition. In these he continued for about ten years, steadily opposing the administration of Mr Pitt, and standing up for the privileges of the people, wherever he thought them infringed. He supported, with peculiar zeal, the measures for the abolition of the slave trade; and declared, that "the continuation of so iniquitous and abominable a traffic, for a moment longer, was unjust, inhuman, and not to be defended on any principle whatever." When the length of its continuance was urged, he said, "What relief was it to future sufferers, that so many before them had suffered? It was like one who, being reproved for skinning eels alive, said, they had always been used to it.'

About this time, however, events took place, which caused an entire change in the political views of Mr Windham. The excesses and crimes which had marked the early periods of the French revolution, and the symptoms of a similar spirit which had appeared in this country, operated so strongly on his mind, as to lead him to break off all connection with his original friends, who ap peared to him too partial to the new opinions, and to support his former political adversaries in their efforts to suppress them. His intimate connection with Mr Burke, induced by a similarity, first of literary, and afterwards of political pursuits, might greatly contribute to this change in his sentiments. As he pursued with ardour every object to which he devoted himself, so, from a zealous Whig, he ranked now with the most violent of the Antijacobins, oppos ing every innovation, and maintaining the doctrine of eternal war with France. Instead, as formerly, of courting popularity, he seemed now studiously to carve out opinions for himself, the most opposite to those which were generally entertained.

Mr

Mr Windham being now a firm adherent of ministry, Mr Pitt was happy to embrace the opportunity of availing himself of his abilities. He was accordingly appointed Secretary at War, which office he continued to exercise during all the subsequent career of that administration. He discharged the duties of it with great diligence, and made very considerable improvements in the official arrangements. He was daily to be met with at a 'fixed hour, when every military person, or any other who had business with him, was sure of obtaining an interview. He paid the utmost attention to the comfort and accommodation of the clerks; at the same time, he abolished the very blameable practice of demanding a fee before answering applications from friends respecting the fate of individual sol

diers.

In the year 1801, Mr Pitt went out of office, accompanied by his colleagues, and, among the rest, by Mr Windham. Mr Addington, the. new minister, received the support of the leading members of the old administration; and, on concluding a peace, which, though not very advantageous, was acceptable to the nation, he received also the approbation of Mr Fox, and the old opposition. While all parties, however, seemed to unite in favour of the new minister, and of the treaty just concluded with France, Mr Windham stood aloof. He loudly condemned the entering into any terms with that power, and forebod ed either a speedy rupture, or the eventual destruction of this country, Mr Windham became now a more prominent character than he had ever been before. Fom being a subordinate member, first of one party, and then of another, he now headed a party of his own; and the subsequent dissensions and renewal of hostilities which took place be

tween the two countries, tended to give greater weight to the opinions which he had expressed. All parties were then disposed to join him in his opposition to Mr Addington. Attaching himself to Lord Grenville, he formed, along with that nobleman, a coalition with Mr Fox; the efforts of which, being seconded by Mr Pitt, succeeded in driving Mr Addington from office. The coalition, however, were deprived of the expected result; and Mr Pitt remained alone in office. Mr Windham was thus, by a concurrence of unexpected circumstances, placed in the very same situation as before the change in his politics,-again a leader of opposition, and again the coadjutor of Mr Fox. On the death of Mr Pitt, he came in along with the party, and was appointed Secretary for the War Department,-a higher and more honourable office than that which he had formerly occupied. His situation was peculiarly conspicuous, as the circumstances of the times rendered military arrangements important above all others. His measures were directed chiefly to the discouragement of the volunteer system, and to facilitating the supply of men for the regular army, by allowing them to enlist for a limited time. Although several of these measures were meritorious, yet the disregard to public opinion, which appeared in the method of carrying them through, rendered him far from a popular minister. The change of ministry, in 1807, threw him again into the ranks of opposition, in which he remained till his death. He never resorted, however, to those popular doctrines, which, at the commencement of his career, he had so strenuously supported. On the contrary, he appeared, on all occasions, the assertor of high prerogative, and the determined enemy of innovation. He opposed even the abolition of

the

the slave trade, of which he had once been so strenuous an advocate. He shewed also, on different occasions, a hostility to the liberty of the press, which exposed him to a considerable share of popular odium. No one accustomed to attend to the public appearances of Mr Windham, can for a moment hesitate in assigning him a place among the first men of this, or, indeed, of any age. His speeches exhibit a continual display of the higher faculties of the mind, either evincing great powers of thinking, or abounding in effusions of wit and fancy. There is something characteristic even in his errors; and, whether we look to his opinions, or to the stile and character of his eloquence, we shall be convinced that, so far from shewing any want of talent, they are precise ly such errors as none but a man of talent could have fallen into. Where his reasonings are defective, the fault, it will be generally observed, lies not so much in any difficulty about those details, which puzzle ordinary reasoners, as in refining and generalising too much; and his fancy is frequently exerted on such unpromising subjects, that, though it undoubtedly produces wit, it is of too abstract a kind to be generally relished. It is not of any want of ability that his admirers have to complain, but of ability thrown away; and those who have ever witnessed the happier efforts of his judgment, or of his imagination, naturally lament, that a mind which, under better discipline, might have convinced and guided mankind, should have been sometimes wasted in the defence of ingenious para doxes. The opinions of Mr Windham, on many subjects, being rather singular, he was naturally called upon to defend them against continual attacks, which, joined to his own natural acuteness, made him a great master of argument; and pos

sessing, as he did, extensive knowledge, in the management of which he excelled, with great power of il lustration, he was a formidable adversary, always ingenious and instructive, and frequently convincing. He was a ready and graceful speaker distinguished by great propriety and force of expression, and wholly free from that disgusting verbiage which makes up a great part of the harangues of the present day. His mind was indeed too richly stored, both with thought and with expres sion, to be driven to any of the desperate shifts of second-rate declaimers. From a disdain of those arts by which popularity is courted, at the expence of truth, he was apt to run into the opposite extreme, and to assert his own opinions in too unqualified a manner, while he gave no quarter to the prevailing prejudices of the day. He had so little management in the statement of his sentiments, that he seemed, on the contrary, to triumph in their unpopularity.

In private life, he was highly respected and beloved. There was not a single stain in his character to make his admirers blush for him.In his disposition he was munificent and generous; and, in his manners, the utmost courteousness and 'dignity was united with the plain frankness of an English gentleman. He had none of that hauteur and reserve which secondary men are so apt to affect. He was, on the contrary, easy of access, and entered easily and readily into free and familiar discourse on all public matters. There is one failing, incident to eminent men, from which he appears to have been wholly free, namely, an inordinate passion for praise, which prompts them to gather about them a crowd of flatterers, and to feast upon their silly admiration. As a finished scholar, he had few equals; and he had made great progress,

also,

also, in mathematics, having left seyeral volumes on that science, one of them, it is said, a complete mathematical work. With all these accomplishments, joined to an inexhaustible fund of cheerfulness, vivacity, and wit, Mr Windham was greatly beloved by his friends, and was, in truth, the delight and ornament of every private society which he honoured with his presence.

The origin of the complaint which ended in his death, was a contusion received in rescuing the most valuable part of the library of his friend, Mr Frederick North, from the fire which consumed that gentleman's house, in Conduit-street, above twelve months since. Mr North, at his going abroad, recommended to the particular care and personal custody of Mr Windham several tinboxes, containing some very rare manuscripts, adding, that "his library, though very valuable, could be replaced, and was insured, but that the manuscripts would be an irreparable loss." Mr Windham had deferred the removal of the boxes to his own house, and this was the reason why, at the imminent hazard of his life, and with the certainty of great personal injury, he rushed into the midst of the flames to rescue them. He succeeded; but, at the same time, received the contusion which, after such a length of time, has terminated so fatally. There are several contradictory stories about the variation of the professional opinions as to the propriety of the operation. It is stated that some considered the tumour which was formed on the hip as indolent, a term by which medical men under stand a mass distinct from the general system, and not likely to interfere with the life or health of the person. Others again, it is said, regarded it as highly dangerous, and tending rapidly to a destructive and incurable hold on the system. The

most eminent surgeons were consuited; among whom were Messrs Cline, Home, Wilson, Lynn, &c. as some state, separately at first, and afterwards collectively. The result was a determination to submit to the knife. It is said, that the resolution was formed upon a majority of only one vote in favour of the operation, for which Mr Lynn was selected, as having the most expert hand. Mr Windham's ardent temper led him to insist on the perform ance of the operation without the usual course of preparatory medicine. His fortitude was such, that he engaged the operator to perform his duty, without the usual precaution of tying down the patient; and even when it was found necessary to cut deeper than was at first expected (the tumour not being insulated, as was supposed, but having a cancerous root on the bone, which it was absolutely necessary to scrape), he said repeatedly, "cut more, can bear it," but when they reached the bone, he said, "Now, indeed you may feel for me." It is said, that the tumour itself, judging from the appearances that render it necessary to carry the operation so far beyond what was at first intended, must, if left to take its course, have necessarily proved fatal whenever it should break (which would be, probably, in a month or two), as the system would be incapable of supporting the discharge that would come from it. It was discovered, very soon after the operation, that the event was likely to be fatal: an ichorous matter flowed from the wound, which prevented adhesion, and the flesh did not granulate, so as to afford the prospect of approximation. Mr Windham was soon informed of his danger, and prepared to meet his fate with calmness and fortitude. He was attended in his last moments by his intimate friend Mr William Elliot. The night be

fore