The Crimes of Mr Pitt, by William Pitt the Elder

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BUT youth is not my only crime! I have been accused of acting a theatrical part.

A theatrical part may either imply some peculiarities of gesture, or a dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and language of another man. In the first sense, the charge is too trifling to be computed, and deserves only to be mentioned that it may be despised; I am at liberty, like every other man, to use my own language; and though I may, perhaps, have some ambition, yet, to please this gentleman, shall not lay myself under any restraint, nor very solicitously copy his diction, or his mien, however matured by age, or modelled by experience.

If any man shall, by charging me with theatrical behaviour, imply that I utter any sentiments but my own, I shall treat him as a calumniator and a villain; nor shall any protection shelter him from the treatment which he deserves. I shall, on such an occasion, without scruple, trample upon all those forms with which wealth and dignity entrench themselves, nor shall anything but age restrain my resentment; age, which always brings one privilege, that of being insolent and supercilious without punishment.

by William Pitt the Elder 1708-1778

From ‘Anecdote Lives of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and Edmund Burke’ (1880) edited by John Timbs (1801-1875).

Précis

Turning to the charge of theatricality, Pitt said he was unsure whether Walpole was accusing him of displaying a colourful personality, something for which he refused to apologise, or of disguising his true character and motives, in which case only his accuser’s age protected him from the punishment such an insult deserved.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

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