This impressive study of the life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was first published in 1913 when it achieved instant recognition as a brilliant appraisal of Pitt''s career. It is a book with many outstanding merits to commend it to students of eighteenth century English history.

Based on thorough and extensive researches, it traces Pitt''s career from his election as a Member of Parliament for Old Sarum in 1735 and gives a well balanced account of his part in home and foriegn politics and colonial affairs during the next 30 years. The book contains many good maps and an excellent index, and a very valuable appendix gives a list of all Pitt''s extant speeches, with references to where reports of them may be found.

These two substantial volumes are invaluable as a portrait of one of the most outstanding historical figures of the eighteenth century.