facturer. The mill to which he belongs stood, amidst the commercial wreck of so many great houses in Manchester, about two years ago. All the Peak-mills supply that town. A little before that dangerous crisis he wrote to me that he had realized a thousand pounds in the concern; a great sum for the short time he had been engaged in it. I find they are now going on very prosperously*.'

THOMAS PITT, LORD CAMELFORD.

The family of Pitt was founded by John Pitt, Esq. who was Clerk of the Exchequer in the time of Queen Elizabeth †. From his eldest and his third sons the noble branches of Rivers and Chatham derive their descents; but each branch was principally established by a great-grandson of the above John, the former by George Pitt, Esq. of Stratfield Say, who married into the Rivers family; and the latter by Thomas Pitt, Esq. Governor of Fort St. George, who obtained the famous Pitt diamond*.

Thomas, eldest son of Governor Pitt, having married Lady Frances Ridgeway, daughter and coheir

*Letters of Anna Seward, vol. IV.

p. 134.

† A full pedigree of the family is given in Hutchins's Dorsetshire; second edition, vol. III. p. 361.

Thomas Pitt, Esq. was born at St. Mary's, Blandford, 1653. He was in Queen Anne's reign appointed to the government of Fort St. George, in the East Indies, where he resided many years, and gained an immense fortune. In 1716 he was made Governor of Jamaica; but resigned that post in 1717. He was M. P. in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Parliaments of Great Britain, for Old Sarum and Thirsk. He repaired and beautified the Churches of Blandford St. Mary, Dorsetshire, Stratford in Wiltshire, and Abbot Inn, Hampshire. It having been reported that he gained his famous diamond by a stretch of power, he made the following solemn declaration (first communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine in 1825, by the Rev. William Meyrick, of Bath, an heir of some of the estates of the Pitts), that he purchased it fairly for 48,000 pagodas, or £.20,400. A

of Robert fourth and last Earl of Londonderry of that family, was created Baron Londonderry in 1719, and Earl of Londonderry in 1726. His sons Thomas and Ridgeway were successively Earls; and the title then expired.

Robert, second son of Governor Pitt, became seated at Boconnoc in Cornwall, which the Governor had purchased in 1718. His second son, William, was the first and immortal Earl of Chatham; his eldest, Thomas, succeeded him at Bo

further vindication was thought necessary, in a Sermon preached at his funeral by the Rev. Richard Eyre, Canon of Sarum.

"Since my coming into this melancholy place of Bergen, I have been often thinking of the most unparalleled villainy of -William Fraser, Thomas Frederick, and Smapa, a black merchant, who brought a paper before Governor Addison in Coun⚫ cil, insinuating that I had unfairly got possession of a large Diamond, which tended so much to the prejudice of my reputation and the ruin of my estate, that I thought it necessary to keep by me the true relation how I purchased it in all respects, that so, in case of sudden mortality, my children and friends may be apprised of the whole matter, and so be enabled thereby to put to silence, and confound those and all other villains in their base attempts against either. Not having got my books by me at present, I cannot be positive as to the time, but for the manner of purchasing it I do here declare and assert, under my hand, in the presence of God Almighty, as I hope for salvation through the merits and intercession of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that this is the truth, and if it be not, let God deny it to me and my children for ever! which I would be so far from saying, much less leave it under my hand, that I would not be guilty of the least untruth in the relation of it for the riches and honour of the whole world.

"About two or three years after my arrival at Madras, which was in July 1698, I heard there were large Diamonds in the country to be sold, which I encouraged to be brought down, promising to be their chapman, if they would be reasonable therein; upon which Jaurchund, one of the most eminent diamond merchants in those parts, came down about December 1701, and brought with him a large rough stone, about 305 mangelius, and some small ones, which myself and others bought; but, he asking a very extravagant price for the great one, I did not think of meddling with it, when he left it with me for some days, and then came and took it away again; and did so several times, not insisting upon less than 200,000 pago

connoc, and was Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Steward to the Duchy of Cornwall. He mar. ried Christiana, sister to Lord Lyttelton, and had an only son, the subject of the present memoir.

Thomas Pitt, first Lord Camelford, was born on the third of March 1733. In 1751 he was placed as a Student at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he continued until 1757, and was admitted to the degree of M. A. (per literas Regias) in 1759. It was during his residence at Cambridge that he was

das; and, as I best remember, I did not bid him above 30,000, and had little thoughts of buying it for that. I considered there were many and great risques to be run, not only in cutting it, but also whether it would prove foul or clear, or the water good; besides, I thought it too great an amount to be adventured home on one bottom. But Jaurchund resolved to return speedily to his own country; so that I best remember it was in February following he came again to me, (with Vincatee Chittee, who was always with him,) when I discoursed with him about it, and pressed me to know, whether I resolved to buy it, when he came down to 100,000 pagodas, and something under before we parted, when we agreed upon a day to meet, and make a final end thereof one way or other, which I believe was the latter end of the aforesaid month, or the beginning of March; when we accordingly met in the Consultation Room, where, after a great deal of talk I brought him down to 55,000 pagodas, and advanced to 45,000, resolving to give no more, and he likewise resolving not to abate, I delivered him up the stone, and we took a friendly leave of one another. Mr. Benyon was then writing in my closet, with whom I discoursed on what had passed, and told him now I was clear of it; when, about an hour after, my servant brought me word that Jaurchund and Vincatee Chittee were at the door, who being called in, they used a great many expressions in praise of the stone, and told me he had rather I should buy it than any body, and to give an instance thereof, offered it for 50,000; so, believing it must be a pennyworth, if it proved good, I offered to part the 5000 pagodas that was then between us, which he would not hearken to, and was going out of the room again, when he turned back and told me that I should have it for 49,000, but I still adhered to what I had before offered him, when presently he came to 48,000, and made a solemn vow he would not part with it a pagoda under, when I went again into the closet to Mr. Benyon, and told him what had passed, saying, that if it

favoured by his uncle the first and great Lord Chatham with a series of sensible, affectionate, and estimable letters, which in 1804 were given to the public by his son-in-law Lord Grenville, accompanied by an excellent Preface from the pen of that illustrious statesman. In 1761, on his father's death,

was worth 47,500, it was worth 48,000*; so I closed with him for that sum, when he delivered me the stone, for which I paid him very honourably, as by my books appear. And I here further call God to witness, that I never used the least threatening word at any of our meetings to induce him to sell it me; and God himself knows it was never so much as in my thoughts so to do. Since which, I have had frequent and considerable dealings with this man, and trusted him with several sums of money, and balanced several accounts with him, and left upwards of 2000 pagodas in his hands at my coming away. So, had I used the least indirect means to have got it from him, would not he have made himself satisfaction when he has had money so often in his hands! Or would I have trusted him afterwards, as I did, preferably to all other diamond merchants? As this is the truth, so I hope for God's blessing upon this and all my other affairs in this world, and eternal happiness hereafter. Written and signed by me, in Bergen, July 29th, 1710. "THOMAS PITT."

The Diamond was brought over rough by Governor Pitt; and the following particulars, "copied from a memorandum made before it was disposed of," were given in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1776, vol. XLVI. p. 105.

"Mr. Pitt's great diamond, when raw, weighed 410 carats; when brilliant cut, 135.

*£.20,400 sterling, at 8s. 6d. per pagoda.

he succeeded to the estate of Boconnoc; and also to the representation of the Borough of Old Sarum. He vacated his seat by accepting the post of a Commissioner of the Admiralty April 16, 1763; and was re-elected. At the next election in 1768 he was returned for Oakhampton, but at those in 1774 and 1780 again for New Sarum; and by patent dated the 5th of January 1784, he was called to the House of Peers by the title of Lord Camelford

"It cost €.5000 cutting in brilliant.

"The clips yielded £.8000.

"The diamond dust, to cut it, cost £.1400.

"It is about an inch and a quarter diamond diameter; and weighs about an ounce and the eighth part of an ounce."

The same memorandum states, that £.80,000 was bid for it by a private person. But it was finally sold, in 1717, to the Crown of France for £.200,000, and the state jewels, in sealed packets numbered, were pledged for the payment of that sum. The Governor delivered it himself at Calais, and his son-in-law, Charles Cholmondeley, Esq. of Vale Royal, who was for 42 years M. P. for the County of Chester, was accustomed at stated periods to take one of the packets of the French jewels to Dover, where he delivered his charge to a messenger of the King, and received from him an instalment of the purchase-money. This property descended (says the Rev. Mr. Meyrick, in a letter in the Gentleman's Magazine,) principally in the other branches of Governor Pitt's family; but the estates I possess in Dorsetshire, Devon, and Wilts, were purchased with a part of this money on the marriage of his second son, Colonel Thomas Pitt, afterwards Earl of Londonderry, with Lady Frances, daughter of Robert Ridgeway, Earl of Londonderry. The ancient house at Woodlands, in the parish of Mere, Wilts, is a part of this property, which you will find amply described by our learned and indefatigable friend Sir R. Colt Hoare, in his elaborate and splendid History of the Hundred of Mere; and, as with his usual kindness he has given me the plate from which the print of Woodlands-house in that work is taken, I have sent it for insertion in your Magazine." See that Miscellany, vol. XCV. pt. ii. p. 105. Ridgeway, the last Earl of Londonderry of the Pitt family, having broken his leg in shooting, died at Woodyates Manor, a part also of this property, eleven miles from Blandford.

Governor Pitt died in 1726; and in Blandford St. Mary Church, Dorsetshire, is the following handsome memorial:

"To the Glory of God. Thomas Pitt, Esq. of this place, in the year of our Lord 1711, very much repaired and beautified