"
Sharp published anonymously a volume of 'Epistles in Verse' (1828).
These were reproduced, with additions, in his 'Letters and Essays',
published with his name in 1834. His "Epistle to an Eminent Poet" is
evidently addressed to his lifelong friend, Samuel Rogers:
"Yes! thou hast chosen well 'the better part,'
And, for the triumphs of the noblest art,
Hast wisely scorn'd the sordid cares of life."]
[Footnote 3: William Windham, of Felbrigg Hall (1750-1810), educated at
Eton, Glasgow, and University College, Oxford, became M.P. for Norwich
in 1784. In the following year he was made chief secretary to Lord
Northington, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Expressing some doubts to Dr.
Johnson whether he possessed the arts necessary for Parliamentary
success, the Doctor said, "You will become an able negotiator; a very
pretty rascal." He resigned the secretaryship within the year, according
to Gibbon, on the plea of ill health. He was one of the managers of the
impeachment of Warren Hastings in 1788, Secretary at War from 1794 to
1801, and War and Colonial Secretary, 1806-7.
Windham, a shrewd critic of other speakers, called Pitt's style a
"State-paper style," because of its combined dignity and poverty, and
"verily believed Mr. Pitt could speak a king's speech off-hand." As a
speaker he was himself remarkably effective, a master of illustration
and allusion, delighting in "homely Saxon," and affecting provincial
words and pronunciation.
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