Soon after this he was placed at the grammar-school of Pocklington, the master of which, a man of easy and polished manners, and an elegant, if not profound scholar, treated Wilberforce with un-usual liberality, and, especially during the latter part of his stay, made the very smallest imaginable demands on his time. His agreeable qualifications in society, and his great musical skill, rendered him always a most welcome guest at the houses of the rural gentry. Nevertheless, he was remarked for his active turn of mind and superior order of intellect; and he gave proof of his early abhorrence of the slave-trade, by addressing a letter, at the age of fourteen, to the editor of a York paper, in condemnation of the odious traffic in human flesh. His impressions thus recorded, were, as it soon ap peared, deep and indelible. He did not, with all his engagements, allow his taste for literature to remain utterly uncultivated. On the contrary, he is said to have excelled the other boys in the composition of the required exercises, though seldom beginning his task till the latest hour. For his own gratification, he committed English poetry to memory. Beattie's "Minstrel" was his favourite book, and learned by heart during his morning rambles.

Notwithstanding all his habits of gaiety, he went to Cambridge "a very fair scholar;" and in October, 1770, at the age of seventeen, entered at St. John's College. Here he was exposed to new and various temptations. The death of his uncle and grandfather had made him master of an ample fortune. On the very first night after his arrival he was introduced to a set of men whose character he paints in dismal colours, and seems little to have relished. However, he had the fortitude to shake off their company; as, in after-life, he had the resolution to abstain from gambling, which was, with rare exceptions, the prevailing vice among the men whom he met on entering the world of politics and fashion. At Cambridge his animation and amiability rendered him a universal favourite; and his time, which should have been devoted to reading hard and attending lectures, was spent at card-parties and other places of similar amusement. Yet he was a good classic, and acquitted himself with credit in the college examinations; but mathematics he utterly neglected, being told that he was too clever to require them. In vacation times his idleness was exchanged for the festivities of Hull, or for pleasure-trips with his mother and sister. On leaving Cambridge he had to accuse himself of having neglected opportunities and wasted time; but, otherwise, his conduct was reckoned much better than that of young men in general. He had made the valuable acquaintance of Mr. Pitt, who was preparing himself, by severe study, for that terrible strife he was soon to enter upon. Wilberforce, also, had previously resolved to betake himself to public life; and his independent fortune enabling him to pursue his wishes in this respect, he commenced a spirited canvass for the representation of his native town in Parliament. Some hundreds of the freemen resided in London; and going thither to secure their support, he first acquired confidence in public speaking while addressing them. He like-wise frequented the strangers' gallery of the House of Commons, and there again met Mr. Pitt, who was then watching, as a spectator, the struggles in that arena in which, ere long, he was to be one of the most successful combatants.

At the general election of 1780, Wilberforce was returned for Hull by a large majority, having then barely completed his twenty-first year.

The miseries endured by the African race had, as we have seen, long before attracted his attention, and enlisted his sympathy in their behalf; but the system of slavery had been so long pursued and upheld, that the magnitude of the difficulties to be encountered in any effort to remove "the dark stain that disfigured the fair freedom of the country," appalled the courage of the bravest. It baffled even the genius of Burke, who, in the very year that Wilberforce took his seat in Parliament, had sketched a code of regulations, which provided for its immediate mitigation and ultimate suppression. But, after mature deliberation, the mighty orator and statesman abandoned the project, from a perfect conviction that the strength of those interested in its maintenance would inevitably defeat his utmost endeavours. Wilberforce, however, was far from allowing the matter to fade from his memory. This very year he wrote to a friend going to Antigua, requesting him to collect information relative to the condition of the slaves, and expressing his determination, or at least his hope, of some day having it in his power to redress the wrongs of these wretched beings. In 1787 he became their declared and devoted champion, and henceforth never slackened his philanthropic efforts for their deliverance In 1789 he first proposed the abolition of the slave-trade in the House of Commons, in a speech which was immortalised by the eulogy of Burke Early in 1807 a bill was introduced and carried to effect that purpose, after which he directed his battery against the continuance of slavery itself. While representing the county of York, he attained an eminence never before reached by any private member of Parliament; he incessantly watched over the interests of his African clients; and survived to hear of the measure of emancipation passing the House of Commons. In introducing it, the Colonial Minister of the day paid this graceful and affecting tribute to the worth of the veteran philanthropist:—" It is not without the deepest emotion I recollect that there is yet living one of the earliest, one of the most religious, one of the most conscientious, one of the most eloquent, one of the most zealous friends of this great cause, who watched it in its dawn. Wilberfore still remains to see, I trust, the final consummation of the great and glorious work which he was one of the first to commence, and to exclaim 'Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace!'"

He expired on the 29th of July, 1833, while the Act was passing. Shortly before he said, with fervour, "Thank God that I should have lived to witness a day when England is willing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery!"

The announcement of his death was received by the House of Commons, of which he had so long been a most distinguished member, with no ordinary feeling. Mr. Buxton, his successor in the noble cause, alluded to the event; and in expressing his regard and admiration for the character of the great departed, applied to his career the beautiful lines of Cowper: —

"A veteran"warrior in the Christian field, Who never saw the sword he could not wield, "Who, when occasion justified its use, Had wit as bright as ready to produce; Could draw from records of an earlier age, Or from Philosophy's enlightened page, His rich material — and regale the ear With strains it was a luxury to hear."