TO THE RIGHT HON. FRANCIS, LORD NORTH AND GUILFORD, ONE OF THE LORDS OF THE BEDCHAMBER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES. MY LORD, IT T is a piece of justice done to the memories of great and good men, who have been active in the service of their country, when their conduct and behaviour is set in a true light, and their character cleared from all exceptions whatsoever, which may proceed either from ignorance of the truth, or party rage. And it must afford no less encouragement to the present age, to follow their steps, when they shall find it is not often that a man of worth appears upon the great stage of the world, but after he has finished the part he was to act, and made his exit, some one or other rises up, and undertakes to vindicate the character of his departed friend. The performance of this, my Lord, appears to have been one of the principal ends the honourable author had in view, when he composed the following sheets: for though truth in history, and the public good flowing from thence, had ever the greatest share in his inducements, whenever he set pen to paper; yet here there must be something put to the account of gratitude. And how large a debt of this nature must be due, from any one, to him that was the best of brothers and the best of friends, the whole world must be sensible. How well the writer has succeeded in his attempt to discharge it, must be left to the determination of those who shall peruse this work. B And the same arguments ought to be no less prevalent with me towards the sending it abroad into the world, and preferring my request unto your Lordship, that it may have leave to pass under your protection. For as my father thought it his duty to leave behind him these papers, not only for the sake of truth, but to make some return for the benefits heaped upon him by this illustrious ancestor of your Lordship's, and his best brother; so I think myself bound to make them public, for the former reason, and to beg they may be honoured with your Lordship's name in the front, as a public acknowledgment of the many favours your Lordship has conferred upon, MY LORD, Your Lordship's most obedient, humble servant, MOUNTAGU NORTH. [1740.] THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Τ 1. IT may not be improper to acquaint the reader, in some sort, with what is to be found in the following sheets; the design of which is to make some apology for an officious, I might say unqualified, undertaking to be a lifewriter, and, as such, to dress up my remembrances of three honourable brothers and friends, the late Lord Keeper North, Sir Dudley North, and Dr. John North. They were all persons of celebrated worth and ability in their several professions; and whose behaviour upon the public stage, as well as in their retirements, was virtuous, wise, and exemplary. But now, if they are not quite forgot, that little, which is whispered of them, inclines to the sinister, and is wider from truth, than the distance which we are now at from the time when they flourished: and, if we look out for their names in history, all is the same. There is a two-handed one, Mr. Echard, in folio, whose excellency is coming after a worse. The author, among his eulogies, could not find room to drop a good word of any of these, though he hath condescended to adorn the characters of departed quacks, poets, fanatics, and almanack-makers. When he could say no ill of them, it was prudent malice to say nothing. Better to forego the very marrow of history than do right to any of these. And if the consideration of common good, which always flows from the bright examples of good men, were not inducement enough, yet the usage of such poor-spirited ކ writers, that hunt counter to that good, is a sufficient call to this undertaking; whereby I hope to rescue the memories of these distinguished persons from a malevolent intent to oppress them, and, for that end, bring their names and characters above-board, that all people may judge of them as they shall appear to deserve. I have reason to be concerned, lest my tenuity of style and language, not meeting with candid interpretation, may, in some sort, diminish the worth that belongs to them. But I I have no means of improvement in that affair; and must lay aside that scruple; for it is an office devolved upon me, which I cannot decline. There is no person, now living, who can, or at least will, do any thing towards it. Therefore, hoping for indulgence, I march on, and endeavour to ✓ rectify want of art by copia of matter, and that, upon honour, punctually true. But I am not at all concerned lest frequent eulogies (which, by way of avant propos, must here declare will advance themselves) should make me appear as partial to my subject. For who is partial that says what he knows, and sincerely thinks? I would not, as some, to seem impartial, do no right to any. When actions are honourable, the honour is as much the history as the fact; and so for infamy. It is justice, as well historical as civil, to give to every one his due. And whoever engageth in such designs as these, and governs himself by other measures, may be a chronographer, but a very imperfect, or rather insipid, historian. 2. I must here just mention some things which concern all these three brothers in common; and that is their parentele and family relation: and then proceed to the lives, beginning with the eldest, the Lord Guilford, lord keeper of the great seal of England, then the second, Sir Dudley North, and come at last to Dr. John North, master of Trinity College, Cambridge. 3. Sir Dudley North, knight of the Bath, and Lord North, Baron of Kirtling (vulgo Catlidge) in Cambridgeshire, was their father. His father was Dudley also, and had three other children. First, a son named John, who had three wives, of whom the first best deserves to be remembered; for she left him an estate in St. John'sCourt by Smithfield, upon the ground where the chief AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 5 house and garden was placed; and now a set of fair houses are built, making three sides of a square, and is called North's-Court. He survived all his wives, and died without issue. The old lord had also two daughters, of whom one died single, the other, Dorothy, married the Lord Dacres of the south, and, by that match, had a son and a daughter; the son married the Irish Lord Loftus's daughter, and had divers children. He had an estate given him on purpose to change his name from Lennard (that of the Dacres family) to Barret. His eldest son is also matched, and hath children. His seat is at BellHouse Park, near Purfleet in Essex; and they write their name Barret, alias Lennard. The Lord Dacres had issue by a former wife, of whom the now Earl of Sussex is descended. After the death of the Lord Dacres, his widow, the Lord North's daughter, married Chaloner Chute, who was once speaker to the pseudo-house of commons. She had no issue by him; but his son Chaloner (by a former wife) marrying his wife's daughter (by the Lord Dacres) had issue three sons and a daughter. Chaloner, the eldest, died single; Edmund, the second, married the widow of Mr. Tracey, a daughter of Sir Anthony Keck, and having divers children, lived at the Vine in Hampshire. The youngest, Thomas, was once clerk of the crown in Chancery, and married [Elizabeth], the daughter of [Nicholas] Rivet of Brandeston in Suffolk, and left children, of whom Thomas Lennard Chute, the eldest son, now lives at Pickenham in Norfolk. And here concludes all the descent from the old Lord North by his only married daughter the Lady Dacres. 1 4. That nobleman was a person full of spirit and flame ; yet, after he had consumed the greatest part of his estate in the gallantries of King James's court, or rather his son Prince Henry's, retired, and lived more honourably in the country upon what was left, than ever he had done before." 116 Nov., 1685. (Chaloner W. Chute's History of The Vyne, 1888.) 2 He was the author of a volume of miscellanies in prose and verse, entitled, A Forest promiscuous of several Seasons' Productions. In four parts, fol. 1659. "The prose," says Horace Walpole," which is affected and obscure, with many quotations and allusions to scripture and the classics, consists of letters, essays, characters, in the manner of Sir Thomas, Overbury, and devout meditations on his misfortunes. The |